brOT 101

OTPF is a word you will hear a lot throughout your schooling and in the process of becoming an occupational therapist. It stands for Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain and Process. Essentially it is the handbook that guides everything that an occupational therapist does. It establishes methods of how things such as evaluations and patient practice should be done as well as guiding how an occupational therapist is supposed to look at the environment around them. It pushes away from the idea of a traditional medical model in which an individual is identified by their disability. Instead it steers the occupational therapist to move towards that individual being identified by who they truly are and an additional quality about them is that they have this disability. It also addresses what aspects of a client we are looking for. Things such as client factors and their ability to perform different occupations. Another aspect of the OTPF is that it guides our scope of practice.

Our profession has changed drastically over the years. It is interesting to consider all that plays a role in the evolution of our profession. I always heard people talk about continuing education and being involved in more than the surface events that happen within the profession. I knew that this was important but through these Era presentations I truly realized what these people were talking about. All of  the presentations began with some sort of thing that was relevant to a particular era and the proceeded to move towards how that effects occupational therapy. Government policies and healthcare changes are important to occupational therapy because they directly impact how our profession is funded, how people have access to us, and what occupations we can impact with our practice. Technology is another area in which it is important to be up to date. It is important because not only do we need to use various technology into assist individuals and benefit our practice, but we also mu

It is exciting to think about the possibilities that could come with post-graduation certifications. There are so many options and things that excite me. I think the one that primarily grabs my attention is the Certified Hand Specialist. I am very interested in the physical aspects of occupational therapy and I think this would be a great long term goal to set my sites on when I am a practicing occupational therapist. Our hands are crucial to everything we do. If you think about it, we are the only animals that God created to have the intricate hands and the brain power to know what to do with those hands. If an individual did not have hands and tried to go throughout their day, it would be very difficult for that individual to be productive. The fact that the hands are so crucial to the body is why I have such an interest in the specialty. However, my interest does not stop there. There are individuals who have permeant damage to their hands and need additional technology in order t