Internship Final Reflection

Did you meet your goals?
Icant say i had fully met my goals, but i know i did the best i could at this unique experience we had.

What are the most important things you’ve learned?
Well the most important thing i've learned is how the real world works and what things to expect when i get a real job

In what ways have your grown?
Just trying to be more responsible and sirious.

What were the highlights of your internship experience?
Well one highlight was how at first i hated my internship site and after a while i loved it !


If you can, describe a memorable moment or experience?
The most memorable moment throughout this whole time at internship happened a couple of days ago. It was the most scariest and saddest moment i had seen an old guy die right inflont of my eyes.

What challenges did you overcome?
My biggest challenge i had overcame is working with other people and being abled to listen to others.

What advice would you give a new intern at this site?
Just follow the rules and you'll do great !!!

What will you miss about your internship?
I will definetely miss my co-workers!(very nice people!)

The Interview

Questions

1. What is your full name?
Joseph Coletto

2. Where are you from?
Texas,US

3. Where did you go to college? For how long? Do you plan to go back to school?
New York University for 6 years, no i am already setteled with my life.

4. (If the interviewee went to college)…What was your major in college and what kind of degree do you earn?
My major was the Physical Therapy and i had to earn Master's degree.

5. Why did you choose that field?
I chose this field because i found it interesting and because medicine field is always the most highly paid, plus you do a good thing by helpinf out others.

6. How long have you worked here?
I've worked here for already 13 years

7. What is your job title?
OT Supervisor

8. What do your duties include? Or What kinds of work does your job involve?
My job involve making sure other OT and PT therapist do their job, making sure they are making some progress with patients ablity to take care of themselves.

9. What is the best part of your job?
The best part of my job is seeing patients go home fully recovered and happy.

10. Did you work somewhere else before this job? Where? For how long? How was that similar/different?
No this is my first official job after college.

11. What do you see as your future with this company?
Becoming Director of OT

12. What advice would you give to high school-aged interns (such as myself) getting ready for college and then the real world?
Well first of all you have to make your decisoin on what you really want to go for in life such as your major. You have find out all the information about it and try to get some experince in that working environment such as volunteering experience

Old & New

OLD: One of the old and daily things i do at my internship site is translating. There a several Russian speaking patient in my department who have been there for a long period of time. Every day they come in to rehab gym for their exercises. My co-workers and the therapists always ask me to stay along with them to translate so it would be an easier time for them and us.

OLD: Another old duty of mine is alwas stay along with the therapist when they are taking out the patient on a walk around the OT floor. I need to stay really close to the patient's back so that in case if he/she falls, i'll imediatlybe able to move the chair so that there won't be any unpleasent accident.

NEW: The very new challenge for me at OT is help out nurses put the patients from wheelchair back to their bed. It might seem very easy, but when you try out yourself it takes time, energy and a specific way of doing that. The therapist picks up the patient by their back and in 1 second i have to be fast enough to move the bed so that when the patient is seated he was is suppose to seat properly.

NEW: The second new thing is now sometimes i am sent to the other OT department that also taked place in out hospital. That other OT is in the same building where Metro Sport is located ( Yuri's Department). It is much smaller that mine not only in size but also patient amount. What i do is just help out therapists in that department or just prings some props that out have and theirs doesn't

Daily post April 17th.

Today my internship was going pretty slow, even though i stayed busy the whole time. As soon as i came in my superviser sent me to the nursing station to help out the secretary's with filing medical charts. It was kind of confusing to me at first because you had to be real careful about each chart, but as i did a couple of them i got used to it and knew what to do next. I also got to participate in a physical activities with OT patients. Unfortunatelly one of patients that was at the herab gym tried to stand up herself and felt down, because she wasn't able to hold her weigh. Everyone stared to panic and then i had to run downstair to the emergency room to get someone to come up and take care of that lady.

Daily post april 16th.

Today was just a simple wednesday. Since my OT members have a meeting from 1:00 to 2:30 i help out in volunteering resourses department. For the first half an hour i did so filing. i had to put out every inactive volunteer and then rearage the documents and medical forms. Then i went to sent and pick up mail which is located in a total different pavillion. Afterwards i was done got my credic for working in VR and headed to OT. There all my co-workers sat down and watched a video about rules and advances in OT. It took aproximetaly and hour and for the next half an hour that was left i was just perfoming the usual activities helped out therapist who were tryin to walk with patient, so i just followed them with a wheelcair.

