Ask an Occupational Therapy student

I'm an international mature student who would like to apply for the OT course . Since I have been graduated for over 15 years and a bit nervous with my qualification. Do you think the placement is tough? How would you describe it?

There are plenty of mature students on my course many of whom haven't studied for a while, we are all doing fine though. Mature students tend to do better on placements than young students who may find it all rather overwhelming. Placements shouldn't be too though but educators expectations can vary so it can be rather stressful if you have an educator who leaves you to it a lot. On placement just ask lots of questions and get stuck in and give things a go when asked. I have enjoyed most of mine.

Human anatomy depends on your assessment. if you do an exam its not too bad but you will need to know more. I did it as a viva we were asked to describe the functioning of certain systems, organs or joints and was asked 3 out of the full 9 set. You need to dedicate lots of time to knowing it the second you know which will be required I passed fine. it's not as hard as the nursing students one in my uni.

5 placements at my uni 1-1 week, 1,5 weeks and the rest are all 8 weeks- this will widely vary between unis. I've been to a few different placements so far but prefer mental health.

is the course challenging or manageable?

How would you actually describe the role of the OT. It’s a bit of a joke among AHPs that if physios, psychologists, SLTs and nurses can’t handle it, toss it to the OTs and they’ll have a go. Even the OTs that I work with joke that they couldn’t describe their job to a five year old and even they don’t always understand what their precise role is. Nevertheless, we all value them even though we’re never sure of their precise remit! Could you summarise the role of the OT in a nutshell?

That's more of a difficult one, we do see many different people, it really depends on the area of practice.

Due to my current levels of lockdown boredom whilst I await notification of my COVID placement, i will try and answer any questions for prospective OT students questions.

Im a 3rd year (of 4 years) OT mature student.

thanks so much for your kind reply. You are really nice. I have tried to find out the exact of a student role, can u describe part of your typical tasks in a mental health institution, for example.

I'll just post my experience, might help. I was on a mental health placement (inpatient) over the summer. I had two educators, one of which was based on the female ward and the other on the male picu ward. Some of the things I had to do included carrying out assessments e.g. Initial assessments/ adls. I also ran groups on the ward and assisted with taking patients to activities outside of the ward. There was also things like referrals, creating treatment plans and attending/ contributing to mdt meetings. Also presenting a case study about one of the patients I worked with using the OT process and whatever model that placement used. I personally enjoyed the mental health ward out of all my placements. Although that could be because I am more interested in that area. Hope this gives you a rough idea

Hey,

Although I didn't ask the question this was actually really helpful for someone who's considering OT. I am also interested in the mental health side of OT. Did you find during the course that the physical health/general medicine areas were focused on more or equally to mental health? Also, would you say there's many opportunities to help patients psychologically/with emotional difficulties rather than with just practical problems they have?

Thanks

I'll just post my experience, might help. I was on a mental health placement (inpatient) over the summer. I had two educators, one of which was based on the female ward and the other on the male picu ward. Some of the things I had to do included carrying out assessments e.g. Initial assessments/ adls. I also ran groups on the ward and assisted with taking patients to activities outside of the ward. There was also things like referrals, creating treatment plans and attending/ contributing to mdt meetings. Also presenting a case study about one of the patients I worked with using the OT process and whatever model that placement used. I personally enjoyed the mental health ward out of all my placements. Although that could be because I am more interested in that area. Hope this gives you a rough idea