For OT month, I am celebrating occupations! Occupational therapy improves patient access to the occupations and their ability to participate in occupations. What does OT mean by occupations?  Any skill a patient needs for the job of living is an occupation! Adaptive Sports – Buttoning –  Cleaning –  Driving –  Food Prep –  Eating – Gardening –  Handyman Skills   Ice Skating –  Jigsaw Puzzles –  Knitting –Lovemaking – Managing Meds – Nature Access – Online Shopping Personal Hygiene – Quilting – Reading  – Sleeping- Transfers – Uno & Car ..read more

Have you ever wanted to combine travel and work?  With occupational therapy jobs on nearly every travel healthcare board, now might be a good time to explore the possibilities! So how do you decide whether a travel gig is right for you? Of course, I can’t answer that, but I can help you get started! First, answer questions in each of the groups below– feel free to ad lib – you can even create your own set of questions! Sort your answers into pros and cons.  Remember there are no wrong answers – your pro could easily be someone else’s con. Capture your list on a white board or a big s ..read more

The AOTA Conference is just a month away! Have you started to prep yet?  Need a starting point?  Think of these three areas: Organization Goals Engagement Get Organized Conferences go by fast and have more events than one person can attend.  Make sure you don’t miss out by getting organized before going. Set up a meeting with your boss or team to see if there is any information they need from the conference. If a group is going from your organization, go over the next two points with them. Divide and conquer! Review sessions ahead of time to select first and second choices. R ..read more

Play is most often associated with OTs working with a pediatric population, which is fair, since play is a critical component of child development. But I would argue that play is just as important for adults being treated by OT. We all know that the more people move, the more they can participate in life, and the happier and healthier that life will be. Play means many things to many people. Play can be incorporated into therapy, supporting skills needed for ADLs and IADLs. One of my favorite IG sites is bewegen.is.leven. If you work with older adults, he posts the most creative and play fille ..read more

I am going to wrap three themes into this blog: genealogy, accessibility and New Year’s resolutions! If you are a fan of any of those topics, read on and see how they intersect for me. Genealogy is one of my long time hobbies. I have traced my own maternal and paternal lines as well as the ancestry of my husband. (Fun fact – my husband and my sister’s husband are related – 7 generations removed. Both our spouses’ families have called Maryland home for more than 200 years.) But back to the story at hand! Vital records in Maryland were only available in person at the state capital and required a ..read more

November is National Diabetes Month and the 2023 theme, “Take Charge of Tomorrow: Preventing Diabetes Health Problems”, is one I love and agree with! I will even go one step further and propose a response – add OT to every healthcare team treating diabetes. Diabetic patients are asked to make significant changes in the way they care for themselves. From learning medication management and health monitoring to adding exercise routines and even accessing and prepping healthier food, occupations have to be supported. OT is valuable for helping patients deliberately build a regime of care that supp ..read more

A doctor in the UK became a patient herself and realized not all healthcare providers introduced themselves. The doctor, Dr. Kate Granger MBE, firmly believed the thought and care around a simple introduction could set the tone for the remainder of the relationship. Dr. Granger was inspired to start the campaign, “Hello, My Name is” to change the beginning of each healthcare experience for patients. Her passion around what seems like a very small gesture revolved around four core values: Communication: Effective communication is the bedrock of good healthcare and starts with a proper and thoug ..read more

Should I be an OT? Should I be an OT or an OTA? Are there enough OT jobs? Is OT a good career choice? I see this type of question from students all over social media and thought the beginning of the academic year was a good time to share some advice John F. Kennedy gave to a young Leonard Nimoy. Leonard Nimoy was driving a cab while trying to launch his acting career when he picked up John F. Kennedy. At the time, Kennedy was also at the beginning of his career and serving as a Massachusetts state senator. The two had a conversation about life and careers and Kennedy gave this advice to Nimoy ..read more

Social Determinates of Health (SDoH) focuses conversations about improving patient health and wellbeing outward. Where people live, who they live with, what they do for a living, and how they live can have a larger impact on their health than any medical intervention. So where is occupational therapy in this conversation? Hasn’t OT always focused on improving a patient’s access to and navigation of the five domains included in the SDoH? I think the answer to that is a resounding YES! OT’s holistic approach, skilled assessment of patient strengths and barriers, and clinical expertise at creatin ..read more

Social Determinates of Health (SDoH) focuses conversations about improving patient health and wellbeing outward. Where people live, who they live with, what they do for a living, and how they live can have a larger impact on their health than any medical intervention. So where is occupational therapy in this conversation? Hasn’t OT always focused on improving a patient’s access to and navigation of the five domains included in the SDoH? I think the answer to that is a resounding YES! OT’s holistic approach, skilled assessment of patient strengths and barriers, and clinical expertise at creatin ..read more