Occupational therapy is a great profession, but we all can benefit from some inspiration and encouragement from time to time—inspiration to keep going even when the work is difficult and encouragement that what we are doing really does matter and that our treatments really do improve lives. This portion of the website is devoted to providing just that. We hope that it will lift your spirits, brighten your day, and give you the motivation you need to continue being an amazing occupational therapist who changes the world one life at a time!
Do you have an inspiring story, photo, or video to share? Use the contact page to reach out to us. Please remember to abide by all applicable patient privacy laws and don’t use the form to share any personal or sensitive information.
Why older adults are the best clients you will ever treat
by Kathleen Ponce, OTR/L
When I was an OT student, professors and other OTs were always telling me why they chose to work in a particular setting or with a particular type of client. They’d say: “working with kids who have disabilities is too sad, so I work with adults,” or “working with adults who are approaching the end of their life is so sad, so I work with kids.” I myself was fascinated by the brain and thought I’d work exclusively in neuro, perhaps even in a research focused setting where I could help develop the newest and greatest techniques to help my patients. But after nearly 5 years of working as an OT in a variety of different settings, I can say without a doubt that, in general, older adults with any diagnosis are my favorite clients. Why, you ask?
The answer to this lies in your class notes on development. If you look at the entire developmental process as one cohesive whole, you notice several trends. You will notice that on the front end of that continuum, when the individual is very young in age, development across all domains occurs very rapidly and changes are happening all the time. In a matter of weeks, the newborn goes from being completely dependent on his caregivers and his own reflexive instincts for survival to being able to hold his head up, smile, and recognize his own hands at the end of his little arms, even if he doesn’t yet have full control over them or a full understanding of their capacity.
Fast forward a few months and this once newborn is now crawling, pulling himself up on furniture and other objects, sitting unsupported in his highchair, and feeding himself small bits of cereal and other foods. He is making sounds in an attempt to communicate and may even be saying a few intelligible words.
Wait a few years longer and this child is now preparing to start school. He’s walking, running, and playing, kicking a ball and perhaps even “competing” on a sports team. He uses scissors and copies some letters. He knows his colors and numbers and may even be starting to read. Even if this child is developing slower than his peers, his progress is still remarkable when viewed from the perspective of how far he has come in so little time. The infant you once knew is now barely recognizable in the capable and independent child standing before you. His life is ahead of him and he is full of potential.
The rapidity of his development will slow somewhat now but will still continue for a few more decades. By the time he reaches his twenties and thirties, his fine motor control, physical strength, and cognition will all be at their peak level of performance. If he is athletically gifted, he could possibly be playing sports professionally. He will likely be working at a career and perhaps even starting a family of his own.
Some might say that these are now the best years of his life, and at first glance it does appear that performance only goes downhill from here. Fine motor control will begin to decline as he enters his forties and grows through his fifties and sixties; so will his physical strength and his ability to learn new concepts and to multitask. The more he ages, his memory will likely be affected and he may develop a decrease in his short term memory or even experience a decline in cognitive performance known as dementia.
But this is where we shift our focus to the social and cognitive domains of development. While the physical domains of fine and gross motor control and displaying a definite decrease in function, the social and cognitive domains are now shining. This older adult is displaying increased wisdom and an increased wealth of knowledge, known as crystalized intelligence. His experiences over the preceding decades allow him to calmly address and resolve emotionally charged problems. He can see past the distractions and the clutter that cloud the judgement of the young and impart a perspective that they can only hope to someday possess.
And this is why older adults are the best clients to treat. Perhaps the reason is a bit selfish, but with their wisdom, with their knowledge, with their perspective, they can give to us as their therapist as much or more than we can ever give to them. If they share their wisdom, knowledge, and perspective with us and if we are open to learning from them, we can leave our workdays filled instead of drained, with new perspectives and attitudes from the experiences that have been shared with us. In the end, as OTs who work with older adults, we may help our clients perform the occupations that are important to them, but it is our clients who help us to see how those occupations make life meaningful. And in so doing, it’s us—not them—who learn how to live life to the fullest. Our job is simply to make that fulfillment possible.
