Kamwamba (Hello!). Today marks three weeks into our travels, time really flys! As Courtney and Brittany mentioned, we've had the benefit of learning some infant massage techniques by Reagan that have already proved to be beneficial (in just two days of implementing some of these techniques!). Thus far, Reagan has taught us face, back, and congestion techniques and it has been a blessing to be able to see her work wonders with some of the children at The Haven and to see their response upon her implementation of these techniques. Reagan has been a wonderful addition to this team (more so family now).
These infant massage techniques has proved to be beneficial for aiding in our goals and objectives for a number of reasons and the children have also responded in different ways. These techniques have aided during feeding therapy as some go hand in hand with the Beckman exercises. Also, implementing infant massage techniques with an infant who is "figidity" or uncooperative may sooth the child enough to carry out and complete the Beckman exercises. Using infant massage techniques has also proved to be beneficial in stimulating and grabbing a child's attention therefore increasing the duration of active engagement and participation in language based therapy approaches. With a simple stroke on the side of the face Reagan actively engaged a group of babies in Haven 1 and had them imitating phonemes. When using infant massage face techniques, I was able to get a child from tears to active participation in language group. Just a small sneak peak into the world of infant massage!
We would all like to know what has been the most challenging aspect of each of your offsites thus far? And looking back, what are you so thankful to have learned in class now that you are all offsite?
Tomorrow we begin recording our language samples for our research! Stay tuned...
"It is not the destination so much as the journey." –Jack Sparrow
I would say something that was challenging for me at first was dealing with very low functioning individuals, at times you go in for therapy and they're so sick, tired or agitated that you can't get much done until next time(when they're hopefully more alert, awake, etc). You really have to know what's appropriate and what isn' t (timing). I remember one thing we learned in class about ending a therapy session on a good note(correct answers or success) so the patient doesn't feel bad about themselves(depression can be serious sometimes). I'm directing the same question back to ya'll. :-) take care
ReplyDeleteWow... I'm very interested to learn more about these massage techniques when you return. They sound powerful! I'm primarily in the ICU at UAMS, so the cases I work are critical and therfore have important terminology that I have to report correctly in progress notes and eval reports. The medical field has a whole different system for writing notes! I have a great supervisor at my off-site, which has made my experience so much better. She has been a great asset to my hospital note writing. We see patients with gun shot wounds, fresh trachs, recent craniotomies, and severe CVAs on a daily basis. Although each case is fragile, nothing has been too intimidating due to the confidence and teaching skills of my supervisor. I'm very thankful we had a 1 day crash course on trachs. I'm loving my off-site experience!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shelby on the trach course. Most of the nurses I have dealt with are uncomfortable dealing with trach patients. As far as the most challenging, I would have to say doing a solo OPV/MBS with a M.D. standing just over your shoulder or dealing with combative patients.
ReplyDeleteThe massage techniques seem like they have made a wonderful difference it helping supplement your therapy techniques. What is something that you wish you would have known before you got there?
Okay, you have to show me the massage techniques!
ReplyDeleteChallenges: Well, doing all the therapy on my own without much supervision from the 2nd day on has been challenging, learning and remembering where everything is after one time around a hospital is interesting; finding patients and writing their notes and taking them places when your patients are scheduled back to back and paperwork is point of service is fun lol; helping guys go to the bathroom in bed in the middle of your therapy session when you are alone is challenging; memorizing the FIM scores, their percentages, and acronyms for therapy notes was a little bit of work; dealing with the nursing/therapist rivalry is interesting; watching someone have an incontinent episode because you aren't allowed to move them as a student, and the nurse is standing there and won't help because she doesn't want to put in five minutes over her time at work might be the most difficult. Trying to explain to every patient why you have to "do silly questions" is also hard. They are going through so much, and our tasks seem so insignificant.
On the flip side: I am getting a lot of hours and learning a lot. The appreciative patients make it worthwhile. Hope you all have a great week!
I have so thoroughly enjoyed my off-site thus far. Probably the biggest challenge is not actually giving therapy or doing diagnostics (which is mainly what we do- MBS's, bedside swallow evals, cognitive screeners, etc.), but actually seeing our sick patients and watching them cope with their "new" lives. For example, yesterday we saw a man (72) in ICU that had just woken up from being sedated on a vent for the past month after having a major heart attack and stroke. He was a healthy, cognitively intact man just one short month ago, and now he is completely confused, practically nonverbal, and on a NG tube. Stroke patients have to be the hardest for me, though. The day before they land on your caseload they are normal, healthy adults, but today they are unable to speak or understand language. Watching the patients and their families grieve over the loss of who that person once was is very hard. I absolutely love working acute care, but it comes with the downside of seeing your patients at their worst and not being able to keep them on your caseload long enough to see their progress. But on a not-so-depressing note, the paperwork is GREAT! I hope you all are having a great time!
ReplyDeleteI have really enjoyed my offsite to this point! I would say my biggest challenge has been learning to "trim the fat" on therapy notes. We have about five minutes to write the therapy note, get the patient to their next therapy session, and grab the next patient on the way back! Some days that can be rather difficult and if we're running late with one patient, it can quickly turn into a snowball effect. Learning the FIM scores has also been a little challenging, they are used for EVERYTHING!! Besides the challenge of learning all the paperwork, everything is going wonderfully! My supervisor is amazing and she consistently gives me great feedback. I have learned a tremendous amount of information regarding IP therapy and I can’t wait to share it with you all! This experience has significantly improved my level of confidence as a clinician. Glad to hear that everything is going well in your neck of the woods!
ReplyDelete