Student Blog
Joe

New Year, New You ⟩
January 22, 2016, by Joe

It’s the start of my last semester in the MA program, and in some ways it feels totally new.

One of the unique parts of our program is that during this final semester, we get to take electives in addition to the required leadership & occupational science course. A lot of my classmates are using this opportunity to get started on specializations and certifications, such as fellow ambassador Heather who is immersed in hand therapy courses.

I’m a bit more eclectic in my approach . . .

Therapeutic Communication for the Healthcare Practitioner
I’m loving this experiential training course for learning Motivational Interviewing (MI), a really powerful communication tool to help clients settle ambivalence and motivate them towards behavior change. We spend a lot of time in class actually practicing MI skills, which has been so helpful that I find myself using it even among my friends.

Lifestyle Redesign
I came to USC OT because of my interest in helping people live better, healthier lives through changing their habits & routines. Lifestyle Redesign is a signature practice of USC, and I feel really shows the power of OT in helping people sustain a healthy lifestyle. We are paired with a partner for the semester to use the Lifestyle Redesign intervention approach. I’m really excited for both myself and my dear friend & fellow ambassador Rashelle will come out of the semester with even healthier lifestyles as well as strong Lifestyle Redesign skills.

Independent Study Project
I’m also working with Dr. Jenny Martinez on developing a diversity-related initiative with two of my classmates;we’ve only had one planning meeting so far, but our goal is to develop a project to support “best practices” with clients of diverse backgrounds.

Social Entrepreneurship
For our electives, we can take some courses outside of OT, so I elected to take a course from the Master’s of Business Administration program. Social Entrepreneurship essentially looks at how to develop a business model to address social change in social justice, environmental, and/or healthcare fields (or more!). So far, it’s been one of my most exciting classes, and I’ve been generating so many ideas on different ways to deliver healthcare services, and ways non-profit and for-profit models can balance each other for greater social good.

It’s an exciting semester! I can’t believe the program is almost done!

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Leadership and Interprofessional Collaboration ⟩
October 27, 2015, by Joe

Getting Involved

This past week I had a very special opportunity: the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) invited me to represent OT at their National Student Conclave (NSC) in Omaha, NE. USC Chan really emphasizes leadership & innovation in the field, so I was able to attend this 2 day conference with support from faculty & the program through a Leadership Award.

Physical Therapy is one of our most frequent care team partners, so attending their student conclave was a unique opportunity to discuss interprofessional collaboration and get a better understanding of their profession on a national-level. I met with the leaders of the APTA Student Assembly and had meaningful conversations on how to manage our large student bodies and better develop student leaders. Funny enough, the point person for their interprofessional initiatives is a PT student from USC! My fellow Trojans did a great job at representing our school: winning the APTA Student Advocacy award, and playing an integral role in bringing together other professions to attend their National Student Conclave.

The sessions I attended were really enlightening as far as PTs’ practice concerns, and I was able to answer some questions student’s had about OT & collaboration in clinical practice. One of my favorite moments was the Town Hall with Sharon Dunn, DPT, the current President of APTA.

As the lone OT, I asked her to describe what she considered the challenges and future of interprofessional collaboration. Her response?  Doing exactly what I was doing at their NSC — having collaborative conversations with each other when we weren’t in the high stakes/high stress environment of the clinic.

Inspired to work on more interprofessional initiatives with students from other disciplines. Stay tuned!

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Fieldwork Week: Pediatrics! ⟩
October 17, 2015, by Joe

Fieldwork

For our Level 1 Fieldwork experience, we spend one day a week for 10 weeks at one clinical site to practice some of the skills we learn in class. In the middle of the semester, which is the point we’re in now, we also spend one full week at our fieldwork site to get a better sense of what it would be like to practice in this type of setting on a “full-time schedule.” As I mentioned last week, I am in the Pediatrics immersion this semester; my fieldwork site is a private outpatient clinic for children with autism.

During this clinical week, I was able to work with one of the boys, “Landon” (not his real name), to target fine motor development, and in order to get him interested in treatment, I had to find ways to make it fun and playful!

So here is my “super fancy, high-tech, top-of-the-line” fine motor tool:

Landon really loved playing with this little green dude. Using a simple toy like a tennis ball, we were able to work on:

We also worked on:

Landon really had a great time playing with Penn, one of the aides had to interrupt us to get him to the next session. One of the best parts of this fieldwork experience has been playing with the kids and finding fun new ways to provide treatment through games and toys. The children seem to love it, and it’s fun for us too!

Fieldwork week is over! Time to go back to class . . .

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Silly OTs . . . Peds are for Kids! ⟩
October 8, 2015, by Joe

Classes What are OS/OT?

This week Pediatrics has focused on Sensory Integration, which basically looks at how a child’s sensory processing relates to their motor planning and ability to engage in occupation. Sensory Integration, or “SI”, was started by USC’s own A. Jean Ayres, who was part of the first OT class to graduate from USC in 1945!

When I first looked into OT, I found this to be one of the most fascinating specialty areas . . . and today, I also found out that it can be super fun!

In lab, we got to use a variety of the tools & equipment needed for effective Sensory Integration treatment.

It might look like we’re playing in a kids’ gym or maybe training for the circus, but we use these tools to provide important sensory experiences for children with sensory processing disorders (which is common for children with Autism, for instance). The various types of swings, mats, and sensory “toys” give us fun, playful ways to target a child’s sensory systems related to touch, movement in space, & bodily awareness. Through this type of targeted therapy, we aim to help develop a child’s neurological systems to better process information from the environment to support their engagement in activities, such as play and daily living.

You can read up more on Sensory Integration.

Now I’m off to my next fun occupation!

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Starting Early: The Next Generation Of OTs ⟩
October 1, 2015, by Joe

Getting Involved

Last week, I represented USC Chan at an expo for high school guidance counselors.

While we do offer a direct admit Bachelor’s-to-Master’s program, occupational therapy practice requires a Master’s degree so I was curious how much interest we would receive from high schoolers . . . I mean, I didn’t even know about OT until I was 27!

Turns out there’s a lot of interest! (Which you already knew, you are reading this blog after all . . .)

One of the guidance counselors from St. Louis, MO came directly to us to ask about our programs, because “all my students want to be OTs!” It was such a thrill to hear that even teenagers are voicing interests in joining this awesome profession.

Time did call us one of the top 5 “Most In-Demand Jobs”. And U.S. News & World Report ranks us in the top 10 “Best Health Care Jobs”.

In the comments, tell us about when you first discovered OT!

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