I'm very aware that I have not updated this poor blog for quite sometime. I think a large part of the reason for this is that I have been largely uninspired for the last ten months. I have spent the last ten months working two rotations in an acute hospital, covering Respiratory and Orthopedics.
I'm not going to lie, I had a feeling acute hospital working would not be for me but having had no experience of it on placement I was up for "giving it a go". My first gut feeling was right.
Don't get me wrong, there are some aspects of it I quite like but unfortunately these don't outweigh the pitfalls. The last ten months have taught me an awful lot, such as how to work quickly and problem solve on the spot. I have even enjoyed the thrill of working quickly and balancing my caseload, prioritizing. I have not enjoyed the lack of respect for the OT role within the setting, no matter how much education or promotion we do and consequently the amount of unsafe discharges that are done daily/hourly/minutely due to professionals wanting to get people out as quickly as possible to avoid "breaching". This leads me onto a mini rant, medical professionals so obsessed with treating the medical issue and forgetting that it was likely a social issue that lead to that medical issue bringing the patient into hospital in the first place.
End rant.
I have thus spent the majority of the last ten months moaning at my work mates, who are also frustrated due to lack of staff and so unable to do their job to full potential. I also find the setting lacking my two favourite things about OT: Rapport and person centredness. I have always been great with people, this is something all my educators have commented on and so to be in a job lacking both, has been quite unfullfilling!
Until now. On Friday I went to visit my next rotation and I felt immediately in my element! Even setting up a cross stitch group and building rapport with my caseload already! THIS is where I want to be! Creative freedom, time to get to know and support patients: Older Persons Mental Health.
I'm sure some of you are probably thinking "Well you never should've done the rotation then, if you knew where you wanted to go". Life is just not that simple i'm afraid, at the end of the day, we just don't have the options to wait around for our perfect job. Alongside this, I wasn't entirely sure if I would be able to handle a career in Mental Health, due to the risk of burn out. This is where a rotation is key, it really does help you find your way to where you want to be, whether it is by doing a rotation and knowing it's your calling/worst nightmare or if it's piecing together your favourite bits from the jigsaw from different rotations to make the perfect job.
Tuesday, 14 August 2012
Thursday, 23 February 2012
Benefits of baking
On the plane on the way back from holiday the other day (just had to get that in there;-)), I stumbled across a rather interesting article .
The article really was interesting, almost doing a mini activity analysis when talking about self identity and worth.
I've seen a few things along these lines recently and I'm rather torn about it.
On one hand I genuinely got rather excited about the fact a newspaper was publishing the therapeutic benefits of things and even grabbed the boyfriend's arm to drag him into my excitement. In case you're wondering his response was equivalent to "that's nice dear".
On the other hand, I am rather sad that firstly, OT was not mentioned at all (prime opportunity to highlight what OT is, no?) and this leads me onto the other finger, I feel like people are onto our OT secret and so it no longer makes us special!
The article really was interesting, almost doing a mini activity analysis when talking about self identity and worth.
I've seen a few things along these lines recently and I'm rather torn about it.
On one hand I genuinely got rather excited about the fact a newspaper was publishing the therapeutic benefits of things and even grabbed the boyfriend's arm to drag him into my excitement. In case you're wondering his response was equivalent to "that's nice dear".
On the other hand, I am rather sad that firstly, OT was not mentioned at all (prime opportunity to highlight what OT is, no?) and this leads me onto the other finger, I feel like people are onto our OT secret and so it no longer makes us special!
Tuesday, 29 November 2011
Mental health and sport.
This post comes very soon after the death of a well loved and highly talented sportsman, Gary Speed. The reason this comes dangerously close to his death, is because the whole situation has curated strong feelings for me.
Firstly, it reminded me how mental health still remains a well hidden black dog, this gentleman's death came to a complete shock to all surrounding him. This has lead to a very public calling of utter bewilderment and confusion as to how this smiley, charismatic, talented man could've a)been in such despair b) hidden it so deep. To those in mental health services,this is sounds all too familiar because it seems people still have difficulty noticing the subtle signs of depression and what it really is. I read in the newspaper this evening that even his wife had no idea of any issues and they had a happy marriage, friends saying he had made plans with them for next week.
This really highlighted to me how there are probably many more sportsmen out there suffering varying levels of mental health issues, yet where is the help? I'm not talking about high profile spells in the priory, I'm talking about monitoring of their needs and goal setting to help them in order to help them achieve the high standard they are expected to. I would love to get involved in helping in this area, focused work for football clubs/sports to try to help people feel that there ARE other options and ways to get through situations and feelings.
Firstly, it reminded me how mental health still remains a well hidden black dog, this gentleman's death came to a complete shock to all surrounding him. This has lead to a very public calling of utter bewilderment and confusion as to how this smiley, charismatic, talented man could've a)been in such despair b) hidden it so deep. To those in mental health services,this is sounds all too familiar because it seems people still have difficulty noticing the subtle signs of depression and what it really is. I read in the newspaper this evening that even his wife had no idea of any issues and they had a happy marriage, friends saying he had made plans with them for next week.
This really highlighted to me how there are probably many more sportsmen out there suffering varying levels of mental health issues, yet where is the help? I'm not talking about high profile spells in the priory, I'm talking about monitoring of their needs and goal setting to help them in order to help them achieve the high standard they are expected to. I would love to get involved in helping in this area, focused work for football clubs/sports to try to help people feel that there ARE other options and ways to get through situations and feelings.
Thursday, 29 September 2011
The working world: A beginning of sorts
I am a newly qualified Occupational therapist who has landed herself a job working on a rotation in my local city. Beating 150 people to the post is a pretty impressive feeling and a lot of added pressure-must live up to it!
So today I went to visit what will be the place I spend 37 hours of my week for the next six months.
It. Was. Scary.
No word of a lie, I felt so clueless and out of my depth. I think i'm meant to feel like this though, because the girl who i'm taking over from said that she felt the same.
I'm going to be based mainly on two wards, although will duty cover other wards in the hospital once a week. The current OT gave me a tour of the wards and such, the hospital is ridiculously massive and if someone left me in a corridor, I'm not entirely sure anyone would see me ever again because id be lost for eternity! Apparently this happens to everyone, so I shall be given a map on my first day.
I'm feeling so completely overwhelmed yet excited; I really do love a challenge and working hard (which is lucky really!). I also feel incredibly lucky to have landed myself on a rotation within months of leaving University.
This space will be used to document my journey through my six months of this rotation, and probably other rotations. It will be used as a place for reflections and lessons, looking back at the end of the rotation I am sure that I will have developed profoundly.
So today I went to visit what will be the place I spend 37 hours of my week for the next six months.
It. Was. Scary.
No word of a lie, I felt so clueless and out of my depth. I think i'm meant to feel like this though, because the girl who i'm taking over from said that she felt the same.
I'm going to be based mainly on two wards, although will duty cover other wards in the hospital once a week. The current OT gave me a tour of the wards and such, the hospital is ridiculously massive and if someone left me in a corridor, I'm not entirely sure anyone would see me ever again because id be lost for eternity! Apparently this happens to everyone, so I shall be given a map on my first day.
I'm feeling so completely overwhelmed yet excited; I really do love a challenge and working hard (which is lucky really!). I also feel incredibly lucky to have landed myself on a rotation within months of leaving University.
This space will be used to document my journey through my six months of this rotation, and probably other rotations. It will be used as a place for reflections and lessons, looking back at the end of the rotation I am sure that I will have developed profoundly.
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