In class last week, we began to learn about documentation in
the world of occupational therapy. While completing my observation hours prior to
applying to school, I always dreaded this part of the day. I would even
sometimes struggle to keep my eyes open as I watched the therapist document
her therapy sessions. As a future OT, I have developed more of an appreciation for documentation. My professor made a point in
class that proper documentation can even be a way to promote the field of occupational
therapy. This idea seemed questionable at first, but then I thought more about
it. Some doctors still do not even have a clear understanding of what we do or why we do it. If we take the time to properly document and represent our profession, we will begin to build a greater name for occupational therapy in the medical field. Sure, paperwork isn’t the
most exciting part of our day, but we owe
it to our field and our clients to properly document our sessions. So go rock those docs!
For this assignment, I decided to watch a movie called The Fundamentals of Caring. The title of this movie had caught my eye while scrolling through Netflix a few times before, but I had never taken the time to watch it. This movie is about a retired author named Ben who decides to enroll in a class and become a caregiver. He takes on a full time job caring for a boy named Trevor who has muscular dystrophy. Although Ben has no previous experience as a caregiver, it does not take long for him to gain the respect of Trevor. He decides to get Trevor out of the house and away from his dull daily routine to embark on a road trip together. Trevor saw and experienced things that he would never have had the chance to do before Ben came into his life. Ben made sure that Trevor could check things off of his bucket list without solely focusing on the worry of medicines and treatments for a week. My main takeaway from this movie was how Ben did not treat Trevor differently...
It seems like every OT's least favorite thing about working is documentation. I was like you when I did my observation hours; I began to dread documentation and I hadn't even gotten into OT school yet! I like your optimistic attitude about documentation. Hopefully I will develop an appreciation for it when I practice!
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