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Electives: OT Generalist to Specialist ⟩
April 17, 2019, by Jessica P.

Classes

In the spring semester of the second-year in the Master’s program, we get the opportunity to take elective courses. Like all OT programs, USC Chan prepares us to be OT generalists when we graduate, but we also get to take 12-14 units of elective coursework. These courses allow us to begin to focus in an area of interest, taking you from an OT generalist to specialist. Our division offers over 20 electives and also gives us the opportunity to take classes outside of the Chan division. For example, if you are interested in opening your own private practice you could take courses in the USC Marshall School of Business or if you are interested in health policy you could take courses in the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.

I wanted to share a little more in-depth about the electives I chose to take this semester to give you a glimpse at all of the hands-on opportunities I’ve had throughout this semester.

OT 561: Occupational Therapy in Acute Care
In this class we have a lecture portion where we learn about the blend between a top-down occupation-based approach and bottom-up systems-based approach within the context of acute care. In addition to the class, we also get to complete a clinical experience portion at Keck Hospital of USC. At Keck, we get hands-on experience working with occupational therapists in a variety of settings. During my clinical experience, I was fortunate enough to see OTs working in various ICUs, neurology, cardiology, and orthopedics.

OT 573: Hand Rehabilitation
Throughout this course we learned how to blend the art and science of hand therapy in order to first be occupational therapists and then hand therapists. It was very hands-on, using case studies, splinting scenarios, and even a functional anatomy super bowl. Our professor taught us about addressing topics such as wound healing, scar management, physical agent modalities, splinting, peripheral nerve injuries, and arthritis — and most importantly, addressing these topics with an occupation-based approach. For my classmates who are interested in pursuing advanced practice in hands, the hours from this class counts towards their education hours!

OT 574: Enhancing Motor Control for Occupation
This course emphasizes using motor control techniques in order to increase engagement in occupations. For the first four weeks of the semester, we focused on learning basic mobilizations and facilitations on each other utilizing handling skills based on the Neurodevelopment Treatment Approach. After this, we had weekly two-hour treatment sessions with our patient models. These patient models are real people who have all experienced a stroke. Each week, we would develop and implement a treatment plan with our patients as well as give them homework to work on.

My group’s patient, Louis, was one of the best teachers I have had in OT school. He allowed us to try out different treatment ideas and was always so motivated to work with us. I learned how to grade treatment sessions to the “just-right challenge” and always have back-up plans. Most importantly, Louis taught me about resilience and the difference that a positive attitude can make on the recovery process.

OT 575: Dysphagia Across the Lifespan
In dysphagia we learned about the anatomy and physiology of the structures involved in swallowing and how this impacts the occupation of eating. We also learned assessment and treatment strategies for patients of all ages in different settings. Through lectures, case studies, and hands-on techniques we learned about how occupational therapists can have a distinct role in approaching dysphagia management. One of my favorite lectures was on performing oral exams and we even got to test our classmates’ gag reflexes! Luckily, since I am interested in pursuing my advanced practice in dysphagia, this course counts towards 24 out of the 45 hours needed for specialization in California.

Throughout all of my classes in the program at USC there has been a strong emphasis on occupation-based approaches. After all occupation is in our job title! The electives I chose to take took it even further with demonstrating how to stay occupation-based in settings or with populations where a bottom-up, biomechanical model may be more typical. I feel so grateful to have had the opportunity to customize my coursework with electives this semester to prepare myself for the areas of practice and specialization I am interested in pursuing.

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And So It Begins . . . One Last Time ⟩
February 4, 2019, by Melissa

Classes

Hey guys! This semester is now in full swing after a wonderful and restful break. For those of you that don’t know, our final semester in the program consists of a variety of electives that allow us to specialize/customize our academic experience! I talk about what that entails in one of my previous posts, so check it out if you’re interested in knowing more!

In this post, I want to talk a bit more in depth about the courses that I am taking, as I find it fascinating that we get this opportunity to customize our learning experience. Although I’ve found our curriculum thus far to be incredibly useful and important for our foundational knowledge of the profession, being able to take courses that I have chosen based on my own personal preferences is amazing! Although I am interested in both pediatrics and adult physical rehabilitation, I chose to focus more on my interests in physical rehab. Thus, I’m taking courses in Primary Care, Acute Care, Neurorehabilitation, and Dysphagia, in addition to our Leadership Capstone, and Occupational Science course. It is definitely a full course load, but I’m enjoying it tremendously.

My Primary Care and Acute Care courses have an additional clinical component in which we get to shadow an occupational therapist in those respective settings. For the Acute class, we get to go across the street to Keck Hospital, where we get to see some incredibly complex cases. The medical complexity surrounding some of the cases we see really adds an additional layer to the problem solving we have to do in our career as OTs. Learning about all of the medical conditions we might encounter in class, and then immediately seeing some of those conditions during our clinical experiences is pretty surreal, but it truly helps to solidify the information that we are learning.

Occupational therapy in primary care is an emerging area for our profession, but it makes complete sense to have OTs in that setting! We learn all about the complexities associated with primary care — particularly surrounding the constantly changing policy and reimbursement challenges — and how that impacts our ability to be included as part of a patient’s care in that setting. For our clinical experiences, we have the option to shadow an OT providing direct care in a primary care setting, or to see what consultative OT looks like as well! Again, being able to apply what we’re learning in class to a real-life situation is amazing, and so helpful for my learning.

