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Occupational Therapy

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chloemercina:

--- Quote from: miniturtle on March 08, 2019, 08:45:40 pm ---I'm not very familiar with occupational therapy at all but your units look interesting - do you have a favourite so far? 

Love your passion about your career path :)

--- End quote ---

Funnily enough, I get asked about what OT (occupational therapy) is all the time! It's amazing how misunderstood it is, yet it helps so many people with injuries and disabilities do the things they want and need to do!

The definition we were given is: Occupational Therapists are health professionals who are trained to assist people to overcome limitations caused by injury or illness, psychological or emotional difficulties, developmental delay or the effects of ageing. Their goal is to assist each individual to move from dependence to independence maximising personal productivity, well being and quality of life.

As an example, someone may have a car accident and sustain a spinal cord injury. What an OT would do is look at their life, what they need, want to and are expected to do. For example, they may want to cook. So what an OT would do is look at their kitchen and see if it can be modified for a wheelchair such as installing height adjustable benches and providing wider walkways.

Another example would be a stroke victim who has experienced weakness of the hand(s). The OT may use devices that require the patient to squeeze which builds up muscle in the hands. They may also play games that require fine motor skills so the patient regains control.

Hope this was helpful, if you or anyone has further questions, feel free to ask, I love when people are interested in my degree :)

chloemercina:
Hey guys,

So I'm more or less at the end of week 3 (yay!). Things are definitely getting more stressful now, assessments (particularly quizzes) are coming up and we are delving into some hard content. I am really enjoying it though. So far what we are learning about is exactly the kind of stuff I am interested in so that's a relief. We have a really hard bio unit which is really stressing me out though.

I have joined Toastmasters on my campus and so far think it's been a good choice (only been to one session so far). If anyone on here has joined Toastmasters let me know what it's like and if anyone wants to know more feel free to ask.

One thing I didn't expect from uni would be how much I'd have to spend on textbooks. In our course, we use textbooks quite a lot and so need to refer to them frequently. I thought I'd just use the library copies, however, they are often REALLY hard to get ahold of as they are often out on loan with a few people having requested it already, therefore it could be potentially weeks until I get ahold of it. This is because so many people in my course refuse to buy the textbooks. As such, I have forked out a lot of money to buy all books required for this semester. I see it as an investment (or at least trying to!).

Something that surprised me about uni was the amount of independence you have. In terms of assignments, completing class and pre-class work, it's really up to you. The lecturers and tutors aren't going to necessarily tell you when to do things.

Overall, I am loving uni so far. I am sort of looking forward to doing the assessments as they seem really interesting. I love the diversity of uni, you meet so many different types of people (even different ages). My advice for uni would be to make friends and try to get involved in uni life as much as possible as it not only makes uni more fun, but also provides stuff to add to your resume.

Again, if anyone has any questions, let me know (no one seems to be asking anything!)

chloemercina:
Hey all,

So its now end of week 5! I meant to update you guys last week but was so busy I completely forgot. I had my first essay due yesterday which was exciting but also daunting. I kept putting it to the side because it didn't look too hard and I ended up starting it the day before, cue me working frantically on the day to have it submitted by 9pm!!! I definitely won't be doing that again, especially since my assignments that are coming up (an essay, an interview/report, and a group work one) will be a much longer process and require more detail.

So far I have enjoyed uni. Next week is the halfway mark for the semester (YAY!) I'm definitely stressing about all the work I have, the more I think about my assignments, the more stressed I get!

I have a biology quiz next week so I'm currently preparing for that!

Hope everyone has had a fantastic week!

As always, feel free to ask any questions you may have about OT or uni (or anything for that matter)

chloemercina:
Hey guys,

Its been a while since I've updated this as I've been incredibly busy!!! I'm currently on my 1 week Easter break with next week being week 9! Therefore, I only have 4 teaching weeks left!

The last couple of weeks have been really hectic, I've had lots of assessments and lots of readings and work to do! I've also had to start preparing for my end of semester exams which is kind of stressing me out, to say the least. I am definitely enjoying my course, but it is harder than what I imagined. It's funny because in high school we were told that uni would be easier which I haven't found to be true.

Anyway, uni is going well, let's hope the next few weeks run smoothly!

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