Year 2: Week 47 & 48 - One Assessment to Go!

Week 47 & 48: So very nearly there!!!

When mind mapping goes wrong....

Straight out of placement and straight into manic preparations for my last viva! Who needs sleep anyways! It was easy to establish that I can't study at home, its far to distracting! Everyone talks about having the right study area, a desk good lighting, and all your resources available to you! But for some reason this didn't put it for the last assignment and I needed to explore other options.

I am going to blog about the Occupational Role with Refugee and Asylum Seekers (which was my service area) when I get a moment so won't talk about it in this post!

Study venues considered & trailed over the process:

1. Debenhams Cafe Ocean Terminal - Free wifi, generally pleasant and mostly occupied by elderly couples enjoying lunch. This created a positive space to study as there was limited distractions. I could plug my headphones in and focus.

Taking over a bench in Ocean Terminal

2. Costa Coffee Ocean Terminal - Free wifi, good cake. Alternative to the Debehams cafe, wifi was much more usable however, coffee shop always busy and tables quite small, meaning harder to type and write at same time.

3. Costa Coffee George Street - Free Wifi, comfy seating and larger tables, worked well for a change of scenery.

4. Starbucks Ocean Terminal - Free wifi - lots of plug sockets so I often used this towards end of the day with laptop battery was low, only problem was the smell of coffee was often a distraction.

5. Gym - Primarily used when listening to recordings of information whilst doing a gentle 'wander' on the treadmill.

6. Ocean Terminal general seating - Last resort when everywhere was busy, and laptop battery had died, used seating to read over and highlight journals and notes.

Im thankful that although I did most of my prep in these two weeks, I had already started reading journals and articles on topic area whilst on placement to enable me to really focus on what my service idea was going to look like. It still help chaotic and on reflection I wish I had done more of the prep before finishing placement, but it just wasn't doable whilst on placement as I was so exhausted and focused on working on that.

I must mention the massive support my friends were in these two weeks, listening and asking questions about my service so that I could work out what I was actually 'selling' during the viva.

For more insight into my journey to become an occupational therapist; follow me on twitter: @OTontheTracks

Year 2: Week 35-36 - Placement Prep

A weekend to recover after handing in my dissertation and then my brain was turned back on, as we were back into university for our final placement launch session. 

Placement Prep:

This final placement a big step in that it is the start of our transition from students to qualified OTs, which Tryssennar and Perkins (2001) cited in Morley 2006 highlights as the first stage in the transition process and hopefully start our first posts (very scary thought at the moment).

The aims of this placement are, for us to meet the practice requirements required to be eligible for HCPC registration as an occupational therapist. We also need to demonstrate safe, effective and client centred case management skills, by holding an ongoing caseload. We also need to be able to articulate and justify our professional role confidently within a range of settings As we start the transition from student to qualified OT we need to be able to be proactive in taking responsibility for our time, support networks and CPD by making use of opportunities available to us on placement and be to evaluate our own knowledge base and performance to further enhance learning and effectiveness within the work base setting through being critical and reflective of our practice. 

For anyone who hasn't heard about my final placement setting... I am spending 10 weeks in acute oncology. Oncology and Palliative care is an area of practice I have a keen interest in working in and I am looking forward to the challenges and learning I'll encounter as I use and develop my skills in a busy acute environment.

Placement Visit:

As part of my preparations for this placement, I went in to visit my placement for the morning last month and chatted to my educator, this was a really positive experience as it allowed me to gather information on what sort of preparation to do prior to starting on the placement and get an idea of what a typical day would include. I also benefited from speaking to the current band 5 who was on rotation in the department about the prep she had done prior to rotating and whether there was any areas she wished she had looked at in more detail prior to starting the rotation. 

