brOT 101

Today during class, we had with a guest lecturer who was an expert in the field of Driver rehabilitation. He provided very useful information on assessing and adapting the occupation of driving. One of the key takeaway points during today's lecture was that visual skills are a vital component to the occupation of driving. Within vision there are components such as Acuity and perception. Other skills associated with driving are cognition and active ROM. Driving requires a constant state of reacting to your environment and skills such as cognition and active ROM help an individual in their reaction. All of these components are what a driving specialist analyzes and keeps in constant consideration as they interact with a client. One intervention that can be done with clients in a driving rehabilitation setting is working on scheduling and planning times of the day when the individual may be driving. For instance doctor's appointments or visiting with friends can be scheduled durin...

Over the course of OT school, I had the opportunity to draw a glyph based on my perceptions of leadership from the beginning of school to current. The picture on top was the drawing I made at the beginning of my schooling and the bottom is the one that was drawn as a second year. When I first saw the two pictures, I was surprised at the similarities that were occurring between the two pictures. Each component of the drawing held a different significance and some of the major differences were the hair, eye brows, and ears. In the first picture, the was the length and curliness of the hair. The curliness of the hair showed a need for creativity in leadership as opposed to the straight organization factor in leadership. I think my opinions on this have changed as I have seen the importance of both organization and creativity in a leader. Another major component in the picture that showed change was the shape of the ears. Round ears showed that technology was an important component of le...

Today I was able to participate in a lecture that provided me with an opportunity to see the importance of nutrition in its relation to patient care and therapy intervention. One startling statistic that was addressed over the course of this lecture was that 1 in 2 older adults is malnourished. That is half of all of these individuals that are entering the hospital. Patient nourishment is important for many aspects of an individual's hospital stay including wound healing and prevention of muscle wasting over the course of their stay. This is not to mention the significant nutrition needed to sustain the increased metabolism of the stressed body and needs of the body as it goes into rehabilitation. As the importance of nutrition in an older adults hospital stay was revealed, the follow up question is what does this mean for me as an occupational therapist. One possible intervention that could take place to address the issue of nutrition is a support group and cooking class for widow...