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Clinical Reasoning

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 is important.  I also look forward to learning how to use the interests and hobbies of clients in order to provide the best therapy I can.  This is what I love about my future career as an occupational therapist!  Not only is the profession a dynamic practice that you can tailor to your interests but it also looks different based on the clinical practice of each professional.  I cannot wait to learn and grow in the profession and in my clinical reasoning skills!

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