Frustration

I haven't been able to post lately due to different time constraints... finished a big long post on hip fracture but it won't post right, something is wrong with the "continue reading" link and it is way too large to appear uncut. Very frustrated by that.

short update- went to my state association conference over the weekend, got to visit w/ some OT buddies and my teachers. Got a few bugs in my ear from the weekend... things to make our SNF better, ICU treatments, a recharge on advocacy, thoughts on early intervention. Also got an update on the status of my research paper. All these seeds and ideas... so diverse. I started listing the logical conclusion of these paths and there are 4 very different end paths, and probably no more than 2 can be carried out. I will probably start taking little steps into these different directions and see how far I can go before I have to give one up, by which time I hope to have more concrete direction in my life.

I am getting caught up on my OT reading... I am down to only 3 OT Practice magazines and 1 AJOT (to scan) on my reading list. Spent the afternoon watching "Observations Based on Sensory Integration Theory" and had quite a sense of deja vu... I may have seen (slept through?) this in peds class 2 years ago. Obviously my mind wasn't ready the first time around. But this time, at least, I saw where these simple motor activities could fit into an extended eval to get a better idea of sensory processing. Of course, the observations in the video are narrated by an SI expert... if she could arrange to narrate the evaluations in my clinic to continually guide me, that would be even better than my in head thinking of "ok... write it down and figure it out later."

Although I have had moments where I feel like I was much smarter about OT right before I graduated than now, I know that I have more confidence in what I do and a better handle on all my OT responsibilities (especially evals). I can't stay current on all the knowledge I had, even though different topics interest me a lot, since I don't use it all everyday. I am trying to feel better about the level of OT stuff that I know, as I have been responsible for job-shadow students all fall, and now have been practicing long enough to take a student. 66% of my official supervisors were new practitioners, and now that I am that professional age, I wonder if I could handle the responsibility of shaping another practitioner. I guess I am aware of the things that I don't know... which is why I really wish I had a mentor (both for rehab and peds!). That's also part of the reasoning for trying to stay up on reading, so that I don't fall behind while in veritable isolation.