Student Blog
What are OS/OT?

Learning Handy Skills! ⟩
November 12, 2014, by Claire

Classes What are OS/OT?

This week, our adult rehabilitation course is focusing on hand rehabilitation and making splints! Here are some pictures of the splints that we made in lab.

There’s a lot to learn and I could definitely improve on some of the splints that I made, but it was fun to practice the skill! We made a neoprene thumb splint that is commonly used for children with cerebral palsy in our pediatrics lab course last semester. Now I have many more to add to my splint collection!

We will be having a guest lecture from an adjunct faculty, Lisa Deshaies, who also works at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center also (in about half an hour actually), and I’m really looking forward to it! Our textbook reading for this week was a chapter that was written by her as well — we are really lucky to have so many experienced OT faculty members and connections!

Edit: We just wrapped up our guest lecture! I learned a lot about hand therapy and physical agent modalities, and Lisa also helped dispel any fears we might have about pursuing hand therapy certification. We got to try out some of the equipment and therapy techniques. We were told, “If you’re going to use these methods on your patients, you should know what the experience is like!”

Here are some pictures:

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OT/PT Forum 2014 ⟩
November 11, 2014, by Bindi

Community Getting Involved What are OS/OT?

In our line of work, collaboration between rehab professionals is fundamental, as a client will always need a team to work with. No one therapist can do it all, since there may be needs that the client will have that are out of the scope of one’s profession.

So the Alpha Eta Chapter of Pi Theta Epsilon and the Physical Therapy Student Association of USC got together to bring us the 5th Annual OT/PT Forum to enable the Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy students to come together and acquire a better understanding and scope of each one’s profession.

The event began with a wonderful dinner where the students mingled and learnt about their academic courses and how they proceed, the different clinical experiences they have and what OTs and PTs thought of one another ☺. During this time we also had plenty time to look at educational posters from both professions.

Soon after we dove straight into the program with welcome addresses from Dr. Florence Clark and Dr. James Gordon, the Associate Deans and Division Chairs of Occupational Science & Therapy, and Biokinesiology & Physical Therapy respectively.

There were two case study presentations, the first on Physical Disabilities and the second on Pediatrics. It was interesting to learn how the OTs and PTs worked together on cases where we as soon to be professionals would not have thought to intervene. The one that amazed me most was the collaboration between the 2 professions on a case of cystic fibrosis with a double lung transport.

Great initiative!!! Fight On OTs and PTs!!!

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Electives ⟩
November 7, 2014, by Kristy

Classes What are OS/OT?

One of the many unique opportunities you have here at USC, is the chance to take elective courses during the spring of your 2nd year. This is the time where you can gain additional education on certain topics you are interested in, explore new interests, or build upon knowledge already gained in the program. Even though when we complete the program we are considered “generalist” OTs, you can “specialize” your electives. For example, if you are interested in Pediatrics, perhaps you will take a course in Early Intervention, School-Based Practice, and Sensory Integration Theory. Or if your focus intends to be Adult Rehabilitation, you may take Enhancing Motor Control for Occupation, Hand Rehabilitation, and Occupational Therapy in Acute Care. If Mental Health and Wellness is your niche you could focus on Lifestyle Redesign and Therapeutic Communication for the Healthcare Practitioner! There are so many combinations of courses you can take! And if you are someone who is interested in all of the above, that’s fine too! You can take any of the above and more! It is a great opportunity to continue to explore the field of occupational therapy and all it has to offer.

For myself personally, I hope to go into school-based pediatrics, therefore I am taking School-Based Practice, Sensory Integration Theory and Sensory Integration Interventions. The latter two classes fulfill part of the requirements for the Sensory Integration Certification Program. Through the certification program, I will gain knowledge in the foundations of sensory integration, education on administering the Sensory Integration and Praxis Test (SIPT) and interpreting the results as well as ideas for intervention to implement sensory strategies. I am really excited to start my electives in January and feel lucky that I have the opportunity to further explore my interests in pediatrics!

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Gardening as an occupation ⟩
November 3, 2014, by Claire

What are OS/OT?

One of the goodies that I picked up from OTAC a couple weeks ago was a little plant set with forget-me-not seeds! While taking a break from studying, I decided to plant it and see what happens! Given my lack of experience with gardening, I consider this pretty adventurous of myself! I called my grandpa who lives back at home to tell him that I planted some seeds, because his favorite occupation is gardening. It was super fun to bond with my grandpa and share in this occupation which is so meaningful to him. He has been gardening for over twenty years now and he often complains about the squirrels and birds eating the fruit from his trees.

He told me to be patient with plants (I was saying that I wanted the seeds to sprout already), and that you plant the seeds with hope and feel a lot of joy when you see them grow. A couple days later, some sprouts came out, and I was surprised by how happy I felt seeing them!

Caring for a small plant can be a really good activity. I interned at the occupational therapy department of a Taiwanese mental health hospital a couple years ago, and planting seeds was an activity that we did with the patients in the acute ward. It was so inspiring to see the patients reflect on times when they had gardened in the past or relate to times when they had to patiently wait for something; every member planted some seeds and they all left the session with their individual potted plant. I thought it was a great way to engage these patients in a healthy occupation and give them a sense of responsibility and control over something.

Have any of you tried out any new occupations recently? Or, what are some occupations that your loved ones like to do, and have you ever had a chance to share in that experience?

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#otacconf2014 ⟩
October 26, 2014, by Kristy

Community Getting Involved What are OS/OT?

Last weekend I was lucky enough to attend The Occupational Therapy Association of California (OTAC) Annual Conference. It was my first OT Conference and I had a blast! I participated in the student track, which I really enjoyed because we had a variety of sessions throughout the days, some focusing on stress management, traumatic brain injury, autism spectrum disorder, and fine motor tools.

Since I want to go into school-based pediatrics, there were several sessions that I thoroughly enjoyed! The presenters had a lot of great ideas for tools and activities to do with children. One of the sessions was about putting the “Fun” in “Functional,” insert Therapy Fun Zone!!! They showed us many different activities we could work on to target sensory systems, hand strength, grasp, and visual skills. Another interactive session that focused on fun tools for kids was by Mama OT. What was great about this session, is she provided us with a lot of home items into creative items. The creator of Mama OT was an USC Occupational Therapy Graduate who saw the overlap of being a new mom and a new occupational therapist and wanted to share with others! One thing I love about the field of occupational therapy is that people are always willing to help others do better in their career. It’s great to follow blogs, facebook, or Pinterest boards to see what other occupational therapist are up to. Can you guess what we did with the items below?

Other great aspects of the OTAC conference included the social and mingling aspects. There were evening gatherings as well as exhibit halls that allowed us to interact with other occupational therapists and occupational therapy students. I personally enjoyed chatting with other OT students and comparing/contrasting what we were currently learning in class. And did I mention all the free stuff we got??? Pens, reusable bags, pencil grips, tools, etc., which all can be used to promote occupational therapy! Lastly, I can’t believe I almost forgot — to check out all the awesome pictures from the weekend, search #otacconf2014 on instagram. OTs use a lot of social media, and they had a competition using the hashtag. Overall, I really enjoyed the conference and see the benefit not only educationally, but personally as well. It excites me even more about becoming an occupational therapist and being out in the field soon!

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