Occupational Therapy: Where Science and Spirituality Collide

Learning about a spinal cord injury (SCI) in class is important, but hearing personal testimonies helps facilitate an understanding of these situations.  Jordan Bone, a popular Vlogger and YouTube figure, talks about her struggles after her complete SCI at the C6 level.  First, Bone states how important knowing the associated issues that can arise from a SCI can be.  For instance, she struggles with autonomic dysreflexia which can quickly turn into a deadly situation.  Autonomic dysreflexia is characterized by hypertension, slowed heart rate, flushed skin and headache.  If symptoms like this occur in someone with a SCI, it is important to elevate their head because the results could be deadly. Thankfully, Bone knows when she is experiencing these symptoms and can educate others on how to proceed, but she talks about how many people, even in the health profession, don't know about this serious condition.  Another issue that Bone must pay attention to is her inability to regulate her

Everyone has their own story.  Each person has a history that depends significantly on family, friends and who that person is on an individual basis.  Even though my classmates all share the same goal, we all have various reasons why we want to become occupational therapists.  For me, first and foremost, my parents and siblings motivated me to continue working hard in school.  Each of my siblings has worked hard throughout school and given their best effort no matter the situation.  My mom homeschooled all five of us and, I think we all agree, that was motivation enough to get out of the house!  From my mom, I saw that I did have a certain enjoyment in teaching.  That was actually my first "dream" job.  I liked the idea of facilitating the success of others which is something very important in education.  However, I found myself just a few short years later wanting to become a dentist (I know, kinda random!)  Growing up, I was always the weird kid who loved to go to the denti

The other day in class we had a guest speaker, Fletcher Cleaves, come and share his testimony about his life after a serious car wreck.  Due to the distraction of another driver, Cleaves swerved to avoid the oncoming car and wound up crashing into a ravine.  After emergency transportation to a nearby hospital, medical personnel informed Cleaves he suffered a spinal cord injury and would never be able to walk again.  Let me interject here and say Cleaves was a freshman college football starter and in the best shape of his life.  I don't know all the details about how he initially dealt with this realization, but I have witnessed his accomplishments just eight years later.  Not only has he regained functions doctors told him he would never be able to such as living independently, he also has turned this seemingly hopeless situation into bright opportunities for others.  I was astounded at his entire outlook on life.  Here was a guy who before was looking at a successful career involv

For the past few days my classmates and I have been learning about the AOTA Code of Ethics and what each of the six different standards means.  Some of the regulations seem to me to be no-brainers, such as the one saying that health care providers should always refrain from doing harm to a client.  Intentionally hurting another human being seems like the opposite of what you are supposed to do as an OT.  Another of the codes, Autonomy, states that each individual has a right to what information of theirs is disclosed and that clinicians should refrain from posting information about clients on social media -- again, common sense.  Honestly, all of the codes seem to me to be pretty cut and dry, until you come to a situation where a 16-year-old pregnant girl asks you not to tell her mother about her pregnancy.  Uh oh!  When reading the descriptions of each of the rules, certain themes keep emerging: respect, honesty, fairness. On the surface, these seem pretty easy ideals to follow, but w

Chucky Mullins was a college football player who suffered a spinal cord injury in the cervical injury resulting in his loss of functioning in all four limbs.  Mullins went from a life of complete independence and success as a college athlete to complete dependence and reliance on caregivers.  After his injury he struggled with speaking and swallowing due to a medical trachea.  He hoped to still be able to attend college and get a degree. Occupational therapy services in this situation should be focused on adaptation in order to facilitate activity in meaningful occupations.  While his arms were unable to move, he still had neck and head control that could be used with adaptive equipment in operating a computer.  His intervention services should be focused on capitalizing on the movement he does have through the use of creative and innovative strategies.  Mullins may not be able to regain the ability to walk, but he definitely can return to the pursuit of activities that are meaningful

An aspect of the health care profession that excites me is the dynamic ways clinical reasoning is applied to the practice of occupational therapy.  Some ways to apply clinical reasoning skills are through the use of scientific, ethical and artistic elements.  The importance of evidence based practice cannot be emphasized enough! Ensuring that your clients are receiving the most scientifically supported evidence is the duty of every health care professional.  Regardless, even with the most scientifically based practice there are some issues that cannot be answered through science.  For instance, ethical reasoning is also a part of the health practice.  Knowing how to address every situation will always be a challenge as everyone is different, but I hope that I will strive to pursue routes that keep ethical standards intact.  Artistic reasoning is something I look forward to developing as I grow in my career.  This is where being able to read people in order to better interact with them

Yesterday, I had the incredible opportunity to participate in showing possible future OT students around my school.  First of all, I loved being on the other side of things where I already was in the program and not worrying about interviewing and getting accepted!  I also really enjoyed getting to know the possible future students of the program.  It was neat to hear their stories and see their excitement about the profession of occupational therapy.  Hearing others' perspectives on the program has always been fun for me because everyone has a different story of what brought them to the field and what they really want to pursue.  Having been a part of this fueled my excitement for the profession as well as meeting the incoming students!

