Driving Rehabilitation Reflection

Key Takeaways

Driving rehabilitation is an area that occupational therapists are able to address. Some of the responsibilities of OTs in this field include to assess a client's performance skills and client factors that are needed to operate a vehicle, understand basic driving laws as it relates to driving with disabilities, and recommending and training on adaptations and adaptive equipment that can be useful in improving driving safety. As our role of OTs, we have to be dedicated to meeting the needs of our clients and help restore independence; driving evokes a sense of independence and could be necessary for someone's profession or day-to-day routine. Some common diagnoses that might be served include stroke, TBI, SCI, amputations, Alzheimer's, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, visual impairments, and intellectual disabilities.

The assessment portion occurs in two steps: clinical setting and behind the wheel. The clinical session involves a visual acuity test, roadside recognition, visual perception, cognition, and active range of motion. Some common assessments completed include grip, Trail Making A and B, and a rules of the road test. The Behind the Wheel test assesses if an individual can shift attention from one task to another and sequence properly.

Occupational Therapy Interventions

Individual: An individual intervention to complete with a client would be behind the wheel training. The OTPF mentions the importance of using occupation as a means and an end. The best way to improve a specific task is to practice that specific task. An OT and a client could go out in a car and practice driving around a parking lot first and then progressing to roadways and intersections. This is a good way to practice reading road signs, identifying hazards, and basic driving skills necessary for safe commuting. 

Group: Another good intervention would be to hold a group session with the topic of driving. Some discussion points could be the importance of driving to each individual, experiences while driving, and concerns or fears that relate to driving. Come activities could be matching road signs with their meaning, discussing funny road laws, and identifying safe driving techniques.

Glyph Reflection

The two pictures you see above are called "glyphs." The one with green marker was completed over a year ago at the beginning of my occupational therapy school journey. The purpose of this was to explore what I thought a leader would look like. Different features were given based on certain characteristics. Some of the things stayed constant over the past year, for example: the square head that suggests leaderships stems from nurture rather than nature, the rounded nose suggesting that a someone can be a leader without thinking of him/herself as a leader, and a hat suggesting the way I think about leadership has changed since the beginning of OT school. There are several things that are different, as well. At the beginning of school, I did not have a written plan for leadership (print writing) and at this point, I do (cursive writing). At the beginning of OT school, I did not draw glasses on my person which meant I felt like I had not had as many leadership experiences as other people my age. After a year serving as president of Pi Theta Epsilon, I now do feel that my leadership skills are comparable to others of my age. Finally, I added a necklace to my most recent glyph, indicating that I now see myself as a leader. 

This was a great experience allowing me to reflect on how my view on leadership has changed in the past year. It's very interesting to see how I've grown in the past year of my OT journey.

Nutrition Reflection

Key Takeaways:
Nutrition as it relates to aging is an area that is often overlooked, but it is very necessary and relevant to the field of occupational therapy. There are ways, with proper nutrition, to slow down the aging process in older adults and maintain functionality, quality of life, and mental health. One of the biggest problems in hospitals is the lack of nutrition provided to patients. While in the hospital, the patient is normally in a hyper metabolic state where the metabolism is in overdrive due to the immune system working so hard to heal the body. This causes patients to require over double the amount of calories of what they would normally eat on a daily basis, which is almost never offered to patients in the hospital setting. This can cause malnourishment among patients at discharge, which can lead to decreased functional activity and increased risk of hospital readmission. Patients are rarely receiving the adequate nutrition education, an as OTs, we can play a role in promoting healthy eating habits and routines.

2 OT Nutrition Interventions:
-Many widows and widowers suffer from malnutrition. This could be due to many different factors: depression, isolation, low motivation, and not knowing how to properly prepare food. A good intervention for this population would be to hold a support group for those who have lost loved ones that educates proper nutrition habits and healthy meal preparation.

-Another intervention that could be useful for increasing one's knowledge of healthy meal preparation is to hold a session for education, safe kitchen mobility, and a cooking task where the client can ask questions and learn new habits and techniques.