h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Nooo this is in your Message Centre. Maybe it showed up in your conversations because you've subscribed to your boyfriends messages centre?

Good luck for wednesday, what are you appling for? OT or medicine it's self?

maybe i did subscribe to his - don't remember - yeah OT - feel free to look at my essay that we have to do!

Occupational Therapy as I understand it




“The Occupational Therapist assesses the physical, psychological and social functions of the individual, identifies areas of dysfunction and involves the individual in a structured programme of activity to overcome disability. The activities selected will relate to the consumer’s personal, social, cultural and economic needs and will reflect the environmental factors which govern his/her life.”
College of Occupational Therapists (1990)


My current understanding of Occupational Therapy is that it is a problem-solving career in the medical field. An Occupational Therapist helps people to recover their independence and to achieve the most improvement in their lifestyles, whether they have a psychological, physical or social need. There are a wide variety of ways of helping people in different circumstances and there are a broad range of practical methods, which makes the career deeply interesting to me.

I have found that Occupational Therapists help people of all ages regain, develop and master everyday skills in order to recapture their independence as fully as possible, and to produce the most satisfying ongoing lifestyles. This involves working out treatment plans for individual patients, and working out if they need special devices to help improve their lifestyles such as wheelchairs, walking sticks, dressing machines, bath aids and even specialised computer keyboards and mouses.
The route to supporting the patient commences with the assessment of their personal capabilities, limitations, needs, desires & frustrations. This may involve home visits to assess the normal living environment and to understand any obstacles to rehabilitation, or the patient will be observed in a hospital setting. The Occupational Therapist then plans the patients’ needs for different equipment and, most importantly, the learning needs of the patient. Once the planning stage is completed the patient is gradually introduced to the new equipment and encouraged to learn new life activities or re-learn and revise existing skills such as dressing or writing. Once this stage, which may be prolonged, is complete and the patient has returned to their home environment, the Occupational Therapist evaluates the effectiveness of the solutions that they have devised and put into place. This evaluation is essential to fulfil two needs. Firstly to ensure that the patient is getting as much benefit as possible from the solutions that have been devised and secondly to continue the professional development of the Occupational Therapist who will be able to model their future planning and intervention based on the knowledge gained from case to case.
There are many places that an Occupational Therapist can work. You find Occupational Therapists in hospitals, helping people to recover from surgery, accidents or medical emergencies. Another place would be a school, maybe helping children to develop the way they handle their work, and social skills. Healthcare centres and nursing homes may also have Occupational Therapists who can help the patients to gain more confidence in themselves for independent living. Occupational Therapists also work with mental health patients suffering from schizophrenia, behaviour or personality disorders as well as many more psychological illnesses.

The variety of the Occupational Therapist’s work is one thing that deeply interests me about this therapeutic career. I find the idea of being able to add my own experiences from work placements into my final career very exciting as well as the possibility of using my music skills and creativeness as part of the career.

I understand that Occupational Therapists do not only help the patient, but also the immediate family. For example, if a family has an elderly person living at home with them, as they are unable to live alone for any longer, the Occupational Therapist can help the elderly person to develop skills so that he/she does not have to be as dependent on the family. They can also help the families of children with mental and physical illnesses such as Autism or Downs Syndrome to understand the health problems of their child, and to give practical advice on how to help.

I understand that during the evaluation period of an Occupational Therapist’s work, it is important that they should learn from their mistakes or happenings that have gone well. The therapist can then carry these on to further work and apply them when and where they think it is appropriate. I also understand that an Occupational Therapist is part of a team, and if they cannot help a patient, then it is very possible that somebody else can such as a physiotherapist, a psychologist, or a speech and language therapist.


Misscooldude

Seems pretty good to me, we only see OT's at the weekly amputation meeting when they discuss the progress of amputees with the surgons. that's a pretty good essay. I'm sure you'll be fine. There's quiet a lot of anatomy in OT from what I've gathered.

Good luck

i have to say that that is one of the reasons I am interested - bio and psych and other caring wotsits - would be cool.

First choice interview tomorrow - scared! I shall survive tho!


Byeeee


Misscooldude



Any tips on interview technique? I mean you musta done an interview to get into med!?

It's a bit late at this point, but I'd say get a very honest teacher who you know will critise you to give you a mock interview. Make eye contact with the person that asked you the question, don't be intimdated by the three or more interviewers. Show you can see both sides of an arguement and you're prepared to think out eithical issues. Oh and talk about your work experience for a while.

Remeber that we don't all get into our first choice but most people end up feeling glad that they went to the place where they went too.

my interview wos sooooooooo fun - i really really really like the place, and don't think i made too bad an impression, altho I dunno if i will get in or not!

fingers crossed


Misscooldude

that's great, I'm sure you'll be fine. do let me know the outcome

will do!

As it stands, uni stuff is

Swansea - 300 UCAS points
Keele - 320 UCAS points
UWIC - 200 UCAS points
UWE - NO REPLY!
UWCM - Interviewed
St Loyes - Interview 12th Dec!

lol - really am looking forward to hearing from the welsh college - good or bad!

Ooh right, I'm sure that's excellent, I don't really understand all the points stuff. We had 10 for an A 8 for a B etc. and the rest of it was only grades. So that's a bit different.. But I'm sure that's excellent. Oh where is UWCM? bangor or cardiff?

UWCM is in Cardiff, as is UWIC

now, we get 120 for A, 100 for B, 80 for C etc.

D'oh so that's want it took... Oh good luck I'm sure you'll get in, you seem so keen after all..

I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE I GOT A PLACE

Yayyyy! Dunno on wot offer yet tho!

Will find out any day now from UCAS !

YAHH I knew you would...............

did my OT work exp today - wos really fun!

I REALLY ENJOYED IT!

Ooh sorry for the delay in replying that is sooo cool that you're really interested in what you're doing. OT does sound fun and is extreamly scientific from what I've seen..

well it means i can combine psych and bio which is ideal for me