My OT journey

I chose a TED talk given by Stephanie Buxhoeveden, a 25 year old nursing anesthetist student who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) during her time in school. I chose this ted talk because I thought it was interesting how someone who spent many months learning about conditions and how to become a healthcare provider at a hospital ended up becoming a patient there. She talks about how she doesn't fit the "face" of the condition, how it affected her life, and what life is like now. Stephanie began noticing numbness in her right foot while she was working out and soon after but chalked it up to a pinched nerve. The next time she noticed numbness was right before the first time she was to give anesthesia as a student. The numbness began in her legs, she had no feeling in her waist down, the feeling and movement in her right arm was gone, and her vision became extremely blurry. This was when she knew it was time to tell someone and to seek help. Later, she left th...

I chose to watch the TED talk titled, "What you can do to prevent Alzheimer's" given by Lisa Genova because this is a disease I have personally witnessed but never really understood or knew much about until starting occupational therapy school. My boyfriend's grandfather was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. I remember they had an "out of order" sign on the microwave because he would try to use it but couldn't quite remember the purpose of a microwave or how to. Lisa Genova talks about the neuroscience behind Alzheimer's and how, without any medication or other treatment, we can possibly prevent the disease in our own bodies. Genova says neuroscientists believe that Alzheimer's begins because of the accumulation of amyloid beta in the synapses, which in turn bind together to become amyloid plaque, and eventually destroying the synapse. This accumulation can occur for 15-20 years before symptoms are present. With this information, Genova...

To restore a client's confidence in mobility it is important to educate the client on the steps it takes to reach that goal. As a therapist it is also important to talk with the client about their values, goals, and needs to adequately help the client. The hierarchy of mobility skills is as follows: bed mobility --> mat transfer --> wheelchair transfer --> bed transfer --> functional ambulation for ADL --> toilet and tub transfer --> car transfer --> functional ambulation for community mobility --> community mobility and driving. This order is what I expected because it begins with the most basic one to accomplish and understand and then it works it's way up. For example, the milestones for an infant isn't to walk right away instead it would be to grasp.  As a therapist it is important to keep in mind that a body is easier to move when: the center of gravity is moving and the base of support is small . You can think of the hierarchy of mobility as...

There are many reasons as to why it's important that a client's assistive device is individually and appropriately fitted for them. One of the reasons is to ensure the safety, stability, and mobility of the client. For example, in order for a client to have a standard walker they must have fair balance and somewhat good upper extremity strength in order to life the walker with each step. In addition, there must also be good cognition to know and understand when to lift the walker. Another important reason is to prevent injury to the client. For example, when appropriately fitting standard crutches to a client it is important to measure 5cm below the axilla region. Failure to do so will result in injury to the brachial plexus.  When choosing the appropriate cane  to a client you must first select which cane is most suitable for them. There are two types of canes - a standard cane (one point of contact) or a quad cane (four points of contact, additional stability). Then the h...

As defined in our notes posture is the relative alignment of body parts. The ideal posture alignment is when the center of gravity is centered over the base of support. It's important that the spine keeps its normal curves because it ensures that the weight is evenly distributed throughout the body. There are two lordotic curves, which are convex and there are two kyphotic curves, which are concave. The order of these curves is lordotic, kyphotic, lordotic, and kyphotic again. These curves provide mobility and stability of the spine and ensures the client to independently participate in ADLs and iADLs. Another reason why it is important to teach a client proper posture and body mechanics is because it minimizes the risk of injury and/or progressive deformity. For example, if a client has poor posture and develops excessive thoracic kyphosis, which in lay terms is, "hunchback" or a "rounded" back. With this, the order of the curves goes kyphotic and then lord...

In this story the wife only has a thumb and a finger on her hand. Luckily, she still has a thumb as that is very important, functionally, because of it's relationship to the other digits. Let's assume that the other finger she has left is her third metacarpal otherwise known as the middle finger. The loss of her second metacarpal also known as the index finger accounts for 20% of hand dysfunction and affects many occupations as stated in our notes. In other words, while she was losing fingers in the bets with her husband we can only imagine how hard it was to adapt and adjust in her daily life. An occupation that would be affected by the losses of her fingers would be getting dressed. This would be difficult for her because many clothes include zippers like the dress that was in the room when they walked in. When you zip up a dress, bottoms, or tops you use your thumb and index finger in a tip pinch (pulp to pulp, 2 jaw chuck, pencil grip, etc). Since she is missing her index...

There were so many great takeaway and points Professor Flick had in her presentation about health promotion and health literacy. One important takeaway I got from it was the importance of making sure your client is always aware of what is going on in the treatment sessions and with them. This is important because much of the general population can only read on a 5th grade level. When you clearly explain their diagnosis and how occupational therapy can help them it's providing them with a very client-centered approach and the most effective kind. To do this you can use layman's terms and double check for understanding. It's also important to not make your client feel bad about not knowing what something means. Many people get scared because they don't know how to ask, or what even to ask. As a future healthcare professional, it's our job to educate those people and provide assurance to the unknown.