Pre Placement Reading:

The visit guided my reading over the last few weeks, and I’m thankful that I chose to use acute oncology for my viva topic earlier in the year as this also gave me a basis of knowledge and resources to use as a starting point as well. On the advice of the band 5, I spent some time looking at the impact treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy and how these treatments and the side effects can impact on occupational performance.   I have also found the following two books really useful as I prepped for this placement:

• Cooper, J. (Ed.). (2013). Occupational therapy in oncology and palliative care. John Wiley & Sons. 
• Boog, K. M., & Tester, C. Y. (2008). Palliative care: a practical guide for the health professional: Finding meaning and purpose in life and death. Elsevier Health Sciences.

It has felt like a really long block in uni this term so I’m looking forward to being back in a clinical environment as a way to consolidate my learning by linking the theory and practice but mostly so that I can enable people do the things that are important and meaningful to them.

As with all my placements I may do small updates throughout and then round up with a longer reflective piece at the end. I have found the small updates increasingly hard as I have gone through placements so I'm not promising to do them every week this time. I will update when I can and then aim to do the round up towards the end.

What else have I been doing over the last few weeks:

COT Website Consultation 

I managed to squeeze in attending the COT website consultation whilst it was in Edinburgh the other week, which was really interesting. I'm looking forward to seeing the end result as there were some really good ideas, and it was really interesting to hear how OTs in practice and students in the area use (or try to use) the website resources within their practice. 

Helping at MSc Interviews:

Last week also gave me a chance to help out at the MSc interviews again. I helped out last year as well, and its a really good chance to chat to perspective students and give them some information about studying on the course. 

It was really interesting this year to actually reflect on how far Ive come in even in just the last year since I helped last time. I remember last time feeling still very overwhelmed by what was to come on the course, I was in the middle of my research proposal and wondering how I was going to manage another year on the course, with the lack of reserves in energy.  But this time I could actually reflect on how much I have learnt and how the experiences on the course have enabled me to develop as a practitioner and prepare me to practice. It's a hard course! You will be pushed further than you ever thought you could! You'll want to quit! But you know what I have developed so much as a person whilst journeying through the process and I'm sure that will continue during the last leg of the course... 

So... One Placement... & One Viva... to go! 

For more insight into my journey to become an occupational therapist; follow me on twitter: @OTontheTracks

References

Morley, M. (2006). Moving from student to new practitioner: The transitional experience. The British Journal of Occupational Therapy, 69(5), 231-233.

Year 2: Weeks 32-34

Dissertation is complete! 

So the last 3 weeks have been rather manic. I have been finishing the write up of my research and completing my research portfolio that make up my masters level dissertation module. In real life terms that means I have basically been glued to my laptop for a huge proportion of everyday for the last few weeks. 

As I was traveling down to submit the hard copy today, I reflected on this particular journey and whether given the chance id change anything about it. Well probally yes to some of my methods, given a longer time frame I may have utilised more than one data collection method, but overall for the scale of our reseach in the scope of a masters, Im not sure I would have been able to do it well or with enough words to do any data justice. I have often wondered over the last few weeks if I could have been more prepared or whether my time management could have been better to reduce the last minuite stress; however I dont think with all the will in the world, I would ever, not have that last few weeks of pressure at the end.  Actually I think a lot of my rounded and deep understanding on my topic developed within that time as I digested what my findings had actually highlighted in the scope of the literature already out there. 

Consequently I think that the need to present at the mini conference a few weeks back, did start that deepening of the understanding as I attemped to communicate those findings and as a catalyst for all the converstations that followed.  I know you probally never thought you'd read that coming from me, the 'presentation freak-outer!' 

I have also been reflecting of the positives of the informal research support network, that naturally developed among my peer group. I have at points hit walls in my thinking and struggled to get over or round them, but the support and willingness of friends to make me stop, re-evaluate and at points be brutally honest with me have helped my get past these hurdles (and answer the many formatting questions). The openness to help one another is refeshing and so different from my experiances within my undergraduate study. So too that great bunch of friends I am incredibly thankful.

