The Final 10

This is my second post in 2 weeks! Such productivity! But, if I'm completely honest, this post probably wouldn't have happened had it not been an important milestone. Well, important to me, anyway. Important to my career as a grad student.

So, here's the thing, you may remember me mentioning that my first semester of graduate school was the summer of 2015. As a summer semester, it was 10 weeks as opposed to the typical 15-week semester during the regular school year. 10 weeks filled with gross anatomy, mostly. Hanging out in the lab with the cadavers. And by hanging out, I mean furiously working to memorize the origin, insertion, actions, blood supply, and innervation of every muscle of the body, in addition to being able to actually recognize them in a real body. Of course, we had other classes that summer, but gross anatomy is the one that really stuck out, probably because it was the most time consuming. But, it was lots of fun! Really!

But I have shamefully digressed. So, first semester of OT school = 10 weeks. Well, this week, I will be beginning the final 10 weeks of OT school. Where has the time gone? One never knows. So, in my mind, as someone who likes to memorialize and place significance on various dates, this week marks the beginning of the end of my career as an OT student. Yikes. But also, yay!

In addition to going off on long sentimental digressions, I also want to say a few words (haha, a few words) on my second fieldwork experience thus far. Two weeks in, and I am quite enjoying it! It's definitely been an adjustment, though. Going from the school setting where I worked with kids on academic occupations, to skilled nursing facilities where I'm working with older adults on ADLs.
I think the most difficult part has been adjusting to the documentation style, and the concept of productivity and having to balance treatments and interventions with evals, progress notes, and discharges. I'm finding that it's really easy to get caught up in the paperwork side of things (while it does require detail and attention, because insurance), and forget about the occupation-based foundations of our profession, especially because of the rehab-heavy nature of the setting. However, I am determined to keep all my treatments as occupation-based as possible, because, as we know, nothing really beats actually doing the occupation to improve safety and independence in that area.
And, really, I've done mostly evaluations and discharges thus far, because both SNF's that I am at have certified OT Assistants (COTA's), who carry out the majority of the treatment interventions. But I think I'll address COTA's in my next post, as it could take a while, and they are an important part of our profession, and I want to do them justice!

But, for now, just a little bit about my typical day and the patients I have been working with. I start my day at a SNF that's a bit of a drive from my house. So I generally get up at 5:30 and am on the road by 6, to make it there by 7. Which, despite feeling less-than-thrilled at 5:30 am, I do really enjoy. First of all because I'd rather start early and end early at 3, and second because I enjoy seeing the sunrise. Third, because the drive is a beautiful journey through the countryside, and there are lots of baby cows. We see patients at that location, and then we drive back in the direction of my house about 25 minutes to another SNF, where we also see patients. And we're usually finished around 3.

A skilled nursing facility (SNF) is kind of a step-down setting for people who have undergone recent hospitalization and are not yet ready to return to their prior residence because they require therapy to get them back to their prior level of functioning. Most of our patients have things like joint replacements (hips, knees), strokes, falls, etc., and most of them are in the older adult population. And, they are lots of fun! I had one lady offer me a can of V8 juice when we were doing her evaluation, "Honey, could you pass me a V8 juice? Would you like one? Let's all have some V8 juice!". I declined, of course, not being a particular fan of V8 juice, but it was a kind thought all the same.

I imagine I'll have plenty more stories to tell in the coming weeks, but for now, I must bid you adieu! I have to go study for the certification exam (so much fun.). Haha.