Last week our school had a "Student Appreciation Day" where there was an abundance of food trucks, music and fun for the students and faculty.  I had a fantastic time eating wings, talking with classmates, and enjoying the day (it was a Monday and those days are typically difficult to enjoy!).  Truly, it was a fun time and a great break from the chaos of school.  While some people might have just looked at this as an opportunity for yummy free food, it reminded me of the great things in life I tend to forget!  So often I get wound up on little assignments or tests and quizzes that I forget to enjoy life and appreciate the opportunities before me.  In all honesty it really is the little things in life that can make a big difference, and how much more so do these things affect someone who cannot go out and experience them for themselves?  This got me to thinking -- how do people who are in a hospital enjoy their time?  I know that some places offer community services and activi

The reality of the sadness and frustration encountered by individuals after a traumatic brain injury (TBI) is quite evident when hearing testimonies of people who have personally dealt with TBIs.  Something that deeply saddens me about TBIs is the fact that they are unpredictable and debilitating in their results.  To go from fully functioning, to completely dependent on others is something that I cannot fathom the radical lifestyle change.  Not only do TBIs tend to completely change the way life looks for the individual, but they also can produce mood and personality changes in the individual.  Because TBIs vary considerably depending on the severity, where they occur in the brain, and even the functioning of the individual prior to the injury, effective treatment of TBIs can be difficult. An idea emphasized through the work of Kendall & Terry (2008) emphasizes discrepancies among people in coping after a TBI.  This study investigated the Goodness-of-Fit hypothesis and its ideal

I love what I do.  I cannot describe the amazing feeling of wanting to go to school and learn about my future career.  There is no dread.  There is no procrastination.  There is only excitement to learn. I cannot wait to become an occupational therapist! (BUT I also understand I have a long way to go).  This is truly the first time in my life that I have loved going to school and learning.  I honestly did not realize how much I disliked my undergraduate major until I started my graduate course studying OT at UTHSC.  While I love the idea of being completely fluent in Spanish by then end of my undergraduate career, all that I felt I learned was the history of other countries (ew!) and that I am terrible at speaking another language.  Now I don't want to indicate that I absolutely hate anything related to the Spanish language.  In fact, I think Spanish is a beautiful language spoken by amazing people.  I love the culture and food.  I loved my experience studying abroad in Costa Rica

When I was younger and watched The Three Stooges with my family, I would always cry at the end of the episodes because I would think about the poor set managers that would have to clean up the mess left by the three mischievous men.  In a culture filled with humor at the cost of another, violent movies and music that follows the breakup bashes of Taylor Swift, the idea that someone would cry over a few broken plates during the filming of a comedy is comical in itself.  While I do not tend to get upset about such matters anymore, I do also wonder where the line is between being overly sensitive and callous.  Empathy, I would hope, is a common personality characteristic found in the health care profession, but something that has struck me the longer I have been exposed to the health profession is how seemingly insensitive practitioners can sometimes appear.  Instead of embracing parents after informing them that their child is suffering from cancer, it seems that health care personnel si

Something I have been accustomed to growing up are the phrases "shake it off" or "suck it up" after falling down or sustaining an injury.  Having grown up in a family where there were many children to support on a tight budget, I understood the fact that a hospital visit was the last resort.  Undoubtedly this has facilitated my understanding that you shrug it off and move on.  To a certain extent, I agree with this ideal.  However, after learning the extreme results of certain injuries and their lifelong effects, I may have my future child's doctor on speed dial!  Something that continued to bother me during the story of nurse, Dawn Pereda, was the fact that her own facility where she worked sent her home after she sustained a severe head injury.  It wasn't until hours after alarming symptoms began to appear that she was screened for an injury.  By this point, it was too late.  Now life relies on a schedule that must be maintained or she will not be able to

The older I have grown the more I have seen the crippling effects of societal mindsets.  Simply looking at the various changes in roles of women, men, children, and races has revealed the side effects of societal norms.  From working on plantations without rights to their own bodies to finally becoming integrated and viewed as equal, African Americans have suffered the stigma associated with their race.  Alongside this is the issue of women's rights and their desires to become involved in the workforce.  Over time and gradual mindset changes equality and rights have been achieved, but I believe the real issue behind societal expectations can be found in the definitions of words and how they are used.  Aimee Mullins does an incredible job emphasizing the importance of word definitions and how they are used in her Ted Talks about the demeaning impact of the word "disabled" to refer to an individual with special needs.  By reading the synonyms listed with this word, Mullins