OT school a joke vs PT school

[chancer]

Okay, OT's are WAY more defensive and less knowledgeable than PT's (not all, but I am generalizing) I enjoy the field of OT more, as you can do more things. But our crappy PEO, MOHO ACLS garbage is a joke. We should of learned more useful science based treatment.

I would recommend, unless you want to work in a school district, (and let's be honest, that is a joke too. Anyone who thinks 15 mins a wk is changing lives is kidding themselves) to pick PT over OT if you can hang with the extra math required for PT.

I do prefer OT vs PT because we can do a lot more things...but our knowledge base is a joke. Theory is common sense, and a complete joke. And the ACLS, 1/2 my class couldn't do it. OT in mental health....are you kidding? To be fair, mental health in general is mostly a joke.

My point is, evidence based practice is found more in PT, and they are trained more in modalities and know a hell of a lot more about anatomy then OT's pretend to.

OT needs a complete makeover. We are stepping on everyone's toes and don't know 1/2 they do. We need to get back to the roots of OT. Activities to increase overall health. And let's stop pretending we are PT's or ST's when we don't learn 1/2 their knowledge base.

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[futureot12]

Clearly you're having your own issues with OT. Maybe you should reevaluate what YOU'RE doing and how YOU'RE approaching things rather than bashing the entire field and the women who seem to be ruining it for you.
The people on this forum were drawn to OT for many different reasons, and we will all have different experiences in school and in the different settings we work in. If you're that dissatisfied, it sounds like it's time to go in a different direction and stop trying to bring down the rest of the people on this forum, who I'm sure, like me, are very excited to start their programs.

 

[mlc54]

Clearly you're having your own issues with OT. Maybe you should reevaluate what YOU'RE doing and how YOU'RE approaching things rather than bashing the entire field and the women who seem to be ruining it for you.
The people on this forum were drawn to OT for many different reasons, and we will all have different experiences in school and in the different settings we work in. If you're that dissatisfied, it sounds like it's time to go in a different direction and stop trying to bring down the rest of the people on this forum, who I'm sure, like me, are very excited to start their programs.

Well said

 

[10ninja]

.

 

[VioletOT]

Clearly you chose the wrong program or career, and I'm very sorry about that. But please, stop using this forum as a mode to insult women or your own career. You're not going to find much sympathy here. If you think OT needs an overhaul, lead the way. But please proofread.

 

[chancer]

Once again....persecuted for my position. Instead of acknowledging there may be SOME truth to what I am saying. I am being called a TROLL. AND that is why ladies and gentlemen I do not get along with OT's. Because they are "always" right.

Do you really think the ACLS that is the bible for mental health OT has ANY validity to it??? Post it if you have it.

Or, any evidence how MOHO is changing lives??? (more than articles without high levels of evidence)

What about evidence showing OT's in school's make a difference by having kids play with theraputty?

Or what about the mental health OT's giving kids lemon drops because they are either "calming or alerting" Please post....

Oh....and how many OT's on here can name 8 lower extremity muscles? (without looking them up?)

 

[speedyy12]

Hmm.. obviously you are a bitter OT. If you want to do more rehab/biomechanical OT then why don't you go there? Look up the vision of Occupational Therapy because clearly you have no idea what it is. Have you ever thought of Sensory Integration? Basically not because if you knew why kids were given candy to suck on then you would totally understand but you really don't. Why are kids given swings? Why do we have kids play with theraputty??? Its clearly not just a game. Think about it. If you can't give me good reasons why kids would want/need to play with it then you are in the wrong profession.

Oh and here are your 8 lower extremity muscles

1. Sartorius
2. Biceps femoris
3. Gastrocnemius
4. Popliteus
5. Rectus femoris
6. Vastus lateralis
7. Vastus medialis
8. Adductor magnus, longus, brevis

Clearly you forgot that you also have to learn this in gross anatomy. My program made us. So don't think OT's don't know anything because we do.

 

[bebob]

"We should of learned more useful science based treatment... [for example] evidence based practice is found more in PT." This is what you tried to say. Am I right?

That sounds like more research is needed. And research is a significant portion in programs conferring doctorate degrees. Right now PT's are required to have a doctorate. Should we push for the trend in OT's as well so we can have more evidence-based practice?

 

[chancer]

Hmm.. obviously you are a bitter OT. If you want to do more rehab/biomechanical OT then why don't you go there? Look up the vision of Occupational Therapy because clearly you have no idea what it is. Have you ever thought of Sensory Integration? Basically not because if you knew why kids were given candy to suck on then you would totally understand but you really don't. Why are kids given swings? Why do we have kids play with theraputty??? Its clearly not just a game. Think about it. If you can't give me good reasons why kids would want/need to play with it then you are in the wrong profession.

