when one needs a refill
Jun. 24th, 2005 03:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ununoriginalthis originated from my former mentor when i was training as an occupational therapist. he was the first person to speak about what we did on the 1st day of school - i dun remember the words, but i can still recall the inspiration and the excitement. with the passage of time and the erosion of spirit that work brings, one loses a lot of the idealism one used to possess. the world is gray, edging on black, and it's never more evident than when u're dealing in health care and disability. one has to truly believe in what one is doing to carry on in this business, otherwise u're jus an automaton.
i was watching kevin smith's 'dogma' again last nite, and there was this line where bethany talks about faith: faith is like a glass of water - when we're young, the glass is little, but as we get older, the glass gets bigger, and harder to fill. but from time to time, it def needs refilling.
this story is part of that refill.
A little story.
I just came back from a short trip to Seirei Christopher College, a private college in Hamamatsu, Japan. The college offers four year baccalaureate occupational therapy, physiotherapy, nursing and social work besides various graduate programmes in these professions. Hamamatsu is by the east coast of Japan, south of Tokyo and north of Nagoya. It's the home of Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha music instruments.
I was invited there as a visiting lecturer providing a half day workshop for students and staff. As is usual in such trips, I toured the facilities and had the opportunity to interact with students and staff. As a private full fee paying college, its affluence is obvious in its facilities and high technology equipments.
On my way back to Singapore, I reflected on one piece of equipment made by Hitachi which the occupational therapy department is purchasing for its graduate school. It is an assessment equipment with a cap like hat with many electrodes attached. It reads brain activity through blood flow and metabolic heat production.
It has many potential uses in occupational therapy. A stroke patient could be monitored while an OT is performing neurodevelopmental therapy (as an example) with the patient and the therapist can see whether the treatment is affecting the diseased area of the brain. It could allow the therapist to adjust treatment and be given instant feedback. The patient could also be more involved in treatment as they can see for themselves the effect of treatment - a biofeedback system.
However, what impressed me was how this expensive equipment proved the power of purposeful activity and therefore, by association, occupational therapy. In the brief demonstration, we could see minimal and isolated brain activity during a non-purposeful reach motion (i.e. shoulder production, flexion, elbow extension, forearm pronation, wrist and digital extension). As is expected, only the contralateral sensory and motor cortex lighted up on the screen. However, when the person was asked to perform the same motion but through a purposeful activity, the whole cortex lighted up, including frontal cortex and limbic system, the source of human personality and emotion.
The occupational therapy profession was founded on a philosophy of humanism, human welfare and life participation. It was not founded on a set of skills and technical abilities. The era of 'moral treatment' in the late 1800s was where the first concept of occupation as therapy flourished, the importance of purposeful engagement in life through activity participation appreciated.
There I was in Japan, away from the Western civilisation where occupational therapy originated, where the power of purposeful activity on human brain was showcased to me.
We live in an age of technology and also short attention span. It is an age that makes the practice of occupational therapy difficult. People (think they) focus on more complex matters. Newly disabled people want technology to cure and repair. In some cases, this is possible but in most, technology can only help us monitor. How can the simple matter of 'doing' change anyone or be rehabilitative? People with life long disabilities need to live their life. Good primary health care and acute care has allowed them to live a long life, equivalent to non-disabled people. Whilst in non-disabled people, engaging in human occupation is innate, for disabled people, this ability seem to be lost as they focus on their disease.
This is where occupational therapy comes in. When we do simple things with our patients, sometimes our patients or families may not even be aware of its curative properties. In fact, some health professionals or administrators may even consider us inconsequential.
As occupational therapists, we should not be affected by this attitude. The science of occupational therapy has evolved since the late 1800s. So, in Hamamatsu, Japan, the simple activity of painting with the paper positioned to maximise reach affected the brain to its fullest glory, for all to see.
I hope this little rambling of mine will motivate you to be a good competent occupational therapist.
i was watching kevin smith's 'dogma' again last nite, and there was this line where bethany talks about faith: faith is like a glass of water - when we're young, the glass is little, but as we get older, the glass gets bigger, and harder to fill. but from time to time, it def needs refilling.
this story is part of that refill.
A little story.
I just came back from a short trip to Seirei Christopher College, a private college in Hamamatsu, Japan. The college offers four year baccalaureate occupational therapy, physiotherapy, nursing and social work besides various graduate programmes in these professions. Hamamatsu is by the east coast of Japan, south of Tokyo and north of Nagoya. It's the home of Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha music instruments.
I was invited there as a visiting lecturer providing a half day workshop for students and staff. As is usual in such trips, I toured the facilities and had the opportunity to interact with students and staff. As a private full fee paying college, its affluence is obvious in its facilities and high technology equipments.
On my way back to Singapore, I reflected on one piece of equipment made by Hitachi which the occupational therapy department is purchasing for its graduate school. It is an assessment equipment with a cap like hat with many electrodes attached. It reads brain activity through blood flow and metabolic heat production.
It has many potential uses in occupational therapy. A stroke patient could be monitored while an OT is performing neurodevelopmental therapy (as an example) with the patient and the therapist can see whether the treatment is affecting the diseased area of the brain. It could allow the therapist to adjust treatment and be given instant feedback. The patient could also be more involved in treatment as they can see for themselves the effect of treatment - a biofeedback system.
However, what impressed me was how this expensive equipment proved the power of purposeful activity and therefore, by association, occupational therapy. In the brief demonstration, we could see minimal and isolated brain activity during a non-purposeful reach motion (i.e. shoulder production, flexion, elbow extension, forearm pronation, wrist and digital extension). As is expected, only the contralateral sensory and motor cortex lighted up on the screen. However, when the person was asked to perform the same motion but through a purposeful activity, the whole cortex lighted up, including frontal cortex and limbic system, the source of human personality and emotion.
The occupational therapy profession was founded on a philosophy of humanism, human welfare and life participation. It was not founded on a set of skills and technical abilities. The era of 'moral treatment' in the late 1800s was where the first concept of occupation as therapy flourished, the importance of purposeful engagement in life through activity participation appreciated.
There I was in Japan, away from the Western civilisation where occupational therapy originated, where the power of purposeful activity on human brain was showcased to me.
We live in an age of technology and also short attention span. It is an age that makes the practice of occupational therapy difficult. People (think they) focus on more complex matters. Newly disabled people want technology to cure and repair. In some cases, this is possible but in most, technology can only help us monitor. How can the simple matter of 'doing' change anyone or be rehabilitative? People with life long disabilities need to live their life. Good primary health care and acute care has allowed them to live a long life, equivalent to non-disabled people. Whilst in non-disabled people, engaging in human occupation is innate, for disabled people, this ability seem to be lost as they focus on their disease.
This is where occupational therapy comes in. When we do simple things with our patients, sometimes our patients or families may not even be aware of its curative properties. In fact, some health professionals or administrators may even consider us inconsequential.
As occupational therapists, we should not be affected by this attitude. The science of occupational therapy has evolved since the late 1800s. So, in Hamamatsu, Japan, the simple activity of painting with the paper positioned to maximise reach affected the brain to its fullest glory, for all to see.
I hope this little rambling of mine will motivate you to be a good competent occupational therapist.
