Observation Hours

Thinking back on the past year and a half or so, I observed several different occupational therapists in a variety of settings. I remember thinking often about if I was observing "correctly". Was I asking enough questions? Was I asking too many questions? What is the purpose of this activity? One thing I remember doing is waiting a few minutes to see if I could figure out for myself why a certain intervention was being done or if this was even the intervention. I remember shadowing at an inpatient rehab center and wondering why they would wheel clients up in their wheel chair and put them on an arm bike in front of a tv for 15 minutes. Now, I understand that this was a preparatory activity, but looking back it made me think the OT or OTA was just being lazy and taking up a good chunk of therapy time with this arm bike. For the most part, it was always beneficial but I did come across some times where I would be in the therapy gym and another OT or OTA would leave a client on the arm bike for much longer than needed due to working with another client or doing something else. I don't necessarily think that was productive, but I wasn't in the place to question it then.

Other preparatory methods that I can think of now that I was confused as to what the point was then include watching a child at a pediatric clinic glide around the hallways laying on their stomach on a cart. They would push themselves around using their hands, and the OT would explain they were waking up their hands. This was done especially if they were working on handwriting with a client. I thought I understood why they were doing this then, but I think it actually "clicks" with me now as to why this was part of the process before a session.