Rumbie
Hy
My name is Rumbidzai. I am doing my final year in occupational therapy in Zimbabwe.
I would like to know how you as students get involved in activities that promote the profession to your peers from other degree programs?
What does it mean to be an active student in promoting the growth of the profession in areas such as policy making, research etc?
EWSN
Hi Rumbidzai,
I'm a practicing OT in the USA, I'm also an adjunct professor here in the states and working on getting occupational therapy established in Morocco as well. I'm to sure if you're still looking for an answer and maybe this was an assignment you were looking for support on? I know that students in the US get others involved through activities, such as participation in the OT Global Day of Service, through research on campus, such as looking for research participants exiting the dining hall to participate in a brief survey or activity. Reaching out to other Allied Health professionals to do service in the local communities and schools. As far as policy making, etc. many of our students participate in "Hill Day" where students and professionals go to the capital to advocate for OT. Does this help I hope? Good luck! Elizabeth
Meg
Hi, Rumbidzai,
I’m not sure if I’m late to this conversation, but I’ll reply anyway. I’m a recent grad from an OT program in the US. There were plenty of opportunities to interact with students from other programs. One of the things that my school promoted was Interprofessional practice and education through events such as team building case studies. We were assigned to teams consisting of students from different departments (Nursing, PT, Pharmacy, Social Work, Respiratory Care, etc.), and we had to discuss hypothetical cases and our plan of action. It was really interesting to see everyone’s point of views, and I also got to promote OT that way.
Another way was through student associations. My department held events as the Student Occupational Therapy Association, and we got to interact and educate other students on campus about various topics and how OT helps. Some events include Backpack awareness and Breast Cancer fundraisers. There was also another event where we teamed up with an organization and used our OT skills to invent games and showcase 3-D printed prosthetic hands to the general public at a Maker Faire.
I’m not sure if my answer was what you’re looking for, but please feel free to reach out for questions.
- Meg