Oh and here are your 8 lower extremity muscles

1. Sartorius
2. Biceps femoris
3. Gastrocnemius
4. Popliteus
5. Rectus femoris
6. Vastus lateralis
7. Vastus medialis
8. Adductor magnus, longus, brevis

Clearly you forgot that you also have to learn this in gross anatomy. My program made us. So don't think OT's don't know anything because we do.

SENSORY INTEGRATION??? LOL......

AGAIN, READ THE RESEARCH!!! THERE IS NO HARD EVIDENCE IT WORKS....

Props on the muscles, you are in the minority. (however, you named the easiest ones...lol)

And as fair as biomechanical...obviously you are still a student who hasn't worked in a any rehab facility that runs off insurance....THAT'S ALL THERE IS...BECAUSE IT IS THE ONLY ONE BACKED BY RESEARCH!!

As far as theraputty, yeah improving hand muscles for writing, releasing stress, fun, ect. But do we really need an OT for them to do that??? Is 15 minutes a week of that going to change someones life?

 

[chancer]

"We should of learned more useful science based treatment... [for example] evidence based practice is found more in PT." This is what you tried to say. Am I right?

That sounds like more research is needed. And research is a significant portion in programs conferring doctorate degrees. Right now PT's are required to have a doctorate. Should we push for the trend in OT's as well so we can have more evidence-based practice?

Yes. And no, I don't think we need a doctorate, but I do think we need to cut a lot of the crap they teach us in schools that is not backed up or based in any research. How in the heck can a frame of reference change a life? I mean...yes, it is common sense. Be open minded...and do things that motivate and challenge somebody. You don't need class after class of it, and then articles that are not hard science to back it up as if it adds some validity.

We touch on everything in the programs, but it is not sufficent. We have no right doing some of the things we do when PT's and ST's specialize in it. We have what...1 class that covers eating and feeding. And 1 class of gait...so now we are PT's. We have to redefine what OT is. And as far as the framework for the person that referenced that...are you kidding me??? I have had TV manuals more in depth than that. It is sad.

 

[speedyy12]

UM THERE IS RESEARCH BEHIND IT BECAUSE IT WORKS FOR CHILDREN THAT DO NEED IT. OBVIOUSLY IT WON'T WORK FOR ALL CHILDREN BUT IT IS EFFECTIVE FOR THE CHILDREN THAT NEED IT.

Oh i listed the easiest ones? Let me see you name every single hand muscle there is. I doubt you can really do that without looking it up. Go rain on other people's parade but not this forum because these are for ASPIRING AND MOTIVATED OT's. Not one's that who just rant because they aren't happy with their career choices. I don't know where you are practicing OT where treatment is 15 minutes or are you just in la la land?

 

[speedyy12]

And excuse you I have worked in a Rehab facility with that runs off of insurance. Don't you say stuff you don't clearly know.

 

[chancer]

UM THERE IS RESEARCH BEHIND IT BECAUSE IT WORKS FOR CHILDREN THAT DO NEED IT. OBVIOUSLY IT WON'T WORK FOR ALL CHILDREN BUT IT IS EFFECTIVE FOR THE CHILDREN THAT NEED IT.

Oh i listed the easiest ones? Let me see you name every single hand muscle there is. I doubt you can really do that without looking it up. Go rain on other people's parade but not this forum because these are for ASPIRING AND MOTIVATED OT's. Not one's that who just rant because they aren't happy with their career choices. I don't know where you are practicing OT where treatment is 15 minutes or are you just in la la land?

Name every hand muscle? lol You are showing your ignorance...that takes like 30 seconds. The hand is one of the simplest parts of your body to name the muscles. First...THERE ARE NONE on the back of your hand...wow...difficult, and naming the intrinsic and extrinsic muscles is nothing.

And no, I am not saying whether it may work sometimes, I am saying there is no evidence backed by research stating that it works. Post it if you have it. But make sure you know your levels of research.

 

[chancer]

And excuse you I have worked in a Rehab facility with that runs off of insurance. Don't you say stuff you don't clearly know.

Oh, and tell me what frames of reference they are using when they use weights, hand machines, ect. Or when therapy is a cut and dry hr and you are bound by your facility policies, and they are bound by what they get paid for.

How many insurance companies will pay to have you do your hobby in a hospital?

I'm done, kid yourself all you want, but fantasy of what OT is, and what it is in the hospital are two different things. I'm done..

 

[prodigiousflame]

 

[OTTXGirl]

Okay, OT's are WAY more defensive and less knowledgeable than PT's (not all, but I am generalizing) I enjoy the field of OT more, as you can do more things. But our crappy PEO, MOHO ACLS garbage is a joke. We should of learned more useful science based treatment.

