A friendly reminder no matter where you are at in your fieldwork rotations.
The time has come! All of your classroom learning has brought you to this moment: your first fieldwork experience. Not only is it your first fieldwork experience, but for most of us it is our first opportunity to go and BE OT.
One thing I remember people telling me (and I didn’t believe them), but I’m going to tell you too: You are more prepared than you think. Whether it’s your Level 1, Level 2, or Residency, you have put in the work, the hours, and the passion into understanding this wonderful field.
Q: But what if I fail?
My Answer: But what if you succeed?
Unless you ignore safety rules, are rude/disrespectful, have poor professionalism skills, or straight up didn’t pay attention during school, you are not going to fail. Remember you are still a student and the whole point of these experiences are to help you LEARN and GROW as a future clinician.
Some ways to amp that up? Ask alllll of the questions. Even if you are 99.9% sure you know the answer – you may just find a new way of applying that knowledge! There is this stigma that asking questions is a bad thing, but how else would you learn? I like to think of questions as conversation starters. Are you interested in observing a certain setting? Learning how to do a specific intervention? Learning more about using modalities in practice? ASK. Most clinicians are super excited to share their knowledge.
With that in mind, be mindful of how/when to ask questions. Typically asking during the middle of a tx. session is not the right time. I will usually write down my questions and ask the OT in between tx. or during lunch! My current and prior Level 2 sites were really good about establishing open communication between the student and CI, but also had designated mentor time slots that could be used to ask questions, practice/learn concepts, review tx. planning, etc.
The great thing about fieldwork is that you (typically) know what setting you’re going to be in even if you don’t know your site. Review your notes from that course, research concepts, and study information specific to that practice setting. Understanding conditions/diagnoses of a practice setting is always a great place to start! Take it a step further and go to YouTube and watch videos of OTs working with these clients.
As a student, you are not expected to know everything, but you are expected to have a good foundation to start building upon. And yes, that is your responsibility. Not the school, not your clinical site, and not your professor. It is your responsibility and you owe that to yourself and to the clients you will be working with. That might be a bit of the honest truth, but at the same time, you have your school, clinical site, and professors supporting you in every step of the way; so be sure to use them as a resource!
For fear of becoming wordy and lengthy – I’ll wrap up this “intro” to fieldwork with this:
You. Are. Ready.
You. Are. Capable.
You. Are. Dynamic.
You. Are. OT.
I’ll be adding more to this fieldwork series later ~ stay tuned!
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