I am also grateful to have had a supervisor that appeared to understand where I was coming from alot of the time, which helped ease the pressure a bit. You know at those moments when you just think am I even in the right general area never mind using the right concept! Having someone there who has experience of research, to just be blunt and say that's not important, move on! As a novice researcher (if you can even call me that) was crucial in helping me use my time and concentration on what actually mattered. 

I cant however let this blog post pass, without thanking the people from outside my course that took the time to listen, proof read and generally make sure I had some occupational balance over the past month! 

So its handed in... And now we start the task of preparing for our elective placements that start at the end of the month! 

What else have I crammed in between writing and demolishing my weight in cake... 

Well the last few weeks also included the last few classes of our Developing OT practice module, which is still a bit surreal, only placement brief and debrief, a 10 week placement and a viva to go!!! 

For more insight into my journey to become an occupational therapist; follow me on twitter: @OTontheTracks

Year 2: Weeks 29-31

Quick 3 Week Catch Up

It's been a busy 3 weeks!

You think with less face to face class time, I would have more time to blog. But sadly this is not the case with lots of deadlines looming it's been more of a 'head in the books' time than anything else. 

In the last 3 weeks, I have gone for a pre-placement visit, presented my dissertation findings at our MSc Research conference, submitted a piece of coursework for our Occupational Design module, organised my CPD folder and kept plodding on with my dissertation write up. I've also been busy with #OTalk related things, which I will fill you in more on below. 



This year is really flying in and we are reaching the point where we all start looking for jobs, which still feels rather intimidating with a full placement still to go. 

#OTalk

In #OTalk news, I have joined the team permanently and we are on the look out for a new student intern which is exciting. If you are a pre-reg student and are interested, do have a look over on the blog for details, the link is above. 

We also had our editorial published in the British Journal of Occupational Therapy, which was rather cool, especially as a student getting to input into the article. You can find it here, if you are interested in reading it. 






Lastly on the #OTalk front...  #OTalkonTour If you are at the COT conference this year, we are having a social media meet-up on the Tuesday night which will be a great chance to meet some of the #OTalk community in person so, if you are around do come along (and remember to sign up for the session). More information can be found here.

P.s. If you are at conference, do drop by and see my poster in the poster hall. 

Think that's all i have time for at the moment, as I'm busy working on my poster this weekend. 

For more insight into my journey to become an occupational therapist; follow me on twitter: @OTontheTracks

Year 2: Week 27 & 28 - Can you call it an Easter break?

Key Term: Carving Out Occupational Balance

So we have been on holiday from uni for the last two weeks, but it hasn't really felt like a break... With deadlines looming and lots to be getting on with it's been really hard to carve out time to rest and create some occupational balance. But hey no one said studying a masters would be easy. 

If I'm honest, this is something I have always struggled with when it comes to deadlines  I'm one of those works till i drop kind of people, a perfectionist that is never satisfied. As I have progressed through my masters I have begun to understand how detrimental that can be to my health and wellbeing and tried to adapt my approach. Drive is good! Burnout not so much...

This has meant I have made a point carving out time off over the Easter break, to spend with friends and family and just to relax, even if only a couple of days, as I am aware the next couple of months are going to be full on and I want to be at my best to tackle them with 100% of my effort and energy! 

So a quick recap on where I'm at with my modules:

Dissertation:

I'm at the write up stage of my article which is really exciting, if not still a little daunting... more on that in the coming weeks. We have our formative MScOT Research conference on Wednesday so I've been busy sorting out my slides and working out the best way to share my research with the rest of the cohort. 

You can follow the day on twitter with the hashtag #uocOT 

Creative Occupations during our
Group Intervention

Occupational Design:

I'm nearly finished my reflection which is 50% of my mark in the module, but as I said above, the perfectionist in me is holding me back from submitting it, but with 2 weeks to go until the deadline, I'll be busy working on that a bit more in the coming week or so. 

Developing OT Practice:

We have had a few weeks away from this module whilst finishing the group work in Occupational Design, but start back with this on Thursday. It's our last module which still feels a bit unreal. 

