The podcast episode that I chose to listen to was "Cancer-Related Cognitive Dysfunction". After reading the titles of the episodes, I chose this particular one because it is something that I thought probably affects a lot to people and I didn't know much about it so it seemed to pick a good choice for me. People that have cognitive dysfunction during or after dealing with cancer and the treatments that go along with it is something that I have been able to witness in a couple people, but I didn't realize how wide spread it is and how OTs can help in the intervention against it. The main person that comes to my mind is a family friend who has had brain cancer twice. I have noticed many cognitive changes in him over the years which makes sense to me because of the type of cancer that he has, but I never really thought of it affecting so many that suffer from breast cancer and other types. During the podcast they said that 75% of patients with breast cancer suffer from some kind of cognitive dysfunction. A lot of times people will refer to it as chemo brain or chemo fog, but it can be caused from the cancer itself and from many of the other treatments administered for cancer. It can cause problems with problem solving, short-term memory, and multitasking among other things. These side effects can show up and continue up to even 20 years after the person's last treatment. Because of the many thing that can cause cognitive problems and changes when a person has cancer, cognitive dysfunction often takes a long time to be diagnosed or it may not ever be. This puts more stressors on the person while they are trying to get back into a normal routine and living the life that they want to be able to. This is where an OT can come into play.
Even though most often there will not be a doctor's order for OT treatment for a cancer patient, hopefully if they are being challenged by cognitive dysfunction they will make it to an OT somehow. Cancer-related cognitive dysfunction can affect a person in many ways including mentally, physically, psychosocially, and in their whole healing process. An OT can help these types of clients to find ways to cope and overcome these delays by helping them to make a routine for their day. This can help them take on one task at a time, know when they are most capable of performing tasks, and to plan ahead and be prepared for certain tasks that may be more challenging. They can also help to get the family involved as much as they are willing and the client would prefer to hopefully help with smaller tasks or more social situations like remembering names and carrying on full conversations with others. Many times when a person might be dealing with cognitive dysfunction, they might not even realize how bad it is or they might become depressed in not being able to do what they want to and this is where family members could also help in getting them the correct diagnosis and intervention.
Cancer-related cognitive dysfunction is not something that is told to cancer patients many times as a lasting affect of the cancer itself or treatments. Because of this, people are not as prepared as they possibly could be many times and then that makes the challenge even harder to overcome. With the younger and younger ages that breast cancer is being diagnosed, this is leaving moms of young kids to have to deal with these symptoms when they are trying to take care of themselves and their kids. I hope that more podcasts and studies like the one I listened to are published to make this a more well known topic and to hopefully help cancer patients that have already been through so much to be able to heal and return back to the life they want to live.
Saturday, March 28, 2020
Wednesday, March 25, 2020
OT Meme
Tuesday, March 17, 2020
"Blissful Ordinariness"
Personally, I am not a person that likes to get out of my comfort zone. When I go into a new situation, the unfamiliarity is sometimes unnerving to me in just not knowing what to expect or not having a game plan for how I am going to tackle whatever the obstacle is in front of me. One of the most recent examples of this for me was when I started my graduate program in occupational therapy. I was in a new city (a very big one I may add), around people I didn't know, staying at a house that wasn't mine, and at the beginning of a journey that was scary/exciting/confusing/every other emotion you can think of. This term of "blissful ordinariness" makes me think of those first couple weeks of school and how I longed to have a routine, a confidence of knowing what I was doing was right, and to just be familiar with where I was and how to live my new day to day life. Thankfully it didn't take long for those days of ordinariness to come my way.
In the field of OT, we have to remember that some clients come to us when their world has been turned upside down. Maybe they can't take care of themselves anymore or they can't even pick up a glass of water to give themselves a drink. Not only has their sense of self-sufficiency went away, but maybe they can't take care of another person that they are responsible for or they can't fulfill a role that gives them a large part of their identity. A lot of times the term "ordinary" is not seen in a positive light, but for people in these situations having an ordinary day would be something that they would welcome with open arms. As future OTs, we will focus on getting back to that specific client's "normal" as close as we possibly can. We look at that person and see what is important to them physically, emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually to help them achieve what is meaningful to them and what serves as part of their identity. Ordinary days can feel to some of us as boring or meaningless, but for those that have had their ordinary taken away I'm sure that they would feel "blissful" to them.
