I am a planner. I am sort of out of my comfort zone by not truly having a setting picked prior to graduation. I am interested in what real OTRs feel the advantages or disadvantages of certain settings are. I am drawn to Neuro (mostly inpatient but I still love outpatient), hand therapy, and working with Veterans/active duty military. I am weighing pay, documentation, hours, mentorship, relocation needs, familiarity, job security, wants for a challenging setting, certifications for advanced practice, productivity etc.
I would love to hear any/all thoughts!
Hiya,I was just wondering what you decided on and ended up doing? :)
PS. Apologies if you can see a green box over the first post - we are developing the website this week, with a few technical challenges. Hopefully Members can still get the gist of the conversation. We'll sort this asap.
Hmmm... Imagine it varies with the service. Possibly more documentation in community OT/outpatient, as other healthcare staff involved in a patient's care might need to be more thoroughly updated on the progress of solo staff visits?
Great OK, we'll share this Forum thread :)
Thew OT Hub Team
Thank you for your insights Tish and Jamie. I feel that I am familiar with what I will be doing as an OT in various settings. I remain unsure of what the "grind" looks like though. For instance, I have heard hospital documentation is much lighter than outpatient.
OT hub- feel free to share this on social media. I would love to get some opinions of different settings.
I am a planner too TraLisa and changed career completely in my late 20s - so I know the feeling of being out of your comfort zone. Like Tish, I live in the UK, so hours/mentorship/job security/etc may be culture or country specific. Nonetheless...
Like you, I am very interested in neuro - and stroke rehabilitation. My first placement experience was in rehab - an early supportive stroke discharge service. The team visited service users/patients on the hospital ward and then supported them back into their home environment. This involved 5 weeks of multidisciplinary support - by OTs, physios (physical therapists in the US) and rehab support workers.
What I loved about stroke support was the variation. Two patients might have had a left ischaemic stroke, in the same part of the brain, receiving the same speed and quality of care. But there are SO many other factors that would make their recovery speed and potential very different. I got to help individuals recovering with visible, tangeable improvements, whilst learning about degrees of motor control, sensory deficit, aphasia and hemianopia... Additionally, being in a community role meant that these service users were in their own physical/social/cultural environment. Familiarity means that recovery can be optimised as best as possible.
I've also really enjoyed working in community rapid response and in a young persons mental health charity. But I'd thoroughly recommend stroke!
If you are interested in this world, check out the following Hub Blogs - reflections based on my experiences to-date - within the OT Insights tab:
www.theothub.com/blog/case-study-stroke-rehabilitation-assessment-and-upper-limb-intervention
www.theothub.com/blog/case-study-stroke-rehabilitation-constraint-induced-movement-therapy-cimt
www.theothub.com/blog/case-study-stroke-rehabilitation-interventions-and-limitations-of-occupational-therapy
Cheers
Jamie :)
Hi TraLisa,
In the UK we have rotations (I don’t know if these are utilised universally) where typically you would have a period of 6 months in one area of practice before moving to the next I.e. hand therapy, neuro/stroke, general medicine and surgery, orthopaedics and so on.
I have been fortunate enough from the experiences of my placements to know that I would love to go back into Neurology after graduation; however I feel like the rotation will be the best opportunity for me. I am able to explore multiple different areas of practice before I feel like I am ready to change my area of practice and will continue to build on my knowledge ans transferable skills as a practicitioner. I feel that I would like to get to grips with general medicine as surgery again as my first step and build in to other areas. One day I definitely know I would like to go back into a neuro setting but would prefer to have a lot more confidence and experience behind me first.
Like I said I don’t know if this is something available to you where you’re located, but hopefully this is helpful and gives you some idea of what students in the UK are encouraged to do (although it’s not mandatory!)
Best wishes,
Tisha
Hi TraLisa,
This is a great question!
Responses take a little time to populate (the Forum needs more promotion), but we hope you'll get some useful responses.
Could we share your question on our social media channels? This would prompt other Hub Members to login and help you out ☺ (we can anonymise if you like).
The OT Hub Team
hubteam@theOThub.com