What a Typical Lab Looks Like!

Hey Readers!

For this post, I wanted to describe a typical week of lab sessions and what it’s like to be an OT student at Utica College

To be a Utica College (UC) student in the Occupational Therapy (OT) department, you need to be creative and collaborative. Having decent communication skills also helps but all of these skills will be further developed in the program. The labs here at UC are hands-on and collaborative. We are always working with classmates, role-playing, and are always developing our communication skills. These are essential in developing our careers as future occupational therapy professionals and students when we go on our level II fieldwork placements.

As a 600 level student, I am currently taking pediatric classes. For each unit, the teachers give us a case study to dissect and work on throughout the two weeks in which that’s how long each unit lasts. This unit is about kindergarten and hospital rehabilitation. We are working on a case where a 5-year-old girl, Isabel sustained a Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) as a result of a fall near her home while dancing with her friends. Isabel is in the hospital in which in the lab we had to simulate us (students) teaching her caregiver (another student) on how to perform passive range of motion exercises with Isabel. Passive range of motion exercises is where the patient does not perform any movement themselves and the therapist moves the limb or body part around the stiff joint, gently stretching the muscles. This was a competency in which our teacher watches us as we explain how to perform these exercises in a way that a caregiver (Isabel’s grandma) could understand. This is excellent practice for when you have to explain concepts to clients and their caregivers. We had to collaborate with other OT students in practice simulations. Labs always consist of working together and problem-solving. This makes sure the labs are interactive and educational at the same time.  

While each group was waiting to be tested, we completed an activity which we call “Positivity Train”. We started by tearing up pieces of colorful paper so you could make a chain out of them. Each person would take a piece of the cut paper and write something positive about each person in the lab. This was done anonymously and then put into piles for each person (including the teacher). Each person would have several pieces of paper with positive things about them in which then each person could read them privately and make a chain out of the pieces of paper. This is shown to boost group morale and increase self-confidence and self-esteem in that we are working closely with each other every day. 

The other lab that week consisted of snacks! (educational purposes of course). We were working on feeding positions and techniques for someone that might not have proper head control, tongue strength, lip control, etc.. We practiced these techniques on each other using pudding, juice, and graham crackers. This consisted of another competency in which we had to act out a scenario of where each student was the patient and the OT. These competencies are more on the basis of understanding in which there is nothing to stress too much about. These were important techniques to practice doing on someone else and prepare us on how to communicate to someone of what you are doing. This ensures that we know what language to use when speaking with a patient and their families.

The occupational therapy department professors are all about increasing our confidence, communication skills, and overall understanding of different concepts that are essential to the OT profession. They take time to explain and role-play these techniques while ensuring our competency in being able to do them. These labs are about working together with each other to complete assignments and tasks throughout each lab. As an occupational therapist, you will have to collaborate with other professionals frequently which prepares us to learn how to collaborate with each other. Overall, the OT labs are interactive and collaborative in which as OT students, we thrive in these types of environments.