NBCOT preparation time!!

Hello!

I'm currently studying for the NBCOT certification exam. I plan to take it the first week of June or the last of May, not sure yet.  Started studying a couple of weeks ago when I came back from a cruise vacation with my classmates. We had soo much fun! I can't say the same thing about studying though.

I bought the famous Therapy Ed book by Rita Fleming that everyone recommends. I also have the NBCOT study guide. Today I started chapter 6 of the Therapy Ed book. Chapters 4 and 5 were eternal, but this one seems more manageable.

 My plan is to not get stuck in the chapters for a long time, since I probably don't need to memorize things in such a specific way, just have an idea to be able to use the information in clinical situations. I want to focus more in taking the practice tests, and learning the tricks to analyze the questions fast. Then, I can review the areas in which I need reinforcement.

Is anyone out there who recently took the exam and has any recommendations for me?

Level II Fieldwork: Last Update

My last Level II Fieldwork experience was at an outpatient mental health hospital. I spent there 2 months as well as in my other practice settings. I really enjoyed this last experience. My favorite part was that I was able to give group therapy sessions to adolescents as well as adults. Even though I seem younger than what I am, they followed my instructions and treated me with respect. Since it was an outpatient clinic, the patients were pretty functional, so the focus of the therapies were stress management, autoeficacy, communications skills and things like that. I also got to do crafts as therapeutic exercises for problem solving, impulse control, etc. Through the patients,  I learned how important it's to keep a positive mind, to forgive yourself for your mistakes and to keep moving forward no matter what. It was a nice and relaxed way to end my OT training.

The last day of practice (I'm not going to lie) felt a little bitter sweet. I always wanted so bad to finish OT school so I could go back home, but I felt a little sad when I was leaving the capital.  It felt like the end of an era. Now the real word, where I have to find a job, pay bills, and be an actual adult awaits. But for now I still have to finish my thesis (which I'm not going to miss at all) and prepare myself for the NBCOT and local tests. So, one day at a time right?

PS: Yesterday, my OT program made us take an NBCOT practice test and even though I haven't started studying yet I passed it, so I'm exited!

Level II Fieldwork 2nd rotation: Pediatric OT!

Don't have a lot of time,  but just wanted to say that I looooveee my second rotation setting! I'm working at an elementary school and a high school.  I feel so full of energy just by being around the kids. It's not as hard to wake up in the mornings and Mondays are not bad at all. I think this is the true feeling of loving what you do!

I'll keep you updated,

Luna

Level II Fieldwork update

So I'm about to finish my first fieldwork rotation and I wanted to let you know that my plan (the one I talked about in my last post) didn't work. Since other therapists gave treatment to patients over the weekend, most of my treatment plans were already done by Monday! So you can imagine that I felt pretty frustrated. But the good news is that things got better with time. As I got more experience with different patients with similar conditions, I got better at figuring out what to do with them in sessions. I also got much better at my time management and documentation skills.

The only thing that stills pretty difficult to me is doing transfers with patients. I'm 5'1" tall and weigh less than 100 pounds, so moderate assistance for transfers feels like total assistance to me! This is the only barrier I have to be able to work in the future in this environment (Impatient Rehab Hospital, that I have learned to love over these two months). Lets see how it goes on my next rotations!

Lesson #12: "Don't let life randomly kick you into the adult you don't want to become"

Today I read this great comic made by "Zen Pencils" inspired  from Canadian astronaut Christ Hadfield's quote (http://zenpencils.com/comic/106-chris-hadfield-an-astronauts-advice/), and it was just what I needed.

These first two weeks of fieldwork have not been any easy. The work is physically and mentally exhausting. Many times I have felt like I have no idea what I'm doing or like the School didn't prepare me for this as I thought it would. I even felt like I gave up trying to do my best, and just started to be mediocre.  So, after seeing this quote, specially the part that said: "Look at who you want to be, and start sculpting yourself into that person.... Don't let life randomly kick you into the adult you don't want to become", I felt really inspired. It made me decide that I can't let the system make me become the kind professional that I have always disliked. I have to start sculpting myself into the kind of Occupational Therapist that I've always wanted to become.

 So today I started looking up more treatment ideas, and made little treatment plans for each of my patients next week (even though things can change depending of their health status). I think this would help me show more confidence in what I'm doing, and have the patients get the most out of the therapy sessions.


Wish me luck!

First day of Level II Clinical Practice!

Today I started my Level II clinical practice in an Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit. They gave me a lot of binders with policies and regulations to read and a 38 page manual about the Functional Independence Measure (FIM). The Rehab Director told me: sit there, read the information about the FIM, and when you finish come to me to give you a test. I was like: What?...haha. Anyway it took me all morning and part of the afternoon to read the manual and then the rest of the afternoon to finish the test (while reading, one of the patients in a room nearby was screaming obscenities in a very funny way, which made it harder for me to concentrate). She told me I needed an 80% to pass, so I was nervous. The test was super difficult, it was a complicated clinical case in which I had to administer scores in every area of the FIM. I thought I wouldn't pass. After the director scored my test, she congratulated me and told me that I was the first student to pass the test with such a high score!!! I took this as a reminder that God is with me in every important step of my life!


Feeling blessed,


Luna

Lesson #11: You don't always get what you deserve.

This has been my "learned it the hard way lesson" of my semester. I know that many times throughout my life I have received many blessings that are much greater than what I deserve. But sadly, this thing works both ways. Sometimes in life, you can feel that you deserve better things than the ones that are coming your way. I have been feeling like this lately. I'm still blessed, and the problems I have are nothing compared to most people but still, I feel like I need to let it out.

What is bothering me the most is that some of my problems could have been avoided if someone else had decided to put me in a different situation. Somehow I felt betrayed because I thought that because I am good student, I don’t deserve to go through all the trouble they've put me through. Sometimes professors put good students in the worst situations because they think they will be able to manage it best. I think that if it isn't going to benefit the student in any way, this is just an unfair punishment.

Anyway, I know this doesn’t happen only in school, everyone has to go through unfairness in all life stages and scenarios.  What I’ve realized today is that if I want to be happy, I have to stop thinking that I deserve better and start moving forward with what I got.

Maybe God lets us go through this so we don’t get spoiled thinking we deserve it all. I have faith that He is hoping I learn important lessons from this, and that’s what I’m trying to do.