I always find it to be really interesting when I can see core concepts of occupational therapy at work in health care professions in general. When going through my grandmother’s Leukemia, I was able to see the importance of client-centered practice. One of the first things my father said when he met her oncologist was he was the only doctor they saw who actually cared about what my grandmother wanted. He was the one who worked with her when my family was deciding between home health and hospice. My family had a bit of a disagreement on which was the best option. Once he realized the constant disagreement, he ended up coming in and thoroughly explaining the difference before asking what she wanted. She wanted hospice and this ended up being the best option for her. My grandmother had many hospice nurses coming in and out, so while I was there I would have casual conversation with them. One day, a nurse came in and was talking to me about her sister, who also died of cancer. He...
As an occupational therapy student who has barely dipped my toes into the large pool of OT, any moment where I am able to practice my OT skills is exciting. My grandmother was recently diagnosed with Leukemia and has progressively become weaker. I became one of her caregivers and soon realized that I think differently than any of my other family members. I had began working on an activity analysis for a class assignment, which led me to develop a habit of breaking down random common activities in my head step-by-step. I find activity analysis's interesting because it is amazing how many steps are involved in everyday task that take us no more than two minutes to complete. When I spend time with my grandmother, I catch myself thinking about every step it is going to take her to do each task. One night, she asked for a flash light before she went to sleep. When I went to get the flash light for her, I began to think about in what event she would use the flash light and how I cou...
I found Lynne Oberle's personal story of her mother very interesting in demonstrating the importance of a knowledge of frame of refrences. It was obvious her mother had not been asked about herself, her enviorment, or her unique needs and desires. None of the aspects were addressed, resulting in her not benefiting from her OT services. If a frame of reference would have been addressed, the treating therapist might have taken more time to look at the client's individual needs, like her daughter was able to do. Frame of reference is important because it focus's on a specific population, diagnosis, and the client factors. These are all aspects that were basically ignored with the client in the example and are crucial to an occupational therapist's role in helping a client. If the treating therapist were to of assessed a frame of reference, they could have actually made an impact to the client, rather than leading the client to feelings of helplessness. A frame of reference...
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