I'm still thinking about the type of area I might want to focus my viva around in August, but struggling to reign in my options in the ever possible scope of occupational therapy. 

Placement:

I have arranged a visit to my elective placement for this week, and I'm looking forward to finding out more about what the placement will look like and what I'll have the chance to learn whilst there. 

BAOTNW Study Day - Shout about Practice

BAOTNW Study Day - Shout about Practice 

Reflections on Attending the BAOTNW Study Day

As a final year OT student, my mind is never far away from the fast approaching task of job searching. Attending today's BAOTNW study day was another chance for me to encounter occupational therapists using their OT skills in a variety of settings. 

The study day was made up of a number of presentations by occupational therapists sharing about their role and experience which was really beneficial as a student beginning to properly think about entering the working world. So here are my take home thoughts:

NB: Views and reflections are my own but will have been impacted by discussions and interactions throughout the day. I have used tweets to help illustrate thoughts and views and where possible I have referenced these at the end of the blog post.

The Evolving Role of the Occupational Therapist in extensive Care

Leanne Moran and Mary Driver shared with the group about their role working with the top 3% of vulnerable adults within their locality within a Care Coordinator role. The service appears to be doing some great work at reducing hospital admissions and pressure on GPs locally by managing these clients within their MDT teams remit. They also shared the differences in their role that wouldn't be seen as 'traditional' such as taking bloods and Obs. I was really interested in their role in speeding up discharge for the individuals they work with when they do end up in hospital and how they additional skills enabled them to increase the productivity of the team and in turn increase the efficiency of client care. 

Take home: This role enabled holistic outlook and by empowering client it had a positive effect on their self management of their conditions. 

Putting the OT in pOsTure

Gail Russell shared her experience of posture management and how posture has a major impact on function. 

She highlighted the importance of assessment in aiding healthy posture of our clients, and figuring out what we can correct and what we need to accommodate for within our seating and posture provision. 

She also highlighted the importance of early assessment and intervention in individuals with posture issues, if we are to prevent further negative impact on occupational engagement due to their postural issues impacting on range of movement and their ability to partake in what they want and need to do.

I have had great learning experiences on both my paediatric placement and my placement with adult social services with regard to assessing both children and adults within posture management and listening to the presentation today, I realised how much I actually have learned about the impact on both individuals occupational performance and their own spinal structure. 

Also on the note of placements, it was great to bump into one of my educators from my PP1 and catch up on whats she's up to now. It's hard to believe how fast the last year has gone. 

Take home: No matter the setting I work in as an OT, I need to be proactive in making sure the early intervention of assessment is spotted and either referred on for or dealt with so that the client is able to have the best possible out come long term. 

Is case management the next step in your occupational therapy career?

Carol Collins, shared on the varied role of occupational therapists working as case managers within acquired brain injury. Firstly she shared an overview of the history of the role and where OTs could fit into the area. She also highlighted how our mixed training within physical and mental health make us ideal for this role. Occupational therapist make up the biggest group of professionals within the role in the region (Social workers, nurses, physics and speech and language therapists being the other professionals working within the role). 

Carol also highlighted the skills we would need to work in the role - knowing your own limits, expertise, use of supervision appropriately, self preservation, back up in our role from other professionals, availability as the role can be time consuming and range in the working hours and to be realistic about what we can do. It was also really interesting to hear about the progression from novice to advances practitioners within the British Association of Brian Injury Case Managers.

Carol highlighted that the role needed the professional to think of initiative ways to create independence which is very OT!! 

Take home: As OTs we inherently think outside the box when we are working with individuals, working in a role that isn't 'traditional NHS health' can allow us to flourish in this. Our duty of care is always to the client! 

Creative Occupations and mental well being

June Wilcock and Rachel Jones shared with the group about their role within Inspiring Minds Salford. The service uses creative group activities such as photography, creative writing, art and woodwork to build self esteem and confidence over a 6 to 18 month period an referred individual is with them.  

