CREATING A BALANCE AS A PROFESSIONAL OT
Purpose for researching and gathering information:
- A person my age will on average be working until the age of 70 (depending on personal finances/investments, pensions from their jobs, changes with social security, etc.).
- I need to be smart with managing my physical limitations and stay as healthy as possible, so I can last in the working world.
- I’m an OT so technically I should be an expert at modifying jobs for someone with physical limitations. It is my job to be innovative and always look at the true potential in all aspects of life.
- After thinking about OT and the career path I am on, this is something I am passionate about because it is personal to me.
- I feel like researching and becoming a true example of an employee who acknowledges organization, stress reduction and body mechanics I can help others have a more enjoyable, fulfilling career.
- Therapists and related service staff are known to be more stressed and have medical issues that are side effects from the job they have chosen.
- Burnout for Occupational Therapists actually does exist
- Frankly I am not ready to “give up” anything yet or come up with hired help for shopping, cooking and cleaning. This will begin for me at some point and honestly it may take a few counseling sessions to realize this is what needs to happen and that’s ok.
Ideas for myself with Time Management:
- The following can be hard to do. I have attempted a sticker chart to reward myself. At times I feel like it is more work to make a plan to stay caught up. However, I have noticed I just feel better keeping a routine and keeping these things in mind:
- Have a to do list for work
- set mini deadlines for this to do list
- Work in small doses/make the tasks smaller (1 hour extra each day)
- Divide up household chores and errands
- (5 chores on days off; 3 chores after work)
- write these common things down, it makes me more aware how what I spend my time doing
- Plan time each day and week for rest, relaxation, meditation (zone out). As well as social time and time of hobbies. These are just important as your work and chore list.
- If you are given 3 or 4 personal days - USE THEM!
Time Management will help with getting things done efficiently and also help with overall health and well being.
As I have thought about the importance of having a balance in life and how it relates to health, I came across this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-dannemiller/busy-is-a-sickness_b_6761264.html
Overall Health:
- getting appropriate amounts of sleep
- eating healthy and drinking appropriate amounts of water
- exercising/stretching and using appropriate body mechanics
While At Work:
- limit the amounts of bags and boxes to carry.
- I have thought about getting something similar to a shopping cart.
- I now have a hands free lunch box that can go around my arm/neck (as long as I don’t fill it too heavy).
- I also have a roller briefcase but it fills up fast so it needs to be cleaned.
- Try and keep materials in every building you go to each week
- Copy. Paste. Proof Read.
- progress notes and monthly summaries are the same thing
- have templates ready for eval’s and screen to fill in the blanks, etc (remember to proofread, so there aren’t mistakes with names or anything else).
- Breaking down tasks into smaller tasks
- Tienet is my attendance log. I have 2 statements about progress made in therapy or what we worked on. Therefore medicaid is done and info for progress notes is stored in the same location where they need to be entered. The most time consuming thing aside from taking attendance is monthly summaries
- milage is completed every month (the OT meeting is my reminder)
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