Physical Dysfunction Fieldwork Level I
Phys Dys Fieldwork 1170 taught math skills pertaining to the field of Occupational Therapy. We learned how to: estimate and calculate ROM (Range of Motion), calculate our paid mileage amount for home health, temperature and weight conversions, how to gain the amount of PDU's required using Fieldwork students either level I, II or both, and many other pertinent math calculations.
Service Learning
Description
For my service learning project I made a therapy pipe tree. My fieldwork educator asked me to make a big version of a therapy pipe tree. They said that the last fieldwork student they had made a small one which is good for fine motor, but now they wanted one that was made from bigger pipes and could be built taller so they could use it when working with patients on their upper extremities.
The big therapy pipe tree can be useful in treating a variety of diagnosis and can be used as a work simulation tool. This pipe tree assembly task has “several levels of complexity based on the number of parts required for each tree [which allows] the therapist to present the client with a just-right challenge.” This tree can help clients with gross motor control, standing balance, reaching difficulties, poor cognition, grasping impairments, and poor manipulation.
This project involved me taking pictures of a smaller version of a therapy tree, researching to see other therapy trees, buying the supplies, drilling holes in a board for the therapy tree base, gluing PVC pipes into the holes in the board, sawing a long PVC pipe into different lengths to use in between the connector PVC pipes, and sanding the edges of the sawed PVC pipe. I spent a total of ten hours on this project and the supplies cost a little over forty dollars.
Reflection
I learned a lot from this service learning project. First of all, I learned how to create something through just observation and problem solving. I had never seen a therapy pipe tree before and I wasn’t given any instructions on how to do so. I had to be able to figure out different ways to place the PVC pipes on the board and how a practitioner could grade the assembly task to make it harder or easier. I had to do a lot of client-based thinking to accomplish this.
Another thing I learned was that most of the equipment you buy in OT catalogs or online cost so much more than if you spend a few hours of time and make your own version. I thought it was remarkable that by taking around ten hours of my time I could save my fieldwork’s therapy department $290. I spent forty dollars in supplies and when I looked up how much it cost to buy a therapy pipe tree I was shocked to find out they cost around $330. My fieldwork educator showed me some of the other projects fieldwork students have made in the past and it was interesting for me to see how easy it is to make certain kinds of therapy equipment. I learned that if it isn’t too hard to make the equipment then making your own is the way to go.
I am really proud of the work I did. Knowing that my project might help a client one day to get back into work or doing other things that are meaningful to them makes me feel good inside. I am glad that I had the opportunity to potentially help others in a way that is creative, fun, and beneficial.
This experience was meaningful to me because in the end I was able to see how someone could benefit from using this assembly tool I made. I didn’t have the opportunity to see an actual client use it while I was doing fieldwork, but I saw practitioners using the small therapy tree for patients and hope that my bigger version will be of use for patients in the future.
For my service learning project I made a therapy pipe tree. My fieldwork educator asked me to make a big version of a therapy pipe tree. They said that the last fieldwork student they had made a small one which is good for fine motor, but now they wanted one that was made from bigger pipes and could be built taller so they could use it when working with patients on their upper extremities.
The big therapy pipe tree can be useful in treating a variety of diagnosis and can be used as a work simulation tool. This pipe tree assembly task has “several levels of complexity based on the number of parts required for each tree [which allows] the therapist to present the client with a just-right challenge.” This tree can help clients with gross motor control, standing balance, reaching difficulties, poor cognition, grasping impairments, and poor manipulation.
This project involved me taking pictures of a smaller version of a therapy tree, researching to see other therapy trees, buying the supplies, drilling holes in a board for the therapy tree base, gluing PVC pipes into the holes in the board, sawing a long PVC pipe into different lengths to use in between the connector PVC pipes, and sanding the edges of the sawed PVC pipe. I spent a total of ten hours on this project and the supplies cost a little over forty dollars.
Reflection
I learned a lot from this service learning project. First of all, I learned how to create something through just observation and problem solving. I had never seen a therapy pipe tree before and I wasn’t given any instructions on how to do so. I had to be able to figure out different ways to place the PVC pipes on the board and how a practitioner could grade the assembly task to make it harder or easier. I had to do a lot of client-based thinking to accomplish this.
Another thing I learned was that most of the equipment you buy in OT catalogs or online cost so much more than if you spend a few hours of time and make your own version. I thought it was remarkable that by taking around ten hours of my time I could save my fieldwork’s therapy department $290. I spent forty dollars in supplies and when I looked up how much it cost to buy a therapy pipe tree I was shocked to find out they cost around $330. My fieldwork educator showed me some of the other projects fieldwork students have made in the past and it was interesting for me to see how easy it is to make certain kinds of therapy equipment. I learned that if it isn’t too hard to make the equipment then making your own is the way to go.
I am really proud of the work I did. Knowing that my project might help a client one day to get back into work or doing other things that are meaningful to them makes me feel good inside. I am glad that I had the opportunity to potentially help others in a way that is creative, fun, and beneficial.
This experience was meaningful to me because in the end I was able to see how someone could benefit from using this assembly tool I made. I didn’t have the opportunity to see an actual client use it while I was doing fieldwork, but I saw practitioners using the small therapy tree for patients and hope that my bigger version will be of use for patients in the future.
Works Cited
"EpicRehab Pipe Tree." Matheson Development. Matheson Development, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
"EpicRehab Pipe Tree." Matheson Development. Matheson Development, n.d. Web. 17 Nov. 2015.
Stonehenge of South Jordan
1371 West South Jordan Parkway
South Jordan, UT 84095
Tel: 801-253-1370
1371 West South Jordan Parkway
South Jordan, UT 84095
Tel: 801-253-1370