Megan’s Blog

     Yesterday was my last day at my clinicalfieldwork site. It feels great to know that I have accomplished the one hundred fieldwork hours needed for OTA 130. There were very few patients seen yesterday at my site, because the facility has had more residents return home this week after having completed therapy. I feel that I have learned a lot this quarter and at the same time have so much more to learn over the quarters to come. Everyone treated me well and I felt they all were willing to help me understand anything throughout the time I spent at the facility. Overall my level one fieldwork was a positive experience and I am looking forward to my level 2 fieldwork sites to get to have more hands-on practice and experience different clinical sites with a wider range of patient deficits.

     Progress Note: I finished my 100 hours this week and have gained a better understanding of both occupational and physical therapy over the past 10 weeks. I am looking forward to working further into the OTA program and learning more as I go.

     Yesterday during clinicals I was I had the chance to go on a second home evaluation with the occupational therapist, physical therapist and the second year OTA student. It was a completely different experience from the firsthome evaluation I went on. While they evaluated and assessed the same household things and safety concerns, it was different because the patients home we were assessing met the patients need where as the last home was far from being functional for the patient. It was interesting to be able to see the rewards of the therapy process, this particular patient I met and have gotten to know since her first day at Willow Haven Care Center and I interviewed her for the OTA 130 assignment. It was great to see her through the entire therapy process and get to see her return home and back to her original life style prior to her injury.

     I also had the chance to see more hands on therapy working with self care and ADLs verses the usual of just seeing exercise treatments, mainly the stationary bike (physical therapy has the pt. bike with their legs and occupational therapy has the pt. bike with their arms). I enjoyed working with the patients on their ADLs, getting dressed, bathing and kitchen tasks better than just using exercise, while I know and understand both are therapy treatments.

     Progress Note: I was able to observe a second home evaluation and see the particular patient go through the whole therapy process and return, which was great to see the positive outcome. I had the opportunity to see and work with patients on self care and ADLs in addition to exercises.

     Last Thursday during clinicals I saw very little therapy treatment, due to the fact that the substitute therapy director sent both myself and the second year OTA student Lauri on a walker hunt and labeling mission. We were suppose to find all the walkers that belong to the facility and return them to the therapy storage room. All the personal walkers that the residents own and use we were to make sure the resident’s name was on the walker and if not make a name label for it. While I understand that this has to be taken care of in a long term care facility, like here at Willow Haven Care Center, I did not think that this would fall into the responsibilities of a COTA. Does anyone else have any thoughts on this or similar experiences?

     I can honestly say that I am looking forward to clinicals ending, not because I dislike the facility or any one at the facility, but because this quarter has been really overwhelming and busy. I have learned quite a bit of information this quarter and become much more knowledgeable with OTA and understand more how we works to treat the patients. I am looking forward to see what the next year of the OTA program holds for me and the rest of the individuals in the class.

     Progress Note: I am glad that the quarter is coming to an end and I have almost completed my one hundred hours. I felt that the walker search was not the best way to have been spending clinical observation hours, but do understand that there are many diverse areas of working in therapy.

     I found the past week of clinicals to be somewhat frustrating. Since my clinical supervisor, Roxie is on vacation I am to observe and work with Tanya. However, she has been busy with meetings, paperwork and supervising so I have observed Lauri the second year OTA student and physical therapy for the majority of my hours this week. I am not saying that I haven’t seen an occupational therapy treatments in the last week, because I have been able to see Lauri treating patients and get an idea of what level 2 fieldwork is going to be like, but at the same time I wish my clinical supervisor was at site for me to ask questions and have more hands on with the patients.

     On a more exciting note, there were 3 patients that got to return home this week after having a short term stay at Willow Haven for their therapies. And since I have been able to see a small portion of all of their treatments and get to know them some, it was exciting to see how much progress they had made and how happy they each were to get to go home.

     Progress Note: I only have 15 more hours or so to complete and I was able to see 3 patients return home after having finished therapy this week. I am not getting to see as much O.T. as I would like to.

     The past few times that I have visited my facility, I have spent the majority of my hours working with physical therapy, instead of occupational therapy. My clinical supervisor is also the the supervisor of the therapy department at Willow Haven and does not have as much timeas the other COTAs, PTAs, the OT and the PT there. I enjoy seeing both the therapies and being able to understand physical therapy in addition to occupational, but I feel that my time would be better spent if the majority of it was with the OT or the COTA.

     For the next two weeks Roxie, my supervising COTA is going to be out of town on vacation, so I will be finishing my level one fieldwork up with another COTA, Tanya. Prior to being accepted into the OTA program I did my observation hours with Tanya when she worked for Cedar Hill Care Center, which is one of the other Zandex facilities. Tanya is extremely smart and creative and I look forward to spending the next couple weeks as I finish up the quarter observing and working with her.

