OTA 1140/1150 Phys Dysfunction Lecture & Lab

Course Description

Students learn the effects of dysfunction on occupational habits and occupational roles, apply the Occupational Therapy (OT) process, problem-solve ideas, and become introduced to rehabilitation assessment, treatment techniques, and community resources.

Community-Engaged Learning Project

In this assignment you will be working in small groups to write a case study.  The case study will include information on diagnoses covered this semester, component deficits and strengths, social determinates of health, and other items from OTPF.  These case studies will then be published in an Open Educational Resource and be accessible for other occupational therapy students and educators for free.  

Reflection

For this service learning project, some classmates and I wrote a case study to be available for other students via an Open Educational Resource (OER). Our specific case study was about a woman who has diabetes and struggles to fully participate in her occupations. Each member of our team researched diabetes and how context, culture, and other aspects of the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (OTPF) may impact those with diabetes. This research provided us with helpful and relevant information to write our case study.

Several pieces of this service learning project relate to our course work and have clinical significance, including the following:

1. Practice using and understanding the OTPF. The OTPF provides additional information to help OT practitioners understand the “domain” of occupational therapy, including occupations, contexts, performance patterns, performance skills, and client factors. This project helped me better recognize how looking at all of these can help me better understand my clients and provide interventions best tailored to their needs.

2. Experience researching different conditions. I learned how to better research different medical conditions and use peer-review journal articles to make sure the information is evidenced-based. Continuing to research will help me consider what different interventions may be helpful to my clients, and not just sticking to what I currently know.

3. Help my clients better self-manage their medical conditions. In our Physical Dysfunctions course, we learned about chronic conditions and how important it is that our clients learn to self-manage their conditions. We can help as OT practitioners by helping them learn to manage their medications, self-monitor, communicate with the healthcare system, etc. This assignment helped me better realize that many people may not have the tools and information they need to self-manage their medical conditions. For example, one study found that only 34% of people with type 2 diabetes were referred to a dietician to help educate on dietary management. I’ll definitely be less likely to make assumptions about the care people have received, and help them advocate for themselves.

This project helped me grow as an OTA and SLCC student. I better understand diabetes, and I will encounter many clients throughout my future profession who have diabetes. I’ll be able to better support them and represent our OTA program and SLCC.

This project will also help me grow personally and clinically. For example, I know I can easily get into a routine of how I go about my life and perhaps this could happen clinically. However, I want to treat each client with the best care and not just do the same type of interventions for clients with similar diagnoses. In order to do that, I need to better understand the person from a holistic perspective so I can tailor interventions to provide meaning. This also means researching their conditions to better understand their diagnoses and what researchers and clinicians have found can help or impact their progress. This project also gave me personal confidence that although I’m new to the medical field, I can quickly research and learn helpful information to help my clients.