Hi all,
Hope everyone is getting on well. What a busy few weeks it has been. Myself and nuala are running 2 groups, the thing that we find almost most challenging is managing behaviour esecially with the older group which are 12 year old boys so if anyone has any tips on that it would be great?
I also did my first 1:1 session with a child this week which was great, he has huge sensory processing difficulties which i have started working on. Presented the platform swing as a magic carpet to him and this was useful. I found it hard to keep coming up with imaginative ideas to keep him engaged, maybe watching afew episodes of barney would help :)

heres a really good website for anyone in paeds or even mental health, has loads of ideas for art and crafts. http://www.enchantedlearning.com/Home.html. Has anyone any ideas for some games (Gross motor) for kids or even know a useful website? That'd be really useful for planning groups.

Talk soon :)

CAMHS

Hello all!!!
Getting on great at CAMHS, loving it. its tiring work running around all day with the kids but great fun. There was 4 groups this week so kept very busy, myself and Nuala will be taking over 2 of the groups in 3 weeks time so that should eb fun. The most difficult adjustment is probably lesrning to speak in child friendly language. lots of the kids have language difficulties so we've to be extra careful in how we explain activities. Seeing lots of kids with ASpergers, autism, DCD. Lots of kids also have sensory difficulties so thats really interesting to see. Got to sit in on an ADOD assessment too during the week.
Thats all for now,
Hope everyones enjoying their final placemnt,
Emma

half way

Hi everyone,Placement is going well. Half way objectives well on the way to be completed. Busy our because ive NHS objectives to do too. Have 4 patients on my caseload. Have been doing a number of different interventions with them, including graded exposure, cooking session, shopping session, going to the gym, and activity group. Got to observe an AMPS assessment Monday so that was really interesting. It’s a really good assessment and it has def helped improve my observation skills. Its abit strict though.
Did my first 1;1 relaxtion session today, Iknew it would be a challenge as the patient gets very restless but he reported that he enjoyed it and helped him relax.

Mental health

hope everyones getting on well. on monday i sat in on a review of a patient. On tuesday we took a group to crazy golf and then went to ansthruther for some fish n chips (Scotlandlands best fish n chips). Today, i spent the day with another student ot and took a patient grocery shopping and then we went for coffee. Doing a nurses shift tomorow so that should help me to get to know the patients. Going to have 4 on my caseload.
Anyone any advice with working with people with schizphrenia or any good articles on how to deal with patients who are hearing voices?
talk soon :)

We're almmost there

Hope everyone is well,
Cannot believe we are nearing the end of our 2nd placement. It's been a busy few weeks, shadowed one of the other OT's making 2 splints for babies with erbs palsy today. The splints were so teeny n cute, was hard to imagine making splints so small without seeing it for myself. I also had the opportunity of observing an OT making a soft cast yesterday so that was great to see how its done. With regards my own area of work, I have conducted the MMSE, MEAMS, Rivermead version 2 and 3, CAPE, seating AX, ADL AX, Functional transfers, Assessed ROM, and have used the oxford muscle scale to test for muscle power. Myself and yvonne are currently working on our presentation for next week on the role of the OT in working with patients who have been hospitalised long-term. We are struggling at the minute to come up with ideas so if anyone can inspire us that would be fantastic:)?

week 4;)

Hi all, hope yere all enjoying the bankhol. had a great week in the hospital, starting to get alot more responsibility now. got my first patient on my caseload this week, i reviewed his medical chart and it seemed lik it was going to be a straightforward initial assessment but ot turned out to be alot more complicated. he was an 84 year old man with emphysema. he got upset when answering questions, i asked him did he want to take a break but he said he wanted to continue. the 2nd time he got upset i said it was enough for today and i would see him again. although i feel lik i handled the situation well it made me nervous about doing an intitial assessmnet again. since then i have completed the MMSE on him and have spoken with his daughter which brought up another issue. the man's bedrrom is upstairs and since coming nto hospital he will be unable climb the stairs. there is a room downstairs but the daugter said that it wouldnt be possible to turn it into a bedroom because alot of furniture would have to be moved, to me this seems like the only possible short term solution. anyone else have any ideas on how to approach that?

week 3 down, times a flying. so far, i have done an MMSE, intitial interview, chart reviews, referals to COT,PHN. i observed a speech and language assessment for modified barium swallow during the week which was really interesting. we had a standardised assessment tutorial which was very useful. how are people getting on with their objectives?