Student Blog

Storytelling in OT ⟩
September 22, 2011, by Alix

What are OS/OT?

This past week, I attended a fantastic seminar on the power of storytelling and deep listening in healthcare settings. I had the privilege of meeting a number of other healthcare professionals and students, including doctors, nurses, psychologists, massage therapists, physical therapists, and even a hospice chaplain. (I became very adept at defining OT!) We learned about a technique called “joint construction of narrative,” which involves listening to the patient and helping him/her to weave a story out of his/her life and illness experience. Then, we learned about the importance of “mirroring” the patient’s story, reflecting it back truthfully rather than trying to “fix” the problems. (This is harder than it sounds!)

As a former English major, I love a good story, and one of the things I like most about OT is the opportunity to hear compelling life stories from clients. Because we aren’t saddled with the same time constraints as many other healthcare professionals, we can settle in and enjoy the rich process of listening to the people we work with. I think a lot of people, especially in underserved populations, don’t have many opportunities to tell their story in a nurturing, supportive environment. So it seems like we have a responsibility to provide that environment whenever we can with OT. Anyway, off my soapbox now! 😊 Bottom line: I’m excited to be able to take storytelling from my undergrad English days all the way into a new career in OT.

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Summit on Autism ⟩
September 21, 2011, by Floyd

Getting Involved What are OS/OT?

On Saturday, I went to an amazing event at UC Irvine’s Bren Events Center for KiDA’s (Kids Institute for Development and Advancement) third annual Summit on Autism where First Lady Rosalyn Carter was the keynote speaker. I learned about the newest technologies that parents and therapists can use to support their child’s learning, such as iPAD apps for kids. I also got to learn about the newest research on the vast amount of treatments and the resources that families can utilize. This was a great learning opportunity for me because I got to understand more about Autism, its impact on the family, and the positive effects of family involvement.

First Lady Rosalyn Carter, a national advocate for mental health and caregivers, founded the Carter Center’s Mental Health Task Force — a board of experts and consumers that advocate for positive change in the mental health field. She spoke about her past experiences as an advocate for mental health and how it is in our reach in ending the mental health crisis.

One very cool study that I got to learn about was about a couple that set up digital cameras in every room of their home and recorded 24 hours a day of their child’s development from birth to the age of 3. By using different movement and voice recognition systems, they were able to map out what words or babble their child said and where and what time it happened. This way, they were able to figure out what environment stimulated the most words and what the child was doing to develop his or her language. Obviously, this is still taking them some time to gather all the information because it is over 26,000 hours of film that they have to go through. Best of luck to them!

Here’s a pic of me tabling and telling everyone about the great opportunities there is at USC’s Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy!

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Inter-Disciplinary Student Collaboration ⟩
September 20, 2011, by Kimberly

Classes What are OS/OT?

One of my electives this semester is called “Occupational Therapy in Primary Healthcare Environments.” In this class we are looking at the various roles occupational therapists can take in primary healthcare settings like family clinics, emergency rooms, pediatric clinics, assisted living facilities, etc. It is a newer field for OT and focuses mainly on prevention and wellness. Also in this class, we are part of a pilot study titled Inter-Professional Geriatric Curriculum (IPGC) where we get to work with students studying to be doctors, physician’s assistants, pharmacists, and physical therapists. With this team, we will go visit a resident at a local assisted living facility and talk with him/her from the lens of our different disciplines and provide recommendations based on our different areas of expertise.

In preparation to my group’s first visit with our resident, we decided to meet for dinner to discuss strategy and get to know each other. We got to go around and describe what really we do in our professions, discuss our expectations for this class, and then discuss an approach to going in and talking with our resident. It was so inspiring to see the collaboration that happened naturally for all of us. We are all pretty easy-going, but no one was fighting over turf, stepping on others’ toes or trying to push their agenda. Hopefully when I graduate and enter the field a year from now, these kinds of relationships and partnerships will be present wherever I end up working. It’s fun to be able to understand/respect the other fields of expertise while also contributing OT’s unique perspective.

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My First OT Elective ⟩
September 19, 2011, by Chelsea

Classes What are OS/OT?

The second year of the Occupational Therapy program at USC gives students the opportunity to take their first OT elective course — their first opportunity to choose a course they are interested rather than having it be required! After doing my third Level I Fieldwork in hand therapy, I had a heightened interest in the field and in the prospect of getting certified to be a hand therapist. Although there were many awesome courses to choose as my one elective this fall, I had no trouble making the decision to take Hand Rehabilitation with Lisa Deshaies.

So far it has been incredible and is “hands down” my favorite class! We have learned so much practical knowledge about the anatomy of the hand and all kinds of different hand deformities and injuries. Professor Deshaies keeps the class interesting by reading us excerpts that relate to the hand in Sports Illustrated, showing us videos of the progress and personal struggle of a patient she treated, bringing in actual hand and arm cadavers to get a more “hands on” anatomy understanding, and leading great class discussions. Currently, I’m working on a Hand Observation Log for which I have been observing how people use their hands daily for functioning, communicating, and other daily activities. Surprisingly, you can tell a lot about a person by how they are using their hands. Some of the best aspects of the class are that the class is at night so I don’t need to wake up early, and it is credit/no credit making it less stressful than my other courses . . . however, it can be a bit of a “handful”!

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Another week of delicious-ness! ⟩
September 15, 2011, by Floyd

Living in LA School/Life Balance

I just had another fun-filled weekend! On Friday I went to a Gourmet Food Truck festival in Santa Fe and ate everything in sight! I got this delicious Mexican and Filipino infusion burrito that composed of garlic rice, chicken adobo, fried egg, and topped off with some Vietnamese rooster hot sauce, and it was delicious. I got a side of carne asada fries from a Mexican truck and a roll of tempura crunchy California roll from a Japanese truck. For dessert I got a basket of sweet potato fries and washed it down with some mango juice that I got from an Asian dessert truck. My friends and I ended the night relaxing in the hot tub with glasses of white wine, homemade chocolate chip cookies, lemonade tarts, and tiramisu. What a delicious night!

On Saturday, I went to a concert of variety of punk rock bands and indie bands at the House of Blues in downtown Disney. Since I have my annual pass to Disneyland, my friends and I hopped on over to the resort and saw the fireworks eating our jumbo turkey legs and drinking Disney’s Dole Whips (Like a root beer float but instead, it’s with pineapple juice and pineapple whipped ice cream).

Sunday, I ended my week for some “me time.” I went to Chinatown for some dim sum (Asian food that are miniature sized), and got a full body massage at my favorite place. Then I went home and lay on my bed and relaxed with some articles for class (I have to get some homework done sometime!). I canceled the rest of my other plans for the evening because sometimes, it’s just nice to be by yourself to reflect.

Ok, if you haven’t noticed, my world seems to revolve around eating good food and going to do fun stuff. That’s me!

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