I would recommend, unless you want to work in a school district, (and let's be honest, that is a joke too. Anyone who thinks 15 mins a wk is changing lives is kidding themselves) to pick PT over OT if you can hang with the extra math required for PT.

I do prefer OT vs PT because we can do a lot more things...but our knowledge base is a joke. Theory is common sense, and a complete joke. And the ACLS, 1/2 my class couldn't do it. OT in mental health....are you kidding? To be fair, mental health in general is mostly a joke.

My point is, evidence based practice is found more in PT, and they are trained more in modalities and know a hell of a lot more about anatomy then OT's pretend to.

OT needs a complete makeover. We are stepping on everyone's toes and don't know 1/2 they do. We need to get back to the roots of OT. Activities to increase overall health. And let's stop pretending we are PT's or ST's when we don't learn 1/2 their knowledge base.

You know what at the end of the day YOU made the choice and decision to pursue and go into the field of OT(maybe you should have done better research about the work environment)....America is a free country, and it is at your will to leave the program...

I would for a lack of better words refer to you as a troll. Nothing you have said in this post or your prior post where you were crying about how women are from Mars and men are from Venus, has lead to any beneficial result that you claim you are looking for.

Venting on a forum that mainly holds discussions and provides info to prospective OT students is not going to render the results you claim you are looking for. Perhaps you should reach out to AOTA, and share with them everything you find wrong with OT. I would think you would likely find the answer you have so "eloquently" sought out in your two post.

But honestly if you are truly dissatisfied with you current career choice, then move around. Drop out and pursue another career. Perhaps PT, you appear very obviously intrigued with it and through whatever research you have done have concluded it is a far more valid field to work in.....

 

[SamuraiIAmurai]

He's clearly a troll. He's not even posting real opinions; he's just posting things to try to upset everyone and get a reaction. So, don't react!

 

[BowlofSunshine]

LOL @ folks calling the OP a troll... while I don't condone trolling, I believe there is some slight truth to what he/she is saying. I just finished my fieldwork for OT and was like "WTF" the entire time. I did a fieldwork in a S N F and was totally blown away by how non-client centered treatments are and more like assembly line therapy to "skill and bill"

It's definitely disheartening to know you learned one thing about the profession and then you get the eye opener that reveals it is the complete opposite of everything you have been taught.

Sure evidence based practice is needed to guide practice, but some of the classes I took, I was like "Clearly I am being punked"

I'm not discounting nor do I regret my decision to go into the field because I plan to tailor it to MY own interests and make it a fun career.

However, we should not gloss over the fact that the field has some major shortcomings and many of these schools are not teaching students what they should know going into their Level II fieldworks and as 1st year therapists. I'm not saying students are going to come out experts, however, their is a knowledge gap that schools leave when student's graduate and it is evident in the competency levels of students when they go to fieldwork.

But to the OP ans others, instead of just BSing about OT issues, how about joining AOTA, start attending meetings, comferences and get to know people who lobby for the changes to the profession because I see them trying to keep up with PT while still trying to keep that line drawn and failing miserably.

 

[prodigiousflame]

bowl when you say teachers aren't teaching students everything they should know..are you referring to more research based schools that aren't preparing students enough? Or is it more than that.

 

[OTTXGirl]

LOL @ folks calling the OP a troll... while I don't condone trolling, I believe there is some slight truth to what he/she is saying. I just finished my fieldwork for OT and was like "WTF" the entire time. I did a fieldwork in a S N F and was totally blown away by how non-client centered treatments are and more like assembly line therapy to "skill and bill"

It's definitely disheartening to know you learned one thing about the profession and then you get the eye opener that reveals it is the complete opposite of everything you have been taught.

Sure evidence based practice is needed to guide practice, but some of the classes I took, I was like "Clearly I am being punked"

I'm not discounting nor do I regret my decision to go into the field because I plan to tailor it to MY own interests and make it a fun career.

However, we should not gloss over the fact that the field has some major shortcomings and many of these schools are not teaching students what they should know going into their Level II fieldworks and as 1st year therapists. I'm not saying students are going to come out experts, however, their is a knowledge gap that schools leave when student's graduate and it is evident in the competency levels of students when they go to fieldwork.

But to the OP ans others, instead of just BSing about OT issues, how about joining AOTA, start attending meetings, comferences and get to know people who lobby for the changes to the profession because I see them trying to keep up with PT while still trying to keep that line drawn and failing miserably.

See perhaps if the OP had worded their complaints or what not like this it would have been better recieved. Your statements are clearer and to the point so I can see where they were trying to go.

