Mock Interview Reflection

I feel like I learned a lot about myself during this mock interview. I have had about four formal interviews, two of them not really working out in my favor. Because of this, I kind of thought that I was not good at interviewing, which made me very hesitant about future job applications. I learned that I actually am good at interviewing, or at least average. I definitely walked away feeling more confident about future job applications. I think one thing that went well was that I think I answered every question professionally while still acting like myself. One of my biggest pet peeves is when people expect interviewees to have “standard answers” that don’t really show an individual’s personality. I was really proud that I was able to showcase my personality while still presenting myself in a professional manner. One thing I think I could have done better is take a second to really think about what I was going to say and then answer the question in the most logical sequence. When asked about my future goals, I answered my long-term goal first and then my short-term, which really did not make sense. I only did this because I thought of my long-term goal first, but if I would have just taken a second to think it out, I could have answered it chronologically which would have been more logical of a response. In the future, I hope to continue to have this confidence and build upon it to present myself in the best light.

Aging and Sexuality- Guest Lecture Reflection

Today’s guest lecturer was a Certified Sex Therapist. She came to talk about Aging and Sexual Health. There were four topics she addressed: disprove the myth that older people are asexual, describe the physical changes and changes in sexual response that happen with age, and other factors that impact sexuality.

            I think the biggest thing that she wanted us to take away from the lecture was that older adults remain sexual into their later years, and this has a big impact on an individual’s quality of life. The majority of older adults said that emotional well-being and quality of the relationship had more impact on desire compared to the aging process. It also should be noted that studies have shown that an orgasm helps to relieve pain, reduce stress, and improve sleep, which are common problem areas that older adults face. Orgasms also boost the immune system and increase an individual’s life span which we know to be big desires of the older population. Overall, any form of sexual activity has a direct impact on an older adult’s health.

            There are physical changes in both the man’s body and the woman’s as they age. However, these changes often do not get discussed with older adults, so they don’t know why these new things are happening to them. It is up to us as health care providers to not only educate older adults on these changes, but to assure them that it is fine that they are happening. During menopause, women’s hormone levels are changing constantly. This can result in a diminished arousal, lubrication, and sensation. As a man ages, his testosterone declines and blood flow decreases which can cause a change in erections and ejaculation. These changes might be alarming to older adults, which is why it is so important for us to understand the functional and physical implications of aging.

            After an individual has been in a relationship for longer than 2 years, their sexual response can change. This typically happens in women but is not to say this is the case for ALL women. In a short-term relationship, the course to an orgasm usually follows a desire, arousal, and then an orgasm. However, after two years, this changes to arousal, then desire, and finally an orgasm. This functionally means that women who are in a long-term relationship need to feel aroused, and then they have a desire to engage in sexual intercourse. This process can also be derailed if a woman’s negative feeling or cognitive thought (for example stress or a negative body image) gets in the way from her ever progressing from arousal to desire. However, men still follow the first model which means they’ll have a desire and then the arousal. This can be really hard for a long-term couple, especially if they are not educated on the changes taking place. This might lead to the woman’s partner feeling like she was not attracted to them anymore or the woman feeling like sex was more of a task than for pleasure.

            Some other factors that affect sexual activity for older adults include how sex was taught to them growing up in the home. It could have been frowned upon and never talked about, or really open and well educated on the importance of safe sex. Another factor can be an individual’s religion and what their religion says about sexual intercourse. It could be that it is a celebrated act between a husband and a wife, or it could be a very strict and non-pleasurable act. A third factor is a history of trauma. If an individual has experienced trauma, she/he may perceive sexual intercourse as a trigger, and not a leisure pursuit. This may bring on anxiety, stress, depression, and PTSD. A fourth factor is that several diagnoses can have impacts on an individual’s sexual response. These diagnoses include atherosclerosis, diabetes, arthritis, cancer, hypertension, or body habitus. Several types of medications may also have sexual side effects such as antihistamines, beta blockers, blood pressure medications, diuretics, antidepressants, psychotropic medications, chemotherapy, and radiation. Smoking, drinking alcohol, and THC may also impact an individual’s sexual response. A fifth factor is society’s pressure on both men and women and their conceived body image. A sixth factor is the quality of the relationship and the dynamics between the members of the relationship.

            Some interventions that an OT might address when it comes to an individual’s sexuality activity may be working on positioning with pillows and their partner for someone with a spinal cord injury. This is a major aspect of their quality of life which is going to look much different after their injury. A group intervention could be held at a woman’s health facility in which an OT educates women going through menopause about the changes happening to their body and the occupational changes that may take place. We can also educate them on ways to compensate or modify to increase their satisfaction in their occupational performance.

