OTA 1150 Phys Dysfunction Lab

Service-Learning Reflection- Adult onsite and Telehealth clinics.

During my first semester in the occupational therapy assistant program at Salt Lake Community College, I was able to participate in five adult onsite and telehealth clinics. This opportunity helped me in so many ways, but most importantly taught me to apply the things that we have learned in class to real life patients.

At these five clinics, I was able to observe the second-year students running the clinicals. In so doing, I was able to see interventions for certain people based off their needs and wants. One of my favorite sessions that I got to observe was a telehealth pediatric session. This client was functioning well but had cognitive impairments. When not moving, the client seemed to struggle and be slow cognitively. But when moving around, this client was able to remember certain words/phrases and was even able to quote a couple of memorized sentences. This was cool to see how moving around can really impact cognition and such.

These clinicals helped me to grow and develop to become an even better future OTA. With, it was a great opportunity to observe the second years run these clinics which has led me to feel more confident in myself to lead the sessions next semester. I was also able to learn from the second years about the why behind their interventions. After the session, I went back and read the SOAP notes from the session I observed. This cool to see and put together the things were learning in class and why everything was learning is so important and will be a benefit in the future.

In conclusion, I really was grateful that I got to be able to shadow these clinicals. On top of everything I learned from plans to interventions to SOAP notes, I was able to meet some amazing clients and people. I am excited for the chance that I must run these clinicals next semester and cannot wait to learn more about how I can become a better future OTA.