 

[speedyy12]

Thank you Bowl for explaining that a lot better than the other guy who just complains. I agree with you that in some areas of practice, OT is not what it should be. I felt the same way at my SNF for my Level 2 and I was very disappointed about how it wasn't very client-centered.

 

[FutureOT2013]

I'm done..

Promise?

 

[BowlofSunshine]

bowl when you say teachers aren't teaching students everything they should know..are you referring to more research based schools that aren't preparing students enough? Or is it more than that.

It's not just this... but yes, research based schools are doing a HUGE disservice to OT students because they are leaving out a HUGE chunk of the knowledge needed as a clinician. In my program the only "real world" documentation we practiced was Treatment Plans but nothing else. We didn't work on practicing writing progress notes and many of my classmates and myself struggled in this area. We also did not work on many hands on treatments and again students have struggled. Additionally, some of the classes and assignments we did, were not graduate level work (arts and crafts, dipping pretzels in chocolate, tearing up pieces of construction paper and gluing them on a piece of paper, using rubber stamps to stamp a passport book for a grade, etc)

We hardly worked on transfers, ADLs, treatments for each setting, although we read extensively about them. LOL Reading and putting what you read into practice are two different things and you won't know what you are really doing until you practice.

Additionally, the knowledge gap I am talking about is schools not working on sharpening student's clinical reasoning skills.

I'm not discounting that research is not needed, but that comes automatically but should not be the focus of a program that should be more clinical based.

Many of these schools went from having smaller classes of just 40 student per graduating class to now over 100 students per class and as a result have diluted the curriculum, which tells me that these schools are becoming OT factories churning out OTs without teaching them the fundamentals to be successful OTs.

I've heard from OTs who've been in the field 15+ years who have all said the same thing about students today--- they are coming out with severe knowledge deficits and as a result they are having to fail these students. Which is a shame because that means the school gets more money from the student for having to retake the class and the student gets the short end of the stick by having to spend another dreadful 3 months in fieldwork.

I know the demand for OT is high now, but it is a shame how fraudulent how these schools have become when they are supposed to be teaching the fundamentals to students so they will have the tools they need to be successful clinicians. and please don't get me started on these for profit schools offering PTA and OTA programs.

 

[BHSUStudent]

Once again....persecuted for my position. Instead of acknowledging there may be SOME truth to what I am saying. I am being called a TROLL. AND that is why ladies and gentlemen I do not get along with OT's. Because they are "always" right.

Do you really think the ACLS that is the bible for mental health OT has ANY validity to it??? Post it if you have it.

Or, any evidence how MOHO is changing lives??? (more than articles without high levels of evidence)

What about evidence showing OT's in school's make a difference by having kids play with theraputty?

Or what about the mental health OT's giving kids lemon drops because they are either "calming or alerting" Please post....

Oh....and how many OT's on here can name 8 lower extremity muscles? (without looking them up?)

I suggest that you see a mental health specialist. Besides the misogyny, you also have a victim mentality.

 

[BHSUStudent]

The problem with higher education in general is that it is privatized (this started in the 1960s). State schools are also privately funded and for profit. In the 1960's schools were primarily funded by the state. Now, schools perform like manufacturers seeking to produce greater quantities of products but at a lower cost. This has created an over-saturation of people with degrees. The quality of education too, has declined because of this business model.

This is not unique to OT.

What young people don't understand is that the bottom line (in any field that you go into) matters. While in school you are taught principles and ideals that you should live up to. The reality of our education and healthcare system will contradict such ideals and shatter anyone's high expectations. This is not unique to OT. It's just the way our society functions and works.

It is what you make of it. You can either act as a victim and complain about your predicament, continuously put down the field that you are in, or you can make the best out of your situation and even make a change in the way it or our society functions.

If you are complaining about OT, chances are you will complain about PT or any other profession too. Each one has their own set of issues. There is no field that is perfect, and you will stumble upon the same underlying realization in each and every one. Eventually you will realize that it's not any particular profession that is f'ed up, but our society as a whole.

Wecome to "the real world."

P.S. I like how the OP put so much emphasis on research. The reality however, is that scientists are often privately paid to do research. Scientists don't earn tenure by confirming the null hypothesis. There is an automatic conflict of interest when both the scientist and the people paying the scientist benefit from a confirmation of the hypothesis. So yes, this leads to a bias that corrupts data, and this happens more often than what we like to admit. So, science also consists of a bunch of ideals and principles that people fail to live by. Unfortunately, most professors don't tell you how f'ed up things are while you are in school because it would mitigate retention and your persistence to graduation, which means less money in their pockets. School is a sort of... Disney land. An extension of adolescence if you will.