Driving and OT

This week, we had the privilege of learning about driving and community mobility and OT. This might make you think back to when you were 16 and someone had to get in the car with you to tell you whether you were allowed to drive or not. Honestly, part of it is the same. Except now instead of failing the test because I couldn’t parallel park, I am in a position to obtain a specialty certification and becoming the person who recommends someone to not be allowed to drive.

One main point that was really stressed to us was how important it is to build rapport with a client before and during any type of session. This applies to every setting, with or without a certification specialty. It is especially important when assessing a person’s ability to drive because a lot of the time, you have to be the one to tell an individual that the state is probably going to be taking away their ability to drive. I think this is so vital for every setting because no matter where you are, you will have to deliver bad news about permanent or temporary deficits eventually.

Another key point was just how many different diagnoses can affect an individual’s ability to drive. If you live in your own little bubble, you just assume that everyone can drive because it is so natural and understood for drivers. However, people with a stroke, a traumatic brain injury, a spinal cord injury, an amputation, Alzheimer’s disease, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, an intellectual disability, or an impairment in visual processing can all affect an individual’s ability to drive. I think it is so easy to underscore how many people this affects because not only does it mean that that entire population either needs an adaptation for driving or cannot drive, but it also affects those individual’s caregivers or family members. If they cannot drive themselves, they need someone to take them to appointments which is where the family has to step in. What really intrigued me was when we learned that on average, people outlive their ability to drive by 6-8 years. This means that most people need someone to drive them anywhere they need to go for 6-8 years.

One other (there were several) key take away for me, someone becoming an entry level OT in less than a year, was how many low-cost options there are to help someone improve their ability to drive. Whether that is with reference points on the car or road, enlarged mirrors or bling spot mirrors, speedometer, arrow, or numbers markings, or glare reduction using a towel, there can be simple ways to either improve an individual’s safety while driving, or to allow someone with a motor impairment the ability to continue to drive.

One OT intervention to address these needs could be scanning to the left with a support group for those who just had a stroke and now have left neglect. This is something that needs constant cueing to remember at first, which obviously affects an individual’s ability to drive safely. Without scanning to the left, an individual may merge into oncoming traffic and not even realize it until it is too late. Another OT intervention to do with an individual is collaborating with the client to figure out where their greatest needs are while driving and then figuring out an adaptation for it. Whether that is a higher seat, a bigger mirror, or even just a visual cue to keep the car straight on the road.

Leadership Reflection

Over a year ago, my class was asked to draw a reflection based on a key on what we think an effective leader looks like. It was really interesting to debate in my head about what characteristics make up a leader, and which do not. Last week, we did the same exercise again, but we couldn’t look at our drawing from last year until we finished this year’s. I knew I had grown and changed since I started OT school, but I didn’t realize how much. After completing this year’s, I compared my two drawings. There were several changes that I made from last year’s to todays.

One was that I didn’t feel like I was in more leadership roles than other people my age a year ago. Now, we are two days away from an Art Show and Auction of which I headed up the planning. It’s been a lot of work, but through it, I have lead multiple meetings, delegated many tasks, and networked with several professionals from other departments.

Last year, I was able to name two themes from the Strengths Finder, but this year, I could not think of a single one.

Back then, I thought that to be an effective leader, you didn’t necessarily need to see yourself as a leader. However, now I see the importance of viewing yourself as a leader. I think it is so crucial for you to respect yourself in a way that shows confidence in yourself which leads to others feeling confident in you and your abilities.

Last year, I said that self-awareness was not a vital aspect of effective leadership. However, now I realize how important it is to be able to see your own strengths and weaknesses when leading a group. If you only see your strengths, and think nothing is a weakness, no progress or growth will ever be made.

I also thought that technology was an important aspect of effective leadership, that has actually weirdly changed for me. I do not feel that you have to be tech-savvy or use technology in order to be an effective leader. I think character is more important that skills or devices in leadership. Technology may be important for certain projects, but not necessary to lead a group of people effectively.

Finally, I said that creativity was not really necessary for leadership, I said organization was way more important and creativity was not at all. However, I have since realized that creativity is a very important aspect of effective leadership. If a problem occurs, a creative leader will be able to problem solve to get the job done, just in a new way.

Who would have ever thought a viewpoint on leadership could change in such a short amount of time?