Although the Neurorehabilitation and Dysphagia courses don’t have a clinical component, there is still a lot of hands-on learning involved. In Neurorehab, we get to practice different assessments on each other, which is useful because a sense of mastery is necessary to execute these assessments well. In Dysphagia, we learn all about the anatomy associated with swallowing, and also practice swallowing assessments on each other to aid in our knowledge. Another cool thing about the Dysphagia course is that the hours in the course count towards our certification in that area! There is a certain amount of hours that have to be completed as part of that certification, therefore it’s great that we get a head start.

In addition to all of the exciting things going on related to my clinical experiences and electives, I get to look forward to completing my externship in March, welcoming the incoming class in April, and of course graduation in May! I had heard from other students that the Spring semester is a whirlwind that goes by very quickly, and now I definitely know what they mean! If you have any questions about the elective process, any of the specific course, or anything about the program in general, feel free to reach out!

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Spring Semester: Second and the last semester ⟩
January 28, 2019, by Goeun

Classes

Since the Post-Professional Master’s program is a one-year program, the second semester which I’m taking now is my last semester! Although it was one of the reasons why I chose the USC Chan Division, it feels so fast since I started the program.

The first semester was pretty tough, getting used to school as well as adapting to new environments. However, I think the Post-Professional Master’s Program is well-structured with curriculum and the Division has been really supportive for international students.

In the fall semester, I mostly took required courses with one elective course, OT 500: Clinical Problems in Occupational Therapy, which helps international students to be eligible to take NBCOT exam. In the spring semester, on the other hand, I mostly take elective courses and two required courses. Speaking of electives, it was really nice as I could choose what I want and interested in, but at the same time, it was really confusing as I wanted to take more than I can.

It was hard to choose, but among all the electives, I decided to take four of them:

OT 574: Enhancing Motor Control for Occupation,
OT 578: Therapeutic Communication: Facilitating Changes in Clients,
OT 583: Current Application of Lifestyle Redesign, and
OT 575: Dysphagia across the Lifespan: Pediatrics through Geriatrics (for the first six weeks).

I chose those courses because some are very new to me, especially the Lifestyle Redesign which is developed in here. I also chose some courses that are a little bit familiar to me as I wanted to learn some perspectives from the US. So far, I’m enjoying the courses. I love that I can have hands-on practices with classmates as well as real patients and I’m looking forward to learning more!

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Winter Wrap Up ⟩
December 10, 2018, by Jessica P.

Classes

Every semester as a student, I feel that each semester goes by faster and faster. The weeks tend to fly by and before I know it, it’s the end of the semester. Last night, I turned in my final paper and officially am done with my fall semester. Towards the end of the semester, things tend to get busy with final projects wrapping up, papers to turn in, and exams to prepare for. While it can be overwhelming if you don’t stay on top of things, I find it to be my favorite time of the year. It’s really a chance to reflect on all you have learned and done throughout the semester.

In our OT 501: Adult Physical Rehabilitation last lab, we had an adaptive cooking lab. This was a chance for us to try different adaptive cooking utensils ourselves hands-on! We held a potluck style breakfast and all brought in food to make and eat with different tools.

In OT 537: Occupation-Centered Programs for the Community, we presented our program proposals that we have been developing all semester long. My group and I created a program called “Viviendo con Dolor Cronico: A Lifestyle Redesign Approach to Chronic Pain Management” which is focused on chronic pain in the immigrant population.

Lastly, we had our last class together as an entire cohort. Being together since day 1, our cohort has gone through all three of the immersions together: mental health, pediatrics, and adult physical rehabilitation. Next semester, we no longer will have a class all together as a full cohort as we will be taking different electives in the areas we are individually interested in pursuing.

And just like that . . . the semester is over. Soon, I’ll be heading home for winter break to relax and spend time with family (and mostly cuddle with my dogs). I hope you all have a relaxing holiday!

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MORELIFE: Preventative Health Access Program — No, Not the Drake Album ⟩
December 7, 2018, by Serena

Classes Diversity

This semester I was enrolled in Occupation-Centered Programs for the Community taught by Dr. Jenny Martinez. In the class I paired up with 3 of my colleagues to create a community project around a topic that interested all of us: access to preventative healthcare. We all had a specific passion for delivering client-centered care, specifically focusing on culturally appropriate interventions for the Latino and Black communities in Los Angeles.

My team and I created a proposal for our community program, which we called MORELIFE: Preventative Health Access. The proposal included all the necessary components that would be required to start a new service. Thus, over the 16 week semester, we developed a trends analysis, needs assessment, literature review, marketing plan, mock funding request, and program evaluation. At the end of the semester, we delivered a presentation to our classmates, staff, and faculty members in the USC OT program. It may seem like a lot of work because it was a lot of work (lol); however, we received continuous guidance and support from our professor, Dr. Martinez who we met with weekly and other faculty members such as Dr. Stacey Niemiec, who so generously shared her experience in developing a very similar program, ¡Vivir Mi Vida!. Since undergrad, I have always wanted to create and then deliver a community project focusing on health disparities so by gaining these skills I am one HUGE step closer to implementing a program like MORELIFE into society.

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