Student Blog
Externships

Externship in Thailand ⟩
April 3, 2013, by Alisa

Externships International School/Life Balance

I can’t believe I got a rare opportunity to spend 3 weeks in Thailand. Of course, I took it and ran with it. 2 weeks of externship and a week of spring break. The goal of the externship was to learn leadership skills, so I reached out to my aunt who is the owner of Sammie and Sandy Beauty Spa and the chairperson of a non-profit organization, Zonta International (Bangkok 7 region). Some of the highlights of my externship were that I got to table a booth for my aunt’s company at the Bangkok International Hair Show and a golf course. Those were two different populations, but I had to utilize my people skills to engage potential customers in our services and products. It was a tough crowd I have to say, but it was still a valuable experience. Zonta International had a Rose Day, where all of the regions met up to represent different ASEAN countries. I got to dress up in Thai traditional clothing and networked with the members through an evening of great food and music while learning about ASEAN countries and potential business opportunities there.

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The RCFE Challenge ⟩
March 19, 2013, by Ricky

Externships What are OS/OT?

Just got done with my 2-week Leadership Externship. I got to split my time between 2 assisted living companies. One company operates 2, 6-bed homes; and the other runs a campus with capacity/licensure for 86 residents. The technical name for places like these is Residential Care Facilities for the Elderly (RCFEs). If you aren’t really familiar with the different residential settings that are available for older adults, you may think of an RCFE as a convalescent or nursing home, but sometimes these names get jumbled. The best way to think of them is to picture a continuum of assistance/care provided: at one end you will see places that provide little to no care, and at the other end you will find places that offer complete care (like feeding or even managing life-supporting apparatuses). RCFEs are [supposed to be] in the middle of this continuum, offering some support/care. I was really surprised to observe, however, that RCFEs will pretty much accommodate anybody over the age of 60. With the baby-boomer generation coming of age, I recognized the increasing demand for RCFEs. As a future OT, with an administrative background, I know that this industry holds great opportunity for OT; so I had to check it out. I spent a better part of my time following the administrators around as they managed the day-to-day functions. It was so interesting to get a peek into the thought processes of the people making the tough business decisions at these RCFEs. Both places offered memory-care, which is what they call the level of care provided to people with Alzhiemer’s and other diagnoses that manifest into dementia. It was neat to see the level of care provided to these residents. I also had a chance to educate the administrators on the value of OT — after providing one of the administrators with an overview of what we did, and what we could do for his residents, he seemed very perplexed as to why (to his knowledge) none of his 86 residents were receiving OT. I was surprised too. The fact is: we have the skills that RCFEs desperately need, and we are desperately underrepresented in the industry. There are quite a few reasons behind our being left out of RCFEs, but that makes for a whole series of blog entries, so I’ll spare ya’ll. Bottom line: RCFEs need OT, and OT needs some strong advocates . . . are you up for the challenge?

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Mujeres Fuertes ⟩
March 19, 2013, by Kendra

Community Externships What are OS/OT?

These last two weeks I have been at my externship. This is our opportunity to ‘bridge the gap’ in our learning or expand upon specific areas of interest before we are released into the wild, wild world of REAL WORK!

I have chosen to focus on learning about the intricacies of creating, operating and funding a non-profit. The non-profit would support the current group a classmate and I run, Mujeres Fuertes. This group is a perfect example of how my education at USC OT has the potential to transfer directly to the real world. We designed the group in our Occupation-centered programs for the community class last fall. The response was so positive, we received funding from a local non-profit to start implementing the group!

Wow, right?!

The group has been an amazing success. Through our needs assessment, we were able to identify that people, specifically women, living in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of LA, have an increased incidence of chronic illness, many of which are lifestyle related and preventable. Every other week we meet with two groups of 10 women for an hour, set goals and learn about stress management, nutrition, and exercise. It’s also an opportunity for the women to become health advocates that promote change at the personal, family, and community level.

We feel so confident a group like this can have rippling effects throughout many communities, we are now taking it to the next level, obtaining more funding and potentially establishing a non-profit. Its a lot to learn, but California is incredibly supportive of little programs like ours.

Each time I feel nervous or overwhelmed, I think of the women who call me their inspiration, that are making small changes every week to improve their lives. I cannot let them down, and I’m grateful for the chance to learn how to run a business, so that I won’t.

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Externship Week 1 ⟩
March 7, 2013, by Amber

Externships

This week was the first of two that my class is spending away on externship. As part of our Leadership Capstone course, we were given the freedom to create an experience of our choosing to enhance our leadership skills. My classmates are currently all over the world in Ghana, Germany, Costa Rica, Thailand, and all over the United States having once-in-a-lifetime learning experiences.

I have chosen to complete my externship closer to home at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey. I am shadowing Dr. Shawn Phipps, an occupational therapist who has excelled as a leader in clinical practice, hospital administration, and professional organizations. He was an occupational therapy supervisor for a decade at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center, and now serves as Chief Quality Officer and Associate Hospital Administrator. He recently held the position of President of the Occupational Therapy Association of California, and is on the Board of Councilors in the Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy here at USC.

In this one short week, I have learned an incredible amount about what it takes to be a leader and hospital administrator. Dr. Phipps’ focus is on spearheading quality improvement initiatives throughout the hospital. Every moment of this week has been an incredible learning experience, but the highlight was being involved in the final stages of planning the Quality Improvement Workshop which Dr. Phipps presented today to a group of individuals from 30 departments within the hospital. My knowledge on this topic grew so much this week that I was able to help hospital managers develop their quality improvement plans at the workshop today. I am eager to see what the next week will bring!

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Goodbye, February! ⟩
February 26, 2013, by Paula

Externships Fieldwork School/Life Balance

So here we are, Week 7 of the semester! The Division has been buzzing with visits from AOTA Leadership visits, the AOTA Assembly of Student Delegate elections, and many exciting things coming up. This week is the week-long fieldwork experience for the first years. For the next two weeks, the second years will be out on their externship assignments. After that, we have spring break and then we are nearly to April (Occupational Therapy month) which is jam-packed with events, assignments, presentations and finally, the 2013 AOTA Conference! There are just so many things to look forward to and we all know that the time is going to fly by.

For the externship, many of the second years will be going out of the area, some are returning to the home-state while others are travelling to entirely new places. There is a group of students travelling to Ghana, another group to Costa Rica, and other students will be travelling to China, Thailand, Scotland and Canada. I will be staying in the Los Angeles area and learning more about how occupational therapy services can be better integrated into the palliative care services within an acute pediatric hematology-oncology population. I am very excited to take this opportunity to widen my scope of experience within this population and to find more ways of helping the families involved in such life-changing experiences.

Although it is a challenge, it is so important to not get ahead of yourself (balance, right??). I always take a moment to be sure to be present and appreciative of what is happening today. This has always been something that I need to work on since I tend to be a ‘planner.’ So instead of becoming stressed about “will everything in my externship turn out just as I hope it will?”, or “what will my schedule be during the two weeks away from class?”, I think back on the semester and on the year, and I just slow myself down. This year has been a year of growth for all of my peers. It is awesome to see how everyone interacts in class and in clinical scenarios now that we have gone through the practice immersions and are investigating the elective courses. It has also been amazing to see how viewpoints and career goals change. The different things which I see inspire passion within my classmates is so refreshing. Imagine if we were each interested in the exact same thing. Our practice would never grow and flourish as OT has had the opportunity to do.

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire — W. B. Yeats

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