In the field of OT, we have to remember that some clients come to us when their world has been turned upside down. Maybe they can't take care of themselves anymore or they can't even pick up a glass of water to give themselves a drink. Not only has their sense of self-sufficiency went away, but maybe they can't take care of another person that they are responsible for or they can't fulfill a role that gives them a large part of their identity. A lot of times the term "ordinary" is not seen in a positive light, but for people in these situations having an ordinary day would be something that they would welcome with open arms. As future OTs, we will focus on getting back to that specific client's "normal" as close as we possibly can. We look at that person and see what is important to them physically, emotionally, mentally, and even spiritually to help them achieve what is meaningful to them and what serves as part of their identity. Ordinary days can feel to some of us as boring or meaningless, but for those that have had their ordinary taken away I'm sure that they would feel "blissful" to them.
Tuesday, February 11, 2020
OT Setting of Interest
When I think about where I would like to be employed on day, two settings that I shadowed at a lot come to my mind. First is an outpatient therapy clinic that is associated with the Cookeville Regional Hospital. In that clinic, they provided OT, PT, and speech and had a specialized pediatrics wing and a hand specialist. Being there allowed me to see a big variety of client histories and diagnoses. All the different therapies worked together in many cases using inter-professional care with the clients. This clinic would be considered a private for-profit facility because there are people that own the hospital and the branches off from it.
The second setting that I am very interested in is the school system. I observed in the Chester County school system where the OT there went to every school in the county from the elementary school to the high school. I liked how she saw a variety of things from more severe diagnoses in the high school to less severe in the lower grades. She was contracted through the Jackson-Madison County Hospital which is now owned by the West Tennessee Health Care group. The schedule that she got to hold and being able to be with her own children during the summer while working some PRN is really appealing to me for when maybe my own kids are in schools. I would not want to work in this setting right out of school as an entry level practitioner for the reason of being by myself and not having people around to learn from. Maybe I will have the opportunity to work in an outpatient facility for a few years to begin with and then can potentially change to a school system. I'm excited to see what my rotations will hold and maybe I will find another setting that I love even more.
The second setting that I am very interested in is the school system. I observed in the Chester County school system where the OT there went to every school in the county from the elementary school to the high school. I liked how she saw a variety of things from more severe diagnoses in the high school to less severe in the lower grades. She was contracted through the Jackson-Madison County Hospital which is now owned by the West Tennessee Health Care group. The schedule that she got to hold and being able to be with her own children during the summer while working some PRN is really appealing to me for when maybe my own kids are in schools. I would not want to work in this setting right out of school as an entry level practitioner for the reason of being by myself and not having people around to learn from. Maybe I will have the opportunity to work in an outpatient facility for a few years to begin with and then can potentially change to a school system. I'm excited to see what my rotations will hold and maybe I will find another setting that I love even more.
Thursday, February 6, 2020
Era Presentations - A Look Through the Decades and OT
This week we embarked on a journey looking at many different decades beginning with the 1940's and going through the 2010's. There was a group for each decade and each talked about the decade in general and how OT changed during that decade. This post is going to include some of my takeaways from the presentations.
One event that stood out to me came from 1950's. In 1958, the AOTA accredited an educational program for occupational therapy assistants. People who had assisted with therapy before were referred to as OT techs. There was a shortage of OTs in psychiatric settings and they needed more people with training to be able to help this particular population so that was how that OTA position came about. This just makes me think about now how more demanding of job occupational therapy would be if we didn't have the help of OTAs. This was definitely an important change in the therapy world.
An occupation that changed over the decades could be a obvious thing like play that children participate in. In the early decades, play was more about playing a social role, playing outside, and playing simple board games. As time went on technology definitely changed the world of play and turned to more of a path of video games and electronic or handheld games. Something that was interesting to me though was how some of the games that came from the earlier decades you still see today! They are probably revamped some, but still the same game.
