Occupational Therapy Career Plan

As a Certified Medical Assistant, I have worked to nurture my career in an array of clinical settings. Adhering to not only the clinical but also the administrate side of practices such as Geriatrics, General Surgery, and Pediatrics. In addition to my medical clinical skills I have also garnered psychological education

I have worked with medical students who come from the UA COM-P culture and I believe they bring a great amount of cultural awareness to their role on the healthcare team.  The focus of early clinical exposure at UA COM-P makes a significant difference in learning how to care for people. The UA COM-P emphasis on cultural diversity allows for more learning opportunities and fully encompasses what it means to take care of the patient and not just treat a disease.  I entered the medical field wanting to be at the bedside helping people.  I think this gives me a unique view, and ability to help contribute to UA COM-P diversity centered training and culture.  Being at the bedside for 40 plus hours a week for almost 4 years I've learned that all

I have always had the intense desire to care and look after people from a very young age. I firmly believe that everyone deserves the best quality of life possible and this is what had drawn me to occupational therapy as a career path in the first place. It is so easy to take for granted all the everyday tasks we can do and we seldom consider the effect of not being able to complete them. As an occupational therapist I would be able to make a positive impact on someone’s life and make it possible for them to enjoy their life. I want the opportunity to provide support to people, help them gain independence and watch them grow more confident in their own ability. I want to be part of such a rewarding career.

I began my undergraduate education at Colorado State University in 2004. I declared my major as Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing. At this point in my life, I had no clue what I wanted to do for my career and thought this would be the best option and give me the most diversity of career options. Going into my sophomore year, I began a job in the emergency department at the hospital located in the college town. During my first day, I got to see a variety of emergent and non-emergent medical procedures. The level of care that the varying healthcare professionals provided to these patients was fascinating and became intrigued to a career path in the medical field. Over the next couple of years, I narrowed the possibility

I thought I knew what career path I wanted for my future, with that in mind, I sought a degree in Fitness and Human Performance to continue with a career in Occupational Therapy. In this career choice, the way I got to help patients was through therapy. While taking classes, I realized Occupational Therapy is not what I truly was passionate about. I decided to take my mother’s advice and choose what I truly love to do, which is to help people all around and I believe the nursing program would be the best fit. I am currently completing my certified nurse program to proceed with a job as a patient care technician. I believe a job as a certified nurse assistant will give me a better insight while working beside nurses and observe what set of skills nurses use.

My placement was at Toronto Rehab at the Lyndhurst location. I was placed in a seating clinic to work with neurological clients who either have a spinal cord injury, spina bifida, polio or general decline in function regarding their posture. I was assigned to work with Andree Gauthier; she has twelve years of experience when it comes to wheelchair seating and positioning. My placement started from March 6 to April 7 and my work hours are 8:30am to 4:30pm. From my previous intermediate placement, I had the opportunity to do an inventory of all mobility aides residents use at the LTC home. I was able to utilize my previous knowledge and applied my skills in the seating clinic. At the seating clinic, they provide wheelchair seating assessments for custom made backrest and cushion for the clients. Clients may also require specialized drive controls or have chronic postural and skin issues where past interventions have been unsuccessful. I had the opportunity to experience many learning opportunities at the seating clinic that will help me in my future practice as a health care professional.

I am Cristen Sudduth, a native of Jackson, MS. Throughout my life, I have observed and encountered several accounts of resilience. Including times when my siblings and I would hurt ourselves by playing our various sports a little too rough which led to temporarily altering our daily lifestyle. These experiences allotted us the opportunity to build through some form of therapeutic exercises. Each exercise helped us gain the courage, confidence and physical strength we needed to return to our regularly life that we normally had and enjoyed so much. That’s where I believe my passion to become an occupational therapist began.

and intrigued by the mind-body connection as well as the importance of human activity and occupation in maintaining mental and physical well-being. At the same time, my desire to work directly with people and be able to make a positive and lasting change to their lives by empowering them and helping discover their strengths and confidence in themselves to achieve their goals, led me to a realization that a career in occupational therapy would be a perfect fit for me.

Occupational Therapy is a therapy that blankets everything people do in their lives. Such a broad field can be very difficult to define. Unlike Physical Therapy who people instantly identify as a field that get people walking. In the past the vision of the field was broader. “In 2004 The Scenario were developed” a structure created with the Occupational Therapy framework. Medicare guidelines and reimbursement rates in the field of occupational therapy have been limited in the past because the Occupational Therapy field has failed id as a

Life has its twists and turns, but my overall life goal is simple, help others. I want to make an impact on others life, even if it is a small change. For instance, being able to hold a pencil is the difference between a student being able to graduate from Kindergarten and not be able to continue on to first grade. Being a Pediatric occupational therapist will help me make an impact on children at a very young age. Even small changes can have a large impacts, which is why I want to be that change for others. My goal is small but will hopefully have a large and beneficial impact on myself along with others.

Occupational Therapy is a health care profession in which we facilitate maximal independence and quality of life throughout the lifespan. As an Occupational Therapy Assistant Student, I want to be able to make the difference in the individual life to reach the patients goals and helping them back to be independent as possible. “The mission of the University of Charleston is to educate each and every student to their life of productive work, enlightened living and the community involvement.” (The University of Charleston, 2017). Liberal Learning Outcomes helps the student to be able to communicate effectively and engage in creativity in our professional and personal life (The University of Charleston, 2017).

I am currently working towards receiving my masters at Tuskegee University where I will graduate in five years majoring in Occupational therapy. Choosing the major occupational therapy made it easier to attend Tuskegee because of its excellence in molding Occupational therapist. The University’s program has a graduating rate at 76 percent. Practitioners of Occupational therapy have the option to work in wide variety of settings including acute care hospitals, rehabilitation centers, psychiatric hospitals, community mental health facilities, schools, nursing homes, and a few others. I will personally like to work with children and elderly people. I feel as if when you’re a child as you spend your last years on earth, are the most important. As an occupational therapist, I would like to help them make the most out of those crucial years, by helping them become as physical able as

Occupational therapy allows a patient to work towards the goal of being able to perform basic everyday functional tasks. Therapy will differ for each patient, providing purposeful tasks that will allow the most growth for the specific individual needs. Being able to be an independent individual that can perform functional tasks is something that most people strive for, and if something happened that altered this way of life, it can be very stressful and even feel dehumanizing to the patient. Striving for independence and working with the therapists is something that will positively affect the patient's quality of life.

First of all, I feel as if I am a very dedicated person, whether it’s related to my educational goals, current job or career goals, or personal relationships. I take dedication seriously because I believe dedication shows you truly care about that goal you are trying to attain or that person of which you are trying to maintain a good, lasting relationship.

As a child, I dreamed of acquiring a career in Nursing. I was always fascinated by the amount of respect that nurses received during my doctor visits throughout my childhood. There are many reasons why I chose to major in Nursing such as the ability to take care of someone, the money and benefits that the career offered, as well as job stability and flexibility.