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 ...

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...

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...

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...

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 a...

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 o...

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!