Daily Post april 15th.

Today the whole day was going so slow,just like a turtle that was running in a 15 mile marathon. I got to the internship site, went to lunch real fast, got changed into my uniform, which by the way is white scrub shirt & blue scrub pants and and headed to OT. As i came in i noticed that th rehab gym was pretty empty. I asked my superviser Joe how come it was like that because it's usually so ull that u barely get t squizze in between eachother & happily most of the patients were sent to some kind of supervision test. So basically i got to communicate with therapist and student therapist who are just couple of years older than i am. They gave me some good suggestions on which colleges i should be puttig my attention on regardless on which medical proffesion i'll choose. It was pretty cool talking to them about outside things and hear them share some funny experiences they had in OT so far.

short slide show...

Weekly Vocabulary april 18 !

1. Word / Phrase:abominate

Meaning:v. To hate violently.

Context: Romeo's and Juliet's fmilies abominat each other for a long period of time.

2. Word / Phrase:dismount

Meaning:v. To throw down, push off, or otherwise remove from a horse or the like.

Context: i cant stand cereal, so as soon as i see it i dismount it in the garbage.

3. Word / Phrase:divulge

Meaning:v. To tell or make known, as something previously private or secret.

Context: my mother divulge my private secret with my father.

4. Word / Phrase:equilibrium

Meaning:n. A state of balance.

Context: i fell that im in equilibrium when i go to my yoga sessions.

5. Word / Phrase:epidermis

Meaning:n. The outer skin.

Context: my epidermis has some kind of weird rash all over suddenly.

daily post april 14th...

Today was a horribly busy day. I havent even had a chence to sit down for a minute. All i heard Marina please help me with this, Marina follow me with a wheelchair and Marina go there and do this. I had to go from building to other two about six times less than in an hour to help out therapists in other OT departments. Hopefully there will be fewer days like today, otherwise i'll just have to fall from tiredness right in my OT rehab gym=). I also was put with this Russian speakin lady patient who just had her hip replaced to explain her the exercises therapist encouraged her to do, which was a " pain in a butt".

Midpoint Reflection Questions!!!!

How has the internship been the same as and/or different than your expectations?
- My internship went way different path as i though it would be in the begging. It's awsome to come there then. I got used to it and learned a lot new things. I also enjoy being around a whole smart, cool and nice crew of therapists and nurses. They all turned out to be very fun people.


What is similar and different about the culture of the school environment versus the workplace environment? What new skills have you learned that apply to the workplace?
- In my personal opinion there is nothing in common about school environment & my internship site environment. For example in school you can just come in and do nothing and noone can care less. On th other hand at my workplace you cant just relax and do nothing, you always have to stay bussy and provide help to therapist and patients because they are always in need of your attendence. I learned to communiate with different kind of people, like different personalities. Learned to be more organized and some specific OT daily performances.


What kind of relationship do you have with your mentor and co-workers? How have you grown as a result of interacting with professional adults?
- I have a very good relationship with both my mentor and co-workers. At first i wasn't so open to them, but then they showed me around and guided through everything i needed to know. I think interecting with proffessional adults had helped me grow more in making myself comfortable with new people and what's really out there in real everyday working industry.


What challenges at the internship have you faced that you have overcome and how did you overcome them?
- The biggest chalenge i faced at my internship is actually getting to like the department i was placed in. It was easy for me to overcome it after i found out that there is no chance i can change my internship & if i dont attend it i will fail and not graduate. These two things made me chnage my mind and made me think how important it's for me.

What challenges have you faced in school as a result of the altered schedule and how are you handling them?
- One challenge i faced in school as a result of the altered schedule is not having enough time for my h.w, not because i'm lazy but because h.w and projects had increased it's level like it never been before. This way i think i kind of went down in some classes during this semester. But for the past two weeks i tried to catch up on anything i was missing, plus asked for some extra credit for additional claasses.

What goals are you working to accomplish during the remainder of the internship?
- My only goal is to get some more experince and getting a good feedback from my supervisors and mentor.


What new things have you learned about New York City?
- NYC is full of opportunities. You can have whatever dream job you want as long as you stay close to achieving your goals!

What Does an Occupational Therapist Do?

