Jumping the Fence

It was a year since I sat in a similar ‘Introduction to OT and PT’ presentation. When I attended the session a year ago, I was on the outside, a wannabe, wondering what it would take to be awarded one of the elusive forty places on the OT program. It would be a bad rehab pun to say I would have given my right leg to get a place, so I won’t mention that. Having ‘jumped the fence’ and now firmly on the inside, I attended the information session again this year in part to give a student’s perspective on the program and to help others jump the same fence, in part to procrastinate from doing my anatomy studies and in part to see how far I had come in one year.

The format of the presentation was slightly different this year with the focus more on exploring the similarities and differences in the scope of practice of OT’s and PT’s. A year ago, I would have been unable to clearly articulate the differences between the two rehab professions; now this understanding comes fairly intuitively. Case studies were presented to the audience who were encouraged to suggest ways in which OT’s or PT’s might be involved. This scared me a bit as I was fairly unsure of what my approach would be. However, I consoled myself by thinking that 10 weeks of training does not make one a professional and at least I did know how to go about analyzing such cases. The presentation gave an overview of each program and culminated with a review of the application procedure. I remember this being clearly ingrained in my mind last year – the process appeared before me like a line of variously sized hoops to jump through. Some hoops were large and required a mere light spring of a step to pass through, while others were small and fire-emblazoned, requiring a careful, calculated approach. Every hoop had to be passed through, none could be missed out. It seemed like a daunting task.

Having made it through the hoops unscathed, I’d like to offer some advice to others embarking on the same journey. Generally my advice is: immerse yourself in every possible aspect of occupational therapy you can think of (and think broadly!). For example: find websites (OTworks is a good place to start), read rehabilitation related articles in newspapers and journals, contact OT’s and try to get a shadow placement for half a day, interview people you know who work in health care. Above all, try to get as much out of the volunteer experience as possible. If at the end of all this (don’t forget to leave any stone unturned!), firstly you’ll know in your gut whether this is the right profession for you and secondly, you’ll now be ready to write your application and take on the interview. If you have a deep understanding of what an OT does (beyond the standard definition) and why you want to be an OT, you’re off to a good start. Good luck in your quest – those fiery hoops may seem scary from afar, but they are not so bad close up – and hopefully I’ll see you on the other side of the fence one day.