Student Questions
Today I wanted to address some questions that have been posed to me from a few OTA students. If you've kept up with my blogs, I've mentioned that I recently had a student shadow me for Level I Fieldwork. There is also a STNA who works in my facility that is in this same OTA class. In addition, I've had a couple of students contact me via e-mail with some of the same questions.
The main question I keep hearing about is PPS and RUG minutes. Every student I've talked to is concerned as to why they have not received some education about these topics in school. Which is a good question, but here are my thoughts on this.
First, PPS and RUG's are specific things used mainly in Long Term Care facilities only. If an OTA is planning a career in the school system, why would they need this information? By the same token, in schools there are IEP's (student reports) that need to be completed by the therapists on a routine basis. Again, for a therapist planning to work LTC this education would be wasted time. Does this start to make sense? Not every subject can be covered in school in the length of time given, especially items specific to one area only.
Secondly, remember that school is just the groundwork for the rest of your career. If we had to learn everything in school that we would need to deal with our entire career, we might have to go to school for 10 or more years. This is why there are continuing education requirements. We learn by doing, observing experienced therapists, and by further education specific to our choice of career paths.
Third and last, this is the reason why we do Fieldwork before we just head out to work. Not only to explore all that OT has to offer, but to see where we fit in and the population we will enjoy working with. For some this may be a natural, if you enjoy working with children you might try to secure a position in a pediatric facility. For those who love to work with senior citizens we would naturally head to a LTC facility. Each career choice will have specific "extras" that we will need to learn. When I left LTC to work in Hands for a while, there were lots of new things I had to learn even though I had been a COTA for 15+ years. Again, I knew the basics (from schooling), but had to learn specifics.
Since we are all human and have different knowledge and strengths, we all have different things to offer to our patients. Finding the correct path can be difficult for some, but if you keep your mind open, give what you can, and continue learning, the world of OT will only get better for all.
Until next time, hope all your thoughts are good
Tim