This essay was originally published in condensed form as a guest post on the blog MyOTSpot.com.
Patients are more than a number
by Kathleen Ponce, OTR/L
When communicating with co-workers about patients and trying to maintain confidentiality without misidentification, it can be easy to start referring to patients by something other than their name. You may refer to them by their room number, their last initial and last four digits of their SSN, or even by their appointment timeslot.
This, in and of itself, is not a bad thing. However, it is important to remember—and to make sure every patient knows—that they are not just a number. Each patient is a unique person with unique interests, goals, and needs. Each patient is important. Each patient matters.
While it can be easy to say that we, as occupational therapists, agree with and espouse these statements, we still need to be consciously reminded to live them out each and every day. We need to be reminded to make sure that every patient knows that their wishes and needs do matter and that their problems are important enough for us to notice. Because when patients know that they matter, they can begin to develop the hope they need to keep going even when the recovery process is difficult.
This essay was originally published in March 2016.
Taking time for yourself
by Kathleen Ponce, OTR/L
Anyone who spends their entire work day taking care of other people can begin to get a little burned out. And this includes therapists. If you find that you are feeling exhausted all the time or that your days are blending into each other or that you no longer have a passion for your work, take time to take care of yourself. You know how to advise your patients to take care of themselves; now put that into practice in your own life.
Ask yourself, are you taking the time to:
- Eat healthy (and not skip meals)
- Exercise
- Get enough sleep
- Relax
- Do something you enjoy
If you as a therapist are happy, healthy, and functioning optimally, you will be better able to assist your patients, so if you find that you are not making the time for one or more of these items, maybe it is time for you to reevaluate your schedules and routines and plan in some time to focus on you. It will definitely pay off in the long run.
This essay was originally published in March 2016.
Rehab is a team process
by Kathleen Ponce, OTR/L
If you are a student, you may have begun to get the impression that once you graduate, your job as an occupational therapist will be full of competition as you fight for your profession against the encroachment of other rehab professions and fight for recognition from the general public. You may have been told that no one knows what occupational therapy is and that if you do not fight to justify what you do you as an OT, you will be out of a job. And maybe there is some truth to all of this. But, rehab is a team process, and if you spend your entire professional career walking around with a chip on your shoulder trying to justify that your job is important and necessary, you might just be causing your entire rehab team (not to mention others’ impression of your profession) more harm than good.
Yes, most of your physical therapy peers might have a DPT as compared to your MOT or MSOT. And yes, you were probably in school for longer than many of the nurses you work with. And let’s not forget to mention that the medical doctors on your team were probably in school for even longer than anyone else. But here is the thing. Although each and every member of the team was in school for a different length of time, they were each studying a different profession and gaining a different skill package. You may have been in school longer than a nurse, but unless you have a nursing degree, I can pretty much guarantee that you could not do the job of a nurse if you suddenly got called to fill in for one. And you may have been in school for almost as long as a doctor on staff, but no one is going to ask you to fill in for the doctor. Even the physical therapists or speech therapists in your rehab department have different training and different skills than you, and you have different training and skills from them. So rather than viewing your interaction with other professionals as a competition over who is best or most important, view it as a team process where each and every member of the team comes to work with their own unique skills that they will use to help the patient meet their goals.
Respect your fellow rehab team members. Don’t act as though your job is more important than theirs. Don’t act as though you exist to compete with them. Know that in the same way that they could never just fill in for you at work one day, you could not fill in for them, either. Be confident in your own abilities but don’t artificially inflate your own confidence by tearing others (and their professions) down. And be humble enough to know when someone else is the expert on a topic or the more appropriate professional to address a particular patient need. Successful rehab requires a team.
This essay was originally published in March 2016.