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Running head: ROUND TABLE REPORT

Salt Lake Community College


Occupational Therapy Assistant Program
OTA 1170
Physical Dysfunction Fieldwork I
Lisa Palmer
Fall Semester 2014
Round Table Report

ROUND TABLE REPORT

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Round Table Report

It is a great opportunity to do fieldwork and see how facilities do occupational therapy


and the personnel they have. I had the opportunity to go to Utah Valley Specialty Hospital.
They are a long-term acute care facility in Provo, Utah, that brings patients in from other
hospitals. This facility has 40 beds and the most they had occupied during my fieldwork was 32.
With this type of facility every patient there will have occupational therapy unless the patient
says they do not want it or upon evaluation by the occupational therapist if they feel there is not a
need for it.
Utah Valley Specialty Hospital has a wide age range of patients and various diagnoses.
They had a patient that was 24 years old and went up to 85 years old. There are diagnoses from
necrotizing fasciitis, cellulitis, fractures, strokes, renal insufficiencies, to acute respiratory
failure. They had patients that are in the High Observation Unit, where they watch them 24
hours a day, to med-surg patients that are more ambulatory.
They have three occupational therapy practitioners. I was able to work with Tasha
Thomas, COTA/L, during my placement. She is an occupational therapy assistant and she was
the only full-time practitioner in the facility at that time. They had two PRN occupational
therapists, one that had their last day during the time I was there, that would come in and sign
paper work, do evaluations, discharge information, and anything else that needed to be signed by
an OT. The two occupational therapists they had were Suzanne Zibetti, OTR/L and Robert
OBrian, OTR/L. Tasha would see each patient at least 2 times a week for 30 minutes. The
amount of treatment is dependent on what the occupational therapist feels is necessary. Some
would be seen more often and/or for longer periods of time.

ROUND TABLE REPORT

I had the opportunity to see things that were beneficial to groups of people. They had a
yoga group session that was for people with Parkinsons disease. I never imagined yoga being
beneficial for people that had tremors and spasms. They have found that those people that have
been coming to this group have been able to help keep better control and reducing their episodes.
The relaxation, meditation, and concentration of control has helped these people with
Parkinsons Disease to be more functional with their daily activities.
There were people that needed help to be independent with activities of daily living
again. Whether they had lost range of motion, had a surgery that caused them to not be able to
do things the way they used to, or pain that was limiting their movement ADLs have become a
difficult task to complete. The area of ADLs is very broad. It is important for the practitioner to
be in-tune to the needs of the client they are working with and the struggles that they are having
in accomplishing their daily tasks. Tasha was able to come up with a great sock aide to help a
specific need of a client because the sock aides they had were not helping to accomplish the task.
Adapting to the needs of your patients is a great skill to learn and obtain.
In this particular facility there is a population that is not able to leave their beds. Finding
ways to help them keep muscle tone and flexibility is essential. Making sure that passive range
of motion is done until they gain back the ability to move on their own is vital. Watching Tasha
adapt exercises to fit the need of each person to benefit them was helpful. It certainly helped me
to know the importance of knowing the client and knowing what precautions they have, such as
subluxation of the shoulder, so that we as practitioners do not cause any further damage to
clients.
I was able to see a wide range of intervention being practiced. There were things that
were purposeful activities for clients to be independent in daily activities they need to

ROUND TABLE REPORT

accomplish. I also observed preparatory activities that were needed to help clients to have the
motion they need to do those daily tasks.
The things that I was able to observe gave me an understanding of what I have been
learning in class. I was able to see different models and methods being used that we have been
taught and for the purpose that the therapist was using them. Seeing PNF in use and dynamics
being added to it gave dimension to what we do in the therapy process. This process showed me
the client progressing, gaining strength, and gaining greater range of motion. Doing fieldwork
gave me the opportunity to put the pieces together to keep improving upon treatment sessions to
benefit the clients I will work with.
This was a new and interesting experience for me to see things in a different perspective.
Being in a long-term acute care facility gave me some added insight into occupational therapy to
know that sometimes you can only work with a client in their bed. There will be people in the
future that I will work with that will not be able to move on their own. Being able to adapt and
be creative will be one of the best tools I can obtain.
The opportunity to do my fieldwork here was a great experience. It has helped me to see
that I want to mix things up with how I do things with clients instead of doing the same thing
over and over again. Occupational therapy practitioners have many tools and options to use for
clients that they are helping. Being able to utilize those tools and give clients a sense of wellbeing is something that I am looking forward to use as an occupational therapy assistant.

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