I was also eager and excited to handle an actual patient in a physical dysfunctions setting. While I was preparing my sensory kit, a thought flashed into my mind, “will I be able to handle a real patient?” I reflected on my OT179 fieldwork and internalized that it might be way easier than the OT180 fieldwork. It is because in a psychiatric setting, you will just assess the patient’s mental status and not literally “manipulate” their brains as opposed to a physical dysfunctions setting. It includes physical contact so I’m worried because what if I only worsened the patient’s condition if ever I used the wrong assessment tool.

          And then I remembered, my mother told me that when things get tough and confusing, I just need to be strong or even pretend to be one because it’s the only way to achieve what I really want in life. I need to face my fears because in the end it’s just a matter of perspective to see things the way they are. So I’ll consider my first OT180 fieldwork as a stepping stone towards being an effective occupational therapist. When all else fails, then I’ll just charge them to experience and still try to do better on my second fieldwork.

On the day of the fieldwork, we were not yet allowed to handle and conduct an actual assessment with the patients. Instead, we were given the time to “tour” around the rehabilitation cubicles and on the acute spinal cord injury ward to give us a better picture of what we are going to do on our second fieldwork. We were allowed to talk with the patients though, and it was so heartbreaking to hear their stories. Majority of the patients there are actually boys who were injured while playing basketball. One of the patients there was a nursing student (on his pre-morbid days) who has a C5 level of injury. I was assuming that, what if this would be my patient, how could I help him so that he would regain his maximum potentials and be able to return to school which I think is an important occupation for him.

I find it really difficult to work in a physical dysfunctions setting because it’s somewhat like an integration of anatomy plus the evaluation so honestly, it’s also heartbreaking too for my part. But after the fieldwork, I’m even motivated to study even harder after realizing that a lot of people are in dire need of occupational therapists even though sad to say, there are still a lot of people who don’t even know that occupational therapists exist.