Pediatric OT – Engagement with Families May 14, 2007

Learning lots about working with families. Humbled really at what it entails. Some great families out there supporting their children and trying to keep track of this person and that person from different agencies. I work in the healthcare field and can barely keep track of who’s who.  A challenge.  Also – what is the goal for having children with different abilities mainstreamed? A big question.  Sometimes the purpose of a lesson might be having students side by side – could be learning is at different levels but hey – that doesn’t matter.

Tonight in class we are doing bloglines and other linking. Learned a bit about this. Once again, I need more time to do this. monday’s roll around quickly and I need to be more diligent – maybe 15 mins per day.

OK – back to work.  Merrolee our professor and leader in this research has a blogger t shirt on. Pretty cool.

Cheers and have a good week big wide world.

Keep on blogging….. May 7, 2007

Hi everyone – Back at class tonight. Just had a really great week engaging with schools I work in. Time is a good thing as far as building therapeutic relationships – then you get the trust required to move forward. Lots more to say about this.

I need to spend more time doing this.  Have to practice. Wow!!

Get me all fired up. Now…can someone give me 26 hours per day………..

Rock on.  Signing off now. 

 Jillian

New Grad OT – Aishel May 7, 2007

Came across this cool blog by Aishel – a recent graduate working in acute care. She is so fired up about OT. It is really neat.  Check it out. Cheers.

Blogorama………… April 30, 2007

Tonight class was cool. Learning to do tagging, bundling, and all that jazz!!!  So cool.  Even tho I am fairly confident with technology, I find this all very new. Not too daunting but really pretty neat. Enjoying being in the same room with other OT’s who are learning as well. Quite a buzz!!

I want to spend more time on this out of class and get really organized. I hope to learn a lot!!!

OK – just wrapping up for the night.

Cheers……………..:)

Busy weekend….. April 29, 2007

Just back from Christchurch – went to Arthur’s Pass and did some tramping. How fun was that?  Well -the best part was caving – by this I mean walking in waist deep water through a cave in the dark. Unreal. You have a torch to shine a few meters in front of you – thank goodness my husband Mark was happy for me to shine the torch and he followed. I felt safer that way – you are freezing but it is exhiliriating.  Back to Dunas Sunday and headed out with our wee labrador pup 10.5 weeks old named Bella to the Otago Gun Dog Trials. She retrieved a pigeon. What a fantastic effort for a baby girl!  Was a blast – we got a prize and everything.  OK – off to bed now. Got to figure out how to link everyone into the network.  Cheers.

Boston University – Sargent College April 29, 2007

I went to both undergraduate and graduate school at Boston University – http://www.bu.edu/sargent/about/faculty/rehabilitation/.  It was great to go to school in Boston – a fabulous city which I love. I studied political science and history as an undergraduate – a big struggle was 4th semester Espanol which led to me changing from international relations to political science!!  Graduate school was more fun – first of all it was OT which I always wanted to study and had to work really hard to get accepted into. Secondly – I was paying for it – a bit older and wiser with my eyes on the prize – getting paid to help people help themselves. What could be better!!   OK – that’s all for now. More later…..

Becoming a delicious blogger…. April 29, 2007

Hey Everyone.  Second time in the lab doing the Web 2.0 stuff. I have to spend more time doing this as it is fascinating and amazing how much you can learn.  Neat to see other OT’s talking about the PTA. I used the Westmead PTA when I was an occupational therapist at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Melbourne, Australia and worked on the neurosurgery ward.  It was interesting using it and trying to teach others how to use it.   I was never sure whether consultants and registrars used the PTA as an indicator for discharge.  When I think about it – gets me excited about my work at the hospital. That’s all for now.

Occupational therapy………….. April 16, 2007

Feels different being back in a classroom type environment – a good kind of different. It makes me remember graduate school which I enjoyed.  I realize I need to spend time “playing” on my blog and looking at others as I learn best by “doing”. It is amazing the power of the WWW to get in touch with other OTs to learn.  Confidentiality with this is key relative to clinical work – the best way is to speak of my learning and keep the focus on me as a clinician.   It will be cool to see what other therapists are doing and what has worked for them.   I know research is crucial  – I am a true clinician and feel more enthused by practice based evidence versus evidence based practice!!!

Time off……….. April 16, 2007

Well, I had last week annual leave. Got a lot of things done around the house and tried to organize all the “stuff” one seems to accumulate.  Was going to take this week off but need to get back to work tomorrow.  I do like structure and am going a bit batty without it.   A wee labrador puppy named Bella came into my life at 7.5 weeks old and things have changed. 

 OK – off to my class at the Polytech on Web 2.0. Should be good.

Hello world! April 12, 2007

Hi this is Jillian. it is raining today.