Talking Autism Episode 3: Pediatric Occupational Therapy

To all the new Occupational Therapy Practitioners

Hi and hello there,

You have just finished your 3 years diploma / 4 years bachelor's degree in Occupational Therapy. Whatever the result is, you have worked for it, and earned it. Now, welcome to the professional world. I liked one article entitled "Late Night with New Practitioner..." from here. It listed some of the useful tips for us, the juniors in the working world.

The 5 points listed are:

Go and checkout the article to find out more! :)

Thanks for dropping by~

Images sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

Occupational Therapy in Palliative Care

Hi and hello there,

During my clinical internship in Hospital Selayang, I have a chance to participate in Continuous Medical Education (CME) of the hospital. One of the CME's topic is regarding a "good death" for patient of palliative care.

A study by De Jong and Clarke (2009) which gathers 15 respondent comprises palliative care patients, physicians, nurses and caregives identifies the characteristics of a good death are:

• death free from pain
• sense of well lived life
• sense of community

The respondents also outlined a bad death as: 

• painful death
• loss of control
• loss of independence

The characteristics of a good and bad death hints what an Occupational Therapist can do to help patients under palliative care.

The following are the graphics of fact sheets of Occupational Therapist role in Palliative Care by the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). This can be useful for multidisciplinary team members to get an idea what an Occupational Therapist can offer for Palliative Care patients. Get the PDF format here. 

Another useful article that is extracted from the The American Journal of Occupational Therapy regarding the Occupational Therapist role in Palliative Care is here. Happy reading!

Thanks for dropping by~

Being humane towards another human

Hi and hello there,

Personally, I have always enjoy reading non-fiction novel. Especially when it is about people that have difficulty that comes in the shape of psychological, mental or physical. It helps me to understand how they perceive things and operate in the world. It also helps to give me a peek on how their conditions affects people around to them. One of the book that gives me the said advantages is "Ghost Boy".

The following is a video of him at a TED event, telling the simplified version of his story. 

Reading his story are one of the instances that reminds me to always treat my client as human being that have their rights. They may seen lifeless, they may seem brusque, but as human, they have fear, sadness, self-doubt or other emotion that need to be addressed. Experience matures us and learning is a continuous process. Let's always remember to treat them holistically.

Thanks for dropping by~

Solat of an injured person

Hi and hello there,

Religious and spiritual activities and expression is one of the activities outlines under Instrumental Activities of Daily Living as outlined in the 3rd edition of "Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain & Process". The document also state the following for the definition of religious and spiritual activities and expression:

"Participating in religion, “an organized system of beliefs, practices, rituals, and symbols designed to facilitate closeness to the sacred or transcendent” (Moreira-Almeida & Koenig, 2006, p. 844), and engaging in activities that allow a sense of connectedness to something larger than oneself or that are especially meaningful, such as taking time out to play with a child, engaging in activities in nature, and helping others in need (Spencer, Davidson, & White, 1997)"

For a muslim, one of the main religious or spiritual activities is Solat (Pray). Solat is performed 5 times a day, or more if they want to. To start off, before Solat is performed, Muslim will have to perform Wudhu', which includes application of water on certain area of the body. Then, the solat is performed, which involves a lot of physical movement. 

However, Islam have outlined other ways to perform Solat, according to a person's ability or capability. If your clients have injuries that may hinder the application of water on certain body parts or moving certain joints required for Solat, the following are the link of documents that may be of help. These documents are in Malay, and it was published by Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) or Department of Islamic Development Malaysia

The first one is the complete document by JAKIM that include the ways for patient to clean and perform Solat. The link is here. 

The second link is a booklet that shows the summarized version of the longer document above regarding the ways for patient to perform Solat. It may be a supporting material for your education session with the clients. For the link, click here. 

If you have any inquiries regarding this, I highly suggest you to voice it out at JAKIM's website here or on their Facebook page here. 

Thanks for dropping by~

Tips to make your clinical experience (practical) worth it!

Hi, hello there~

I've underwent practical training in 4 different hospitals during my diploma and degree years as an occupational therapy student. In the image below I shared some of the tips that I wish I knew sooner. Hope you can benefit from it. I welcome other tips if you would like to share too! :)

Thanks for dropping by~