Nutrition and Aging

Today we had a guest lecturer for our Occupation-Centered Practice in Older Adults class who was a Registered Dietitian. It was a really interesting and informative lecture on the importance of proper nutrition in the aging population. It was really crazy to think about the fact that at age 30, a person is at the peak of our muscle mass. At age 40, muscle mass decreases by about 8% per decade and after age 70, muscle loss accelerates to about 15% per decade. The loss of lean body mass can lead to a whole host of complications ranging from decreased immunity and increased infections to death from pneumonia. This is something that can be prevented but is so often neglected in medical care. Most people do not know that they are malnourished or losing lean body mass, and they do not understand how to prevent it. In order to prevent or treat sarcopenia, the age-related loss of muscle, one must have a high protein diet and engage in strength training regularly. 

People who are highly at risk for malnutrition include older adults, people living with chronic diseases, patients in a hospital, and long-term care residents. All of these individuals are people that occupational therapists see regularly, so proper nutrition needs to become an issue at the forefront of an OT’s brain in order to prevent the many complications that can occur from malnutrition. One easy way for an OT to detect malnutrition is from a weak grip strength, another is edema (usually in the lower extremities). These are areas of an individual’s evaluation that OTs are already addressing. With proper education and training, this information can then be given to the patient’s dietitian to hopefully prevent further malnutrition and get the patient back to being well nourished. The information may also need to be given to the patient’s doctors, caregivers, and the patient themselves.

Often times, malnutrition can be treated with nutrient supplements, Ensure. This can really increase the patient’s caloric intake, and most importantly, their protein intake. This is such a vital aspect of a person’s lean body mass that is typically deficient or lacking. This can be from lack of education, or it could be from food insecurity. If an individual has food insecurity, they are 50% more likely to develop diabetes and 3x more likely to be depressed. Both of these diagnoses have a major impact on ADLs and occupational performance. Nutrition is such a vital aspect of an individual’s life, and it is far too often overlooked. We as occupational therapists need to understand the role that an individual’s nutrition plays on their occupational performance and work on advocating for proper nutrition for our clients.

An individual treatment idea could be to make a dietary discharge plan with someone who is in an acute care facility in order to educate the patient and caregiver on proper nutrition, as well as a way to provide proper local resources to supplement for any food insecurity. A group intervention to address nutrition could be an ice cream social in which residents engage in social participation, while receiving the proper nutrition they need from an Ensure mixed with their ice cream. Another intervention that could be applied to a population is educating caregivers and LTC residents about the effects of a sedentary lifestyle coupled with malnutrition.

Fieldwork C Debriefing Video

Well, my lack of tech savvy skills is really haunting me because I was not able to figure out how to upload it directly to my blog. However, I believe this should work! I can't wait to see everyone in July and hear about your last two weeks! Here is the link to my video, if there is a problem, please just let me know!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMhAJxk96gg&feature=youtu.be

We're AL(S)l in this together

For my last neuro note, I decided to watch a TedTalk on ALS. Kevin Gosnell gave this talk was 46-years-old when he was diagnosed with ALS and has three sons and a wife, and that he was in the prime of his life when his symptoms started to show. He had everyone imagine that you are sitting in a room and a mosquito is flying around and lays on your ear, but you are incapable of swatting it away or even telling someone that it is there, so you just have to suffer while it is sucking your blood. Gosnell realized that ALS research was very non-cohesive and has set out to fix that by setting up a team of ALS doctors to work together and a nonprofit that is devoted to fundraising for the research.

After watching this video, I think I have a better understanding of what happens behind the scenes of an ALS diagnosis. Gosnell said that with his diagnosis, he eventually will be unable to complete his ADLs, he had to quit his job, but the diagnosis brings about many other bills and devices to buy. He explained that just by quitting his job, his family was put into financial distress, but then when he needed to buy a scooter or wheelchair or any other adaptive device, the distress increased substantially. I think I knew that both were consequences of the diagnosis, but I never really put them together, and the more the disease progresses, the more equipment is needed. ALS is such a heartbreaking diagnosis for the individual and family, and it is sad that during the limited time they have with their loved one, the family also needs to be worried about the finances.

After watching this video, I have such a greater appreciation for St. Jude. Not only do they take the financial troubles away from their families, but they also share the breakthroughs in research with other facilities. That was one problem addressed in this TedTalk. Gosnell stated that many ALS doctors do not share their successes with each other and they definitely do not share their failures, so there is a lot of overlap in trials because they did not come together to try to beat the disease. Gosnell wrapped up his talk by addressing his three sons. He said that what he wanted his last lesson to be to them was that “if you stand alone you get stuck, if you come together you can go far.” I think that is something for everyone to take from this talk, a group of people can accomplish so much more than just one individual, so we need to grow with each other and help each other in every aspect we can. Together, we can go far.

Gosnell, Kevin. (2015, November 25). ALS hasn't won - ALS ONE! | Kevin Gosnell | TEDxBeaconStreet. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OvCUhA2KuAY