Student Blog

Finding Balance ⟩
September 10, 2013, by Jen

Getting Involved School/Life Balance

Yesterday in my “Health Promotion and Wellness” course, we discussed finding balance (or lack thereof) in our lives. A balanced life includes leisure, individual care, free/unscheduled time, and efforts in school/work activities. It may not surprise you that an overwhelming majority of my day falls in the “efforts in school/work activities” category. Thankfully, I greatly enjoy what I do in school and the work I do outside of school. Something I am very involved in is USC’s Occupational Therapy and Science Council. I am currently the chairperson of the organization and it is a busy time for me because elections are underway for the first-year master’s students in the program. I am looking forward to elections being over, because I remember how excited I was to last year to find out I received a position on the council and want this year’s first-year students to have that same feeling. Because our program at USC is two years long, the term for each of the positions on the council are two years long. Tonight is the night that voting closes, so I’m sure the candidates are eagerly awaiting the results. Good luck to all!

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Feelin crazy, but in a crazy awesome program!! ⟩
September 9, 2013, by Ryan

Classes Externships

Whoa! What a crazy two weeks! Actually, it has been a nice transition from summer because we had Monday off for the Labor Day holiday. Also, each semester we are required to fulfill a Level I Fieldwork within the immersion that we are learning (mine is Adult Physical Rehab & Disability) that is just one day a week. We don’t start our fieldwork until September 18th, so I had Wednesday off, meaning I had two days off of school last week (I know, I shouldn’t complain). Going into our third week, I already have a test in my Adult Rehab course tomorrow (we’ll see how that goes) . . . but I am interested in today’s optional lunch meeting provided for us second year students. It is a Q&A panel for our upcoming course this spring, OT 580 Leadership Externship. OT 580 is a class where we get to explore leadership, advocacy, ethical reasoning, professional behavior and public policy opportunities as they impact the practice of occupational therapy, without actually practicing. We have the chance to go to other countries, work with different companies or populations in order to learn new skills to add alongside our OT practice. In the past, students have traveled to Ghana and worked alongside staff at orphanages advocating for OT. I think this is so exciting! I am looking forward to gaining more information about it today and thinking about what I might want to do . . . ideas, anyone?

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One of My True Loves: USC Football ⟩
September 9, 2013, by Kate

Living in LA School/Life Balance

Let’s be honest: this past weekend was bittersweet. I am a huge, and I mean HUGE, USC football fan, so let me explain a bit more . . .

Once of the best perks about being a USC student (undergraduate or graduate), is that you can buy a discounted season pass for all the home football games. Before each home game, occupational therapy students put on a joint tailgate with the students from the physical therapy program. We rally around all things USC and spend time getting to know each other better outside of school. It is a great way to spend your Saturday!

However, not all Saturdays end with a “win.” This past Saturday was USC football’s home opener against the Washington State Cougars. I attended the OT/PT tailgate with two of my best friends. We laughed, played games and were excited for our USC Trojans to beat the Cougars! The game itself was exciting. It was a perfect summer night, not too hot, not too cold. But when the game was over, it was not the ending we had all wanted. The Cougars beat the Trojans 10-7, and we left a bit broken-hearted. Not all was lost, though; I remember the great time I had with my friends, fellow OT students and new PT friends. And like all Trojans, we will Fight On!!

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Play for Pediatrics ⟩
September 6, 2013, by Jen

Classes Fieldwork What are OS/OT?

Babies, babies, babies! I love how “hands-on” my professors make learning. This semester, nine hours of my school week are dedicated to pediatrics classes and an entire day each week I will be spending doing fieldwork (hands-on experience) in a pediatric clinic. Six of the nine hours of class are spent in a lecture course, with the remaining three hours in lab. This week in lab, our class walked across campus to the USC childcare center to observe infants, toddlers and preschoolers. I spent the majority of my time in the toddler room and those little ones were quite the entertainers. In lecture this week we had been learning about normal vs. abnormal child development, so observing children in their natural environment in lab really helped solidify the content we had been learning. After observing the children, we walked back to class and performed assessments of the children based on our observations. We compared our results and it was exciting to see how accurate we were!

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New Year, New Roles, Same Old Happy OTs! ⟩
September 6, 2013, by Clarissa

Fieldwork Getting Involved

Walking into class last Monday felt like walking into a land of happy, supportive people who I’ve missed so much over summer!  I had a great time trading stories from our 12-week Level II fieldwork and really feeling that empathy from one another for our trials and triumphs. Occupational therapy is such a broad field and it is almost impossible to have hands on learning in all practice settings, so our conversations were fascinating educational experiences as well!

As for my summer experience, I did my Level II at a skilled nursing facility in Northern California where I worked with patients who had various physical disabilities such as spinal cord injury, stroke and orthopedic fractures. I conducted evaluations and engaged patients in treatment sessions in order to improve their participation in meaningful activities. Eventually I was responsible for managing a full caseload, so about seven patients a day, just like a practicing therapist! Talk about time management as a key skill to acquire! I learned a lot from my patients and other therapists but the experience has taught me one thing — there’s still so much for me to learn! That’s one thing I value about OT — it is a dynamic field with constant opportunities for self-improvement. Now that I’ve seen how educational material is applied in practice, I will definitely be learning in school with a new lens.

I’m looking forward to what the new school year will bring! I adore kids and am currently in the Pediatrics Immersion where we’ve started analyzing videos of very cute kids. I’m also enjoying my new position as a Student Ambassador. I love talking about OT to anyone who will listen, so this position is perfect for me. Another new role for me is the care team coordinator position for the Student Run Clinic, which is an interdisciplinary clinic run by USC students from the pharmacy, medicine, physician assistant, and, of course, occupational therapy programs. I’m excited to learn about how OT can grow in primary care and how our professions complement one another.

Until next time, happy back to school, and go USC OT!

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