Student Blog
A global reach ⟩
October 24, 2013, by Rob
Occupational therapy is a profession practiced worldwide, with 80 different nations represented in our global association, the World Federation of Occupational Therapists. USC has embraced the global nature of the profession with the MA-I program, which offers a one-year master’s degree to practicing clinicians, both from the United States and internationally.
I recently received a picture from my friend Toshi, who came from Japan last year to do his MA-I at USC. After finishing the program, he returned to Kyoto, where he works in the sub-acute care sector of adult rehabilitation. I’ve attached his picture at the bottom and I’m glad to see our buttons proudly displayed in his work space!
The opportunity to integrate with practitioners from other countries is of great value to us as students. Being exposed to a broader perspective on occupational therapy continues to challenge us to keep an open mind when it comes to our expectations on what OT should look like. And we get to meet interesting people from a variety of backgrounds and expand our interconnected network of OTs across the world.
Toshi, you may be across the world from us, but you will never be far from our hearts!
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Friends and Tiffany & Co. ⟩
October 23, 2013, by Clarissa
This weekend, I got to share my passion for running with some of my friends in the occupational therapy program. After class last Friday, we packed into a car and drove up to San Francisco for my fourth Nike Women’s Half Marathon.
Sharing the seven-hour drive to and from San Francisco made me realize how much I will miss being around my classmates when the school year is over. The last year and a half has gone by so fast and I can’t believe I only have a little over one semester left to spend with some of the warmest, most supportive, driven, and fun people I know. My classmates inspire me to be a better person all the time, both professionally and personally.
As you can see, one of the reasons I love the program here at USC is because of the people in it — students, staff and faculty. I’ve always had competitive school experiences, and it amazes me how much OTs support one another’s successes. I remember our late night study sessions in the library our first summer here and we still debrief one another about our fieldwork experiences. Through this program, I know I’ve made some lifelong connections and friendships.
Friendship isn’t the only thing that’s forever — so is Tiffany & Co. One of the best things about the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco is that our “medal” for completing the race is a Tiffany’s necklace presented to us on a silver platter by a fireman. Another awesome shared experience to add to the list? I think so. Pictured below are two other USC OTs, Megan and Colette, with me and our fireman!
Nike Womens Half Marathon
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USC Interdisciplinary Health Symposium! ⟩
October 21, 2013, by Kate
This Saturday, the USC Student-Run Clinic presented the 3rd Annual USC Interdisciplinary Health Symposium. I was fortunate enough to be on the planning committee for this event as part of the USC Student-Run Clinic Occupational Therapy Board. Since the first week of school, I have been meeting with different students from the other health profession programs (medicine, physician assistant and pharmacy) to put together the panels and topics to be covered. This year the keynote covered disaster-preparedness, an all-too important topic since we live in California, the home of a few earthquakes here and there. The afternoon tracks included cerebrovascular accident (CVA aka stroke) and motivational interviewing, or what to do after a disaster hits. There was great attendance by students from all the programs and I am so proud to have been a part of it!
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USC Division of OS/OT Rocks! ⟩
October 21, 2013, by Ryan
Getting Involved School/Life Balance
Let’s see, today I want to talk about how much I love having such supportive faculty and staff here at USC Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy. I have been feeling very overwhelmed this semester, of course, because there is a lot I have to learn in order to be such a fantastic OT but I have also taken on more activities this semester. One, that I am a Student Ambassador, which includes 10 hours a week of assisting the Admissions team by pumping up prospective students during the stressful time of either choosing a career in occupational therapy and/or choosing the number one school in the country for OT (USC, of course).
I am also working in a non-profit group called Active Minds and helping start a chapter at USC to educate students about mental illness issues as well as promote mental well-being throughout our lives. The first month of school I thought I could handle the stress of the my course workload on my own because I did it last year, but eventually I decided one day after class to talk to my professor about how much trouble I was having completing all the assignments on time. She made me feel so much better by giving me suggestions on ways to catch up and suggested meeting the following week to see if I need any more help.
In addition, I have decided to take advantage of the OT Faculty Practice on campus and receive free (because of the student health insurance) OT services to help me manage all the extra work I have been trying to do this semester. My occupational therapist is great! The first session seemed so simple and then I realized amazingly she had switched it around so that I was doing the work without even realizing it. So good, right?! This has caused me to slowly start taking on ways to look at my schedule and organize it in a more efficient and meaningful way. And she has done this in such a collaborative way that makes me feel so empowered, that I could eventually do on my own. I love Occupational Therapy! These are just two more experiences that have given me more insight into other facets of occupational therapy and will be a great addition for when I finally become a practitioner myself.
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Kid-tastic! ⟩
October 18, 2013, by Clarissa
Last week, I got to spend every day with kids, yay! At USC there’s one full week out of the first three semesters that the students spend at fieldwork and I’m at a school-based pediatric site this semester. I went with my clinical instructor (CI) to several schools for most of each day and then to a clinic for about two treatment sessions before wrapping up. It was really great meeting all the kids that my CI works with, observing her treatments, participating in partial treatments, and also trying out my fine motor toolkit! I practiced documentation too, which wasn’t too stimulating, but I’m still grateful since it’s a necessary part of clinical work.
Anyway, back to the fun stuff! As you read, last week I created a fine motor toolkit and I used it to implement treatments on a few of the kids with fieldwork. My favorite activity was one I call Tennis Ball Monster where I used a tennis ball with a slit cut into it for the mouth and with a face drawn on. I then instructed the child to squeeze the tennis ball so the mouth opens and it can eat pom poms! This is to trick the kid into doing several things on my hidden agenda like hand strengthening, practicing a particular grasp that would eventually help the kid with writing, developing the arches of the hand, and work on thumb opposition which is integral to several types of grasps. Like my pediatrics professor says, “The trick is to outsmart the kid.” Muahaha.
Seriously, though, the creativity is one element of occupational therapy that I love. We’re all motivated in different ways and I love the challenge of tapping into what intrinsically motivates each client.
I don’t know about you, but my fine motor toolkit would be motivating to me, even now! Look at all the animals and colors!
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