It was interesting to hear how they use standardised assessments such as PHQ9, GAD7 and WEMWS which their initial assessment and how OT influenced the rest of the initial assessment. 

Rachel shared about the use of the five ways to well being (give, keep learning, connect, be active and take notice - which I'm looking forward to reading more about when I get a moment. She also shared about her role in community integration for individuals that have gone through the service helping them on a 1 to 1 basis access opportunities, volunteering and education when leaving their service. This is also supported by the reviews post discharge which I thought was a really positive use for n OTs skills in helping individuals do was is meaningful to them. Rachel also shared about a group that works with individuals about to leave the service to increase peer support post service and also helps educate the individuals about the choices of occupations they chose and how this impacts on their well being. 

Take home: This service really interested me and I want to find out more! I also loved the importance of educating individuals on the impact our choices of occupations can have on our well being. 

The EPIC Model for Emergent Health Researchers

Lynne Goodacre's presentation focused on the storytelling of our research. Emphasising on how we can communicate our services impact to others. We need to take responsibility to seek out what is going on in our area/organisation research wise. We need to give our clients the opportunity to get involved in studies. It doesn't mean we are recruiting them, It is informing them of what is happening and giving them the chance to get involved if they want.  

Lynne also highlighted the research culture we want to create and work in as practitioners who are use evidence based practice with our clients. It is a long process to transfer research into practice, so we need to take courage and make the movement as best we can in this environment by seeking out the opportunities. 

Take home: Understand the environment we work in, Promote Research and Use the Evidence base.

Occupational Therapy & the biggest ever DIY SOS Project: Walking with the wounded

I was really looking forward to this session, and if I'm honest was one of the reasons I wanted to come to this study day. After watching the 2 part program, I was fully of question, It was clear an OT must have been involved but there seemed no mention on the actual show. This session answered my many questions....

Sarah Harris shared her experiences on working with the BBC on the program and the differences it had to a typical housing adaption. The cost being a major thing. Normally in housing adaptions there is a need to apply for a disabled facilities grant, to get funding to undertake adaptions to a property for example ramping or stairlifts, but in this process funding was fundraised to support the big build and equipment donated by providers to enable the build to be completed. Sarah shared the ins and outs of the process from start to finish with where her OT Ax took place and the challenges of being an OT on this project. 

I was struck whilst she spoke of the impact OTs have on fighting for the independence of of our clients, even when the matter seems so small to others involved. We advocate for independence! 

Take home: Advocate for independence because we know the importance for individuals, that being able to undertake their daily occupations on their own can have on their health and well being.

All in all, a really great day with loads to think and reflect on as a student OT starting out in practice pretty soon. It also gave me a chance to meet some fab OTs and catch up with 2/6 of the #OTalk team. 

Massive thanks must go to the speakers and the BAOTNW committee for putting on such a brilliant networking/CPD study day. 

References

Collins C. (2016) Is case management the next step in your occupational therapy career? [Presentation at BAOTNW Study Da ], University of Cumbria. 24 February. 

Goodacre L. (2016) The EPIC Model for Emergent Health Research [Presentation at BAOTNW Study Day], University of Cumbria. 24 February. 

Harris S. (2016) Occupational therapy & the biggest ever DIY SOS project: Walking with the wounded [Presentation at BAOTNW Study Day], University of Cumbria. 24 February. 

Helen_OTUK (2016) 24 February. available at:  https://twitter.com/Helen_OTUK (Accessed 24 February 2016).

Moran L, Driver M. (2016) The Evolving role of the occupational therapist in extensive care [Presentation at BAOTNW Study Day], University of Cumbria. 24 February. 

Russell G. (2016) Putting the OT in pOsTure [Presentation at BAOTNW Study Day], University of Cumbria. 24 February. 

Wilcock J, Jones R. (2016) Creative occupations and mental well being [Presentation at BAOTNW Study Day], University of Cumbria. 24 February.