    Also, earlier this week on Tuesday, Amy Kish came to the facility to see how I was doing in my fieldwork site and to talk with my supervisor about my strenghts and areas of improvement. Overall I think that it went well, I knew before Roxie told Amy my area of improvement is that I need to speak of more and not be so quite, other than that I would say I am doing good. 

Progress Note: I have observed more physical therapy than occupational recently and there is going to be a change in my clinical supervisor over the next couple of weeks. I had my fieldwork assessment and it went well.

     Last week my clinical supervisor Roxie, changed my fieldwork hours since her work schedule has been altered. I am now visiting my fieldwork site three days a week, between three and four hours a day, for the total of ten per week.  I would prefer my schedule to have consisted of more hours over one or two days then three, but I know and understand that I have to be flexible.

     Last Tuesday while the COTA and nurse were transferring a patient with a hoyer lift the COTA bumped the patients right foot with the lift causing a wound to open. The patient immediately started bleeding, without either the patient, the COTA or the nurse noticing blood was quickly pouring onto the floor. I notified the COTA and she said they would take care of it after the transfer was finished and she had an opportunity to situation the patient in his new wheelchair with a headrest, pummel cushion, leg supports, foot rest, raised arm rest and after reclining the seat. I told her again as the amount of blood on the floor and on the patient continued to increase and she then decided to wait on situating the wheelchair, which I think should have been the last priority from the time I notified them of the continuously bleeding wound. I do not do well with blood at all; strangely I am able to smell it before I see it and it was no different in this situation. Once I saw it and told the COTA, I went down hill from there, I got dizzy and flushed. At this time the COTA and nurse finally decided that they should figure out what had happened and take care of the problem. Around the same time the PTA came into the room and looked at me and asked if I was okay, I told her that I do not do well with blood and she said that I could go ahead and step out of the room to get some fresh air, which was needed. It really surprised me that the COTA and the nurse did not make the open wound their first priority, and I am curious as if that is common or not?

     Last Thursday, Roxie and the majority of the therapy department were not at the facility, due to a perfect attendance banquet, that all staff except salary with perfect attendance went. So, I spent the day with the physical therapist, Lisa. I enjoy observing both physical and occupational therapies, because I think it is important to have an understanding of what physical therapy does even though I am going into the OTA field.

Progress Note: Hours were changed this week and I am still a couple hours behind schedule. I really enjoy the therapy department at Willow Haven and continue to learn more and more with each visit to the facility. I had another opportunity to observe physical therapy in addition to the occupational therapy.

     I have now completed close to thirty hours of my level 1 fieldwork requirement for OTA 130. My COTA supervisor is allowing me to help create the treatment plans for some of the patients and also allowing me to treat the patient hands on with supervision. I have become more comfortable with the facility and the therapy department, now that I understand and know what is expected of me as an occupational therapy assistant student completing level 1 fieldwork. Also, the more hands on experience I have the better I understand the therapy process and treatment and the more I am able to apply what I have learned in class. This past week I have had a great deal of opportunity to work with the physical therapist in addition, I have become more aware of the occupational therapy verses physical therapy differences and how they work together to help the patient recovery and regain as much independence as possible.

Progress Note: I am approximately two hours behind on the ten hours per week schedule, due to the number of patients varying day to day. Roxie, my level 1 supervisor says that I will have plenty of opportunities to catch up on hours and if more hours are still needed there is an out of class project that can be completed to fulfill the full amount of hours necessary. I have had more hands on practice with the patients and I am becoming more comfortable within the fieldwork setting.

My level 1 fieldwork facility is Willow Haven Care Center and I am observing Roxie Lincicome, COTA/L who graduated from the Occupational Therapy Assistant program at Zane State College. My first couple of days I was nervous and not sure what was to be expected of me.  Everyone at the facility has been very welcoming and the entire therapy department, occupational, physical and speech therapy have all been very open and helpful whenever I have had a question or not understood something.  At first, I was unsure of how involved I was supposed to be with the patients but as time progressed I have had several opportunities to participate and help treat patients with guidance from Roxie.  At this point with the minimal fieldwork experience that I have had, I feel that concepts and theories of O.T. are making more sense and I am learning lots from the hands on practice.

My supervisor Roxie is great, she explains everything, whether I ask or not and always is willing to further explain and even let me participate. In addition to observing and working with Roxie, I have been able to observe physical therapy and some speech therapy and see some of the differences and how speech, physical and occupational therapy work together.

Initial Note – My fieldwork facility is Willow Haven Care Center, part of the Zandex Corporation in Zanesville, Ohio; I visit the facility twice a week/ 10 hours per week for ten weeks. My fieldwork supervisor in Roxie Lincicome, COTA/L.  The fieldwork experience so far has been positive and I am looking forward to more fieldwork opportunities and learning experiences.

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