Clinical Reasoning: The Gray


The “gray area” as discussed often in OT, is a continual theme from defining the profession to interacting with clients and understanding clinical reasoning. In class we learned about the steps and types of clinical reasoning that we will encounter in the field. I think that all of the elements, but especially the element of artistic reasoning will be very important for me to develop, and I have seen the importance of this through past experience. In undergrad I studied therapeutic recreation, which I think was an amazing opportunity to guide me into “OT think”, to think about a person holistically, and to really use a gray area to be creative. I hope to end up working as an OT in Guatemala, which I know will require extra creativity to come up with tools for therapy with minimal supplies. Additionally, ethical reasoning will be critical. The need in Guatemala is extensive, so just knowing that I will not be able to reach everyone in need and developing ways to meet the needs of as many people as I can reach (which is obviously difficult) will be necessary. I think that over time I will develop skills in clinical reasoning so that I can make these decisions to the best of my ability. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

SIM lab reflection

1.  I feel that I performed maybe average/good for a first SIM lab experience. I think that the fact that I was being recorded/watched made me more nervous than I thought it would when I walked in. Because of that I think that I stuck directly to the assessment instead of allowing time for conversation with the client, which is probably one of my bigger regrets from the experience. We have learned that getting to know the client is extremely important in intervention, and the client mentioned having cats and a daughter, and I wish I had her elaborate a little more on that to get to know her and her interests better. I also had sort of prepared for how the skit was going to go in my head, I should have known better. Because when Francis asked me what OT was, it threw of my skit and I did not answer that well (which stuck out to me in my video), that is obviously extremely important. Additionally, in the debrief  in class I realized that I should have checked her bracelet rathe...
Read more

Keeping up with professional development

For class we had a lab time where we could print and organize our professional development binder. Things like immunization records, AOTA/TNOTA membership cards are placed in the binder to keep up with our progress as professionals. When I started going back to look for papers, I realized that I wish I had started this at the beginning of OT school, and known to just make a copy of the documents I had to keep everything important in one place. After doing this lab I will definitely continue to use the binder and add to it as I grow as an OT. Not only will this be helpful to me,  but to employers, and others to ensure that I am continuing my education and being an active member of occupational therapy associations.
Read more

Foundations Course Takeaway

Starting out with anatomy and evidence based practice, I was craving to learn about OT, the whole reason I am here. This course was a great intro to the field and got me excited about the future! I like how we learned about the OTPF-3 as we were learning about ways to use ourselves and our unique characteristics and creativity to work with clients. Instead of just going exactly by some instruction sheet of how to treat a client, we went through the OTPF and then blogged about our personal experiences and views that make us unique as professionals.  Before this course, when someone would ask me what occupational therapy was, I would just throw out a jumble of words that didn't even make sense, I'm sure they walked away more confused than they were in the first place! Just last week I was with my parents at a store and the worker asked what I was in school for, and had no idea what OT was. I was able to give my elevator speech, that I learned in this class and give a clear expla...
Read more