When you get your first job as a licensed occupational therapy practitioner, you usually aren’t thinking about additional occupational therapy specialties right off the bat. Your primary focus is just trying to keep your head above water. You are thrown into unfamiliar territory, and as a result you spend the first few years of your […]
Attending AOTA’s 2018 Conference in Salt Lake City for my second-ever conference was a blast. It flew by and I can’t believe it’s already over. I’m already super excited for next year’s Conference in New Orleans 2019… whoo! After two years of “Conference-ing” I decided it was time to write a round up of AOTA […]
For graduate students who are just barely diving into their OT school studies, concrete and unchanging topics such as medical terminology are much more understandable than intangible concepts. At least, in some programs, we can physically see and touch the terms through cadaver labs and dissection. It is why the medical model is so nice […]
If you’re an OT becoming a fieldwork clinical instructor for the first time, there’s a lot that you may be wondering about. You may be feeling a bit nervous, especially if you’re remembering how nervous you might have been on YOUR first day as a fieldwork student. Becoming a fieldwork clinical instructor and supervising students […]
My Story (as told by Katie Tietz, MS, OTR/L) In 2014 I began my career as an occupational therapist; full of newly absorbed knowledge and bursting with excitement to get out there and use it to make a true difference in the world! I set my sights high (as I’m sure many of you can […]
If you’re looking for functional, occupation-based standing tolerance activities to use in your rehab practice, look no further! I’ve compiled a list of my favorite occupation-based ideas for when you’re looking to keep your standing tolerance interventions related to your patients’ daily occupations. These standing tolerance activities are for any patients that have reduced tolerance to standing, […]
Is it possible to care for a patient when you know they really do not need occupational therapy services? Unfortunately, this is a common ethical dilemma occupational therapists face on the job. There are times where you will find yourself torn between advocating for a patient but you know they are not appropriate for therapy. Typically […]
PRN occupational therapy: There is a lot to say about it, and because I’m a PRN (or per diem) occupational therapist myself, I really wanted to share my PRN experiences (the good AND the bad). In this article, I lay out the pros and cons of becoming a PRN occupational therapist. This will help you decide […]
If you’re an occupational therapy practitioner or student searching for occupation-based dynamic balance interventions, then this article is just for you! Occupation-based interventions are not only our bread and butter, but they also differentiate us from physical therapy. It can be way too easy to accidentally do the same non-occupation based balance interventions as our […]
As an occupational therapist, you often have patients that are best treated with more than one person (also known as co-treating). The big question is: Should the second person be the nurse, a tech, or a physical therapist? The following will help guide your decision-making process to decide if a patient would be best served […]