Lab Practicals

Occupational therapy is a hands on profession; however, many of the skills one needs are hard to test on paper. My school has chosen to test these skills through lab practicals. Typically, students are paired up and told to perform different skills on each other. Ideally clients would be brought in, but that is rarely practical and sometimes unethical.

There are many benefits to lab practicals (especially compared to paper testing), but there are drawbacks. One is they are time consuming to perform. Often it leaves students hanging around the building, sometimes for hours. Another issue is the student being the client knows what the student practitioner is looking for and typically makes it easy. In one of my practicals my "client" always knew what position to get into, and sometimes naturally got into that position without me asking. That is not going to happen in real life. Finally, these situations are very controlled. Even when the "client" is instructed to act up they are still usually on the practitioner's side. Even if in the clinic, one is lucky enough to have the perfect client there are still the issue of distractions from other staff and clients as well as missing materials. Don't get me wrong I appreciate my school giving me the time and encouragement, but I wish there was a more realistic way to test. I guess we are slowly building our way to fieldwork. It would probably be too overwhelming otherwise. 

All Hands on Deck

This semester we have started to learn manual muscle testing (MMT) and how to take range of motion (ROM) with a tape measure and a goniometer. It is really exciting to start to get hands on. So far we have only done the neck for range of motion, but we have done the trunk and neck for MMT. It is amazing how important practice is. I was practicing with friends after class today, and it was amazing how many different times we had to rearrange our bodies to be able to take the measurements. An experienced practitioner would know exactly how to position themselves, and the right order to do all the testing, so that the impact on the client was minimal. Book learning is only going to get you so far on these skills.

Today in mental health we formed four different groups for different projects. Group work is a big part of occupational therapy school. Group selection is a little different in the second semester. People have friends that they like to work with, other people want to work with people they do not hang out with, and sometimes people who like to get work done early seek the others who like to get work done early. Let's hope all these projects run smoothly.

The other big happening this week is we got to meet the family that is building the house that we are help designing. I am assigned to work on the bedroom for a 15 year old boy with Duchene Muscular Dystrophy (DMD). I was a little disappointed because he spends most of his time in the common areas currently, but I know we are going to make his room so awesome that he is going to spend all his time there. I have a to-do list that is a mile long, so I should get a start on that. 

COPM and Interviews

Fieldwork starts on Monday. I am so excited, but I am also nervous. I am nervous that I won't know anything. I am also worried that I won't get there at time. I have to be there by 7 am, and that includes going through security. The earliest class we have this semester is at 9 am, and that is only on Fridays. I'm sure it will be fine. This must be what it is like to be an adult. There are two other girls from my class going to the same site, so at least some friendly faces will be around.

We also have to assess a patient by using the COPM (Canadian Occupational Performance Measure). We practiced in class on a classmate, and watched a video, but giving it to a patient is going to be a whole different experience. The OT interviews the client to learn about their strengths and weaknesses. The client then rates all the activities discussed on their importance on a scale from 1 to 10. The client then chooses 3-5 activities that they would like to improve. The client then rates these activities on a scale from 1-10 on performance and satisfaction. The later in intervention the ratings should be taken again to see if there is improvement. There is no norm for this assessment, but it does measure if a person is more satisfied with their performance. I think this would be a great first assessment because you get to learn about the client and what is important to them.

Last week also started the first week of interviews at my school. Is it weird that I was nervous when I saw the signs? It is really strange to see people in suits all over our floor. This year they started putting current students in the individual interviews. I can't commit to being there for every interview, but the students who are involved seem to be enjoying it.  I'm sure we will have a great crop for next year. Seeing the interviewees reminded me why I chose my school. I wasn't going to go here originally, but I was so impressed with the staff and facilities I changed my mind. That is not an easy thing to do. That is why you should always tour the facility before you chose!

AMPS

Today in class we learned about the AMPS. This is an assessment that is completely occupation based. It looked really cool, and reminded me what occupational therapy is all about. It does seem hard to grade. My point is proven by the fact that you have to go to a week long training course to give the test. However, once you do that and give the test few times you send in the scores. Then they will send you back a personal calibration code. You send in basic scores, but then they do some analysis and return scores that say if the client can live independently and break it down into motor and process issues. Tomorrow we learn the COPM. We will see if I like that also. I hear good things though.