Week 1 is in the books!As I mentioned in my last blog post, my fieldwork educator shared her expectations of me since I will be her student for the next 12 weeks. What I did not mention earlier, was that I mutually shared my expectations from her as my mentor.
Since it is my first Level 2 Fieldwork (L2F) -- and that means I will be assuming more responsibilities at my site -- I needed her to be patient with me since there is a large "learning curve" that comes with the role of L2F student. She was super understanding and 100% supportive of my learning process. (Seriously, she's just the best!) I also told her I expected her to share any and all information that would benefit my learning process. I am a lifelong learner, meaning I enjoy learning new things as often as I can, and I expect to make the most of my days at her facility. Luckily for me, this wasn't her first rodeo. By the next day, she already knew a plan for what we would do for the remainder of the week to help me learn the ins and outs about documentation, the facility, and working with clients both inside and outside of the rehab gym. She set the tone for the rest of the week, and certainly for the rest of the 12 weeks I will be there. The rest of the week I followed my fieldwork educator around the building, introducing myself to the nursing staff, CNAs, speech therapists, physical therapists, dietitians, physical therapy assistants, and maintenance staff, all of whom I will be working closely with in the upcoming weeks. Much of this time was also spent observing my fieldwork educator as she worked with clients. If she recommended an approach with a particular client, I heeded her advice and continuously evaluated the situation/person. There was a moment that I was totally out of my comfort zone. On my first day working with my fieldwork educator, we had a client who had succumbed to MRSA. I'll be honest, I didn't know a lot about MRSA, but I did know it was serious, especially for healthcare professionals to work around for an extended period of time. Before we walked in, my fieldwork educator told me to put the gown, gloves and mask. She told me she normally "double gloves" and that totally had me worried prior to entering the room. I fumbled to get my personal protective equipment on, but finally dressed out and we entered the client's room. The entire time I was in the room, I anxiously worked on the client until my fieldwork educator finally excused us from the room. Writing this down I feel so guilty about admitting all of that, but I know that I did grow from the experience. In fact, the next day that we worked with this same client, I noticed I was being more vocal with the client and actually focused on the massage techniques used by my fieldwork educator. And by the last day of the week, I was much more relaxed, which allowed me to focus on learning correct massage techniques to reduce hypertonicity of the muscles. I am grateful for this experience, especially jumping into it on the first day, because it allowed me to be forced outside of my comfort zone, and I had to struggle to get back into that zone by working through this experience. As the old adage says: "If you're not uncomfortable, you're not growing." I would have to agree. If no pressure is being applied, then I am not being challenged. If I am not challenged, then I will never learn how to overcome a situation, and grow from the overall experience. This situation was definitely a challenge. So much so that I was very uncomfortable. Nonetheless, I am very grateful for this experience because I now feel more confident to jump into a situation similar to this one. Until next time, ya'll! -Lauryn E. Hill, MOTS
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AuthorI am an occupational therapy student at The University of Tennessee Health Science Center in Memphis, TN. The purpose of this blog is to demonstrate competence in my graduate-level program through journal reflections pertaining to one of the four main competency areas. Through practice, I hope to become consistent at journaling so that I can help my future clients to the best of my professional ability. Archives
August 2017
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