Occupational Therapists either hold a Bachelor or Master's degree from an accredited program. Training includes the study of human development, social, emotional, and physiological implications of illness, injury and disability. Practitioners complete supervised clinical internships and must pass national certification examinations. Most states require licensure, which requires further documentation and review of the clinician's course of study and moral character. In New Hampshire, the Board of Medicine controls licensure. They require specific numbers of hours and types of continuing education courses in order for a clinician to hold current licensure. This helps insure that therapists remain abreast of new practices and developments in the field. As therapists in the public schools we focus on assisting each student with his/her ability to interact with the environment. This could include working on daily life skills, perceptual motor skills, gross and fine motor skills and adaptive or compensatory skills. These skills should enable the child to function more fully in the academic environment.

WEEKLY VOCABULARY!

1. Word / Phrase: Occupational Therapy

Meaning: a form of therapy in which patients are encouraged to engage in vocational tasks or expressive activities, as art or dance, usually in a social setting

Context: The department i've been placed for my internship in a hospital is Occupational Therapy.

2. Word / Phrase: Department

Meaning: a distinct part of anything arranged in divisions; a division of a complex whole or organized system.

Context: The hospital is divided into many different departments such as OT, PT, mother-baby unit or Bio-Med for example.

3. Word / Phrase: Therapist

Meaning: a person trained in the use of physical methods, as exercises, heat treatments, etc., in treating or rehabilitating the sick or wounded or helping patients overcome physical defects.

Context: It is therapists job to follow the patient on a wheelchair.

4. Word / Phrase: Hip replacement

Meaning: A total hip replacement (THR) - also called a hip arthroplasty- is a surgical procedure that re-forms the hip joint.

Context: My grandfather just went through a hip replacemnt surgery.

6. Word / Phrase: Disability

Meaning: the state or condition of being disabled

Context: Many new born babies are born with different forms of dissabilities if during the pregnancy period their mother smoke or abuse alcohol drinking.

Third Week Assignment!!!

Describe one significant activity or project that you have completed or are working on currently.

One significant activity i've completed during my third week of internship is to abserve and collaborate with other therapists in my department during one of the patients exercises. It was really fun for me because not only i got to learn many important points of how to become an accupational therapist but also get to help out the patient on my own. Basically therapists asked me give an emotional but also a physical support to one of russian speaking patients. He had his hip replacement so i had to help him complete several of exersices. By the end of that activity I felt really refreshed and understoon that O.T is something i'm actually interested into doing in further life.

Second Week Assignment Part 2

1. What did you do during your second week?
2. How was it different than the first week?
3. What is something that you really like about the internship?
4. What is something you dislike about the internship?
5. Who else's blog have your read and commented on?

During my second week of internship i realized that hospital isnt for me, atleast the deaprtment I'm in. It wasn't very different from the first week, but i got to help out nurses at my station a little bit. I really like people who surround me there, they seen very intelegent and it makes me feel grown up around them. I also like my uniform:], because i never wore one so it's kind of cool to have! I completely dislike being next to eldery people who i have to take care of. It just makes me feel really uncomfortable and sad to see them so helpless. I'm sorry Mr.Andrew i haven't really read noones blog yet.

The End of the First Week of Internships

• What is it?
• What kind of business is it and what kind of work do the professionals do there?
• Where is it?
• Tell a little about your mentor.
• What happened on the first day?
• What kinds of things have you done so far?
• What were some of the highlights of the first week? (Memorable moments, cool things...)
• Please answer some logistical questions...When do you leave school?
• How long does it take you to get to your internship?
• When do you arrive at home?
• What is your schedule? (What days do you work and for how long each day?)
• Who are the two people that can sign your time card? (Your mentor and the additional person)

My internship site is Methodist Hospital. This hospital has many different health departments that deal with different types of medicine fields. Hospital is located in downtown Brooklyn 7th ave. My mentors name is Misty, she a very friendly and encouraging person. On my first day of internship i was very nerveous and felt like i wasn't in my plate. It is obvious for me experiencing these feelings because, i've never volluntered before & did not know any of the people who work there! But happily my supervisor turned out to be a very nice guy who gave me a little tour around my department, which is called "Accupational Theropy". There werent exactly any memorable moments during that past week, but i got to know patiens a little better, learn their names and just get used to the hospital world that was surrounding me for those 3 hours/day.

-I leave school as soon as my 2nd class ends or after i decide to eat lunch.

-It takes me aproximetaly 40 minutes to get to my internship site

-I arrive home usually about 4:30p.m.

-I work Monday through Thursday from 1-4 p.m

-My mentor usually signs my time card.