What I keep seeing about OT over and over again is how the field just keeps adapting to what is needed to give people the therapy and intervention that they need. The ability and want of OTs to learn and grow always impresses me and I intend to take that into the field with me as well when I begin to practice.
A few points that I just found interesting was first how in the 1943, with the Emergency War Courses, a person could be a OT in 2 weeks. I understand that they were in great need of OTs at that time and didn't have time to wait the usual 18 months that was required to become on OT, but that fact blew me away. Another was that in 50's there was an outbreak of 57,000 cases of polio. I have watched videos of people that had this horrible crippling disease and I didn't realize that the outbreak was that large. Last one was that it wasn't until 1975 when the Education for All Handicapped Children Act came into effect that public schools could not turn away children that had handicaps from getting an education. The 70's do seem like a long time ago for me, but I also think about that my parents were alive then and how different of a world it was back then. I'm thankful for the changes that have been made in our society and for hopefully more positive ones to come.
One event that stood out to me came from 1950's. In 1958, the AOTA accredited an educational program for occupational therapy assistants. People who had assisted with therapy before were referred to as OT techs. There was a shortage of OTs in psychiatric settings and they needed more people with training to be able to help this particular population so that was how that OTA position came about. This just makes me think about now how more demanding of job occupational therapy would be if we didn't have the help of OTAs. This was definitely an important change in the therapy world.
An occupation that changed over the decades could be a obvious thing like play that children participate in. In the early decades, play was more about playing a social role, playing outside, and playing simple board games. As time went on technology definitely changed the world of play and turned to more of a path of video games and electronic or handheld games. Something that was interesting to me though was how some of the games that came from the earlier decades you still see today! They are probably revamped some, but still the same game.
What I keep seeing about OT over and over again is how the field just keeps adapting to what is needed to give people the therapy and intervention that they need. The ability and want of OTs to learn and grow always impresses me and I intend to take that into the field with me as well when I begin to practice.
A few points that I just found interesting was first how in the 1943, with the Emergency War Courses, a person could be a OT in 2 weeks. I understand that they were in great need of OTs at that time and didn't have time to wait the usual 18 months that was required to become on OT, but that fact blew me away. Another was that in 50's there was an outbreak of 57,000 cases of polio. I have watched videos of people that had this horrible crippling disease and I didn't realize that the outbreak was that large. Last one was that it wasn't until 1975 when the Education for All Handicapped Children Act came into effect that public schools could not turn away children that had handicaps from getting an education. The 70's do seem like a long time ago for me, but I also think about that my parents were alive then and how different of a world it was back then. I'm thankful for the changes that have been made in our society and for hopefully more positive ones to come.
Wednesday, January 29, 2020
Takeaway from History of Disability Presentation
What an eye opening and informational experience I had on Tuesday. In my foundations class, we had a guess speaker who spoke on the topic of "The History of Disability in the United States". I knew that in the past that people with disabilities were treating unfairly and wrongfully, but I did not realize the level that this went to. The fact that in the early 20th century that these people were treated and put on the same level as a criminal blew my mind. I think about people I know in the present day that have disabilities and how confused and scared they would have been if the conditions were still the same today. Thankfully our society has had an almost 180 degree turn from what it used to believe and practice with this group of people. It is still crazy for me to think about how current some of the history we talked about is to now like the institutionalization of individuals for mild and more severe conditions alike and denying individuals basic human rights because of a disability.
In the field of OT, I'm excited to put the information to use that I gathered during this presentation to hopefully encourage people and give them back hope that maybe they have lost or have never found. There are so many extraordinary people with disabilities and it is amazing what they are capable of doing like many other people. This presentation I think is something that many people should be able to witness to give them a better understanding of how society has changed and to give them a better sense of appreciation for that change.
In the field of OT, I'm excited to put the information to use that I gathered during this presentation to hopefully encourage people and give them back hope that maybe they have lost or have never found. There are so many extraordinary people with disabilities and it is amazing what they are capable of doing like many other people. This presentation I think is something that many people should be able to witness to give them a better understanding of how society has changed and to give them a better sense of appreciation for that change.
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