Student Occupational Therapist
Collaborator
Occupational therapists (OTs) work effectively with stakeholders to enable participation in occupations by using and promoting shared decision-making approaches. OTs collaborate, both in an interprofessional and intraprofessional environment, sometimes leading, and sometimes sharing with key stakeholders.
My Experience
“Louise is a very good role model with strong interpersonal and team building skills” - Level 2 Preceptor
Throughout my academic education at Queen’s University, I’ve participated in several events hosted by the Office of Interprofessional Practice (OIPEP) including: the Interprofessional Forum on Sport and Disability, Interprofessional Teamwork “Huddle”, and the Interprofessional Patient Safety Education Week.
Additionally, I took part in an Applied Collaborative Practice Team Project, which consists of teams of students studying in the professions of physiotherapy, occupational therapy, nursing, and medicine. We were required to work together to develop a treatment plan for a client in the community through applying an integrated approach while also working collaboratively to ensure client-centered services. After reflecting on this project, I was able to identify the aspects that both enhanced and diminished collaborative practice, which serves as useful insight as I begin my career as a future clinician.
Furthermore, I’ve applied my skills of working collaboratively throughout my clinical experience, as I’ve had the opportunity to work within interprofessional teams for all of my placements. I’ve participated in case conferences, weekly interprofessional team meetings, and always made it a priority to demonstrate a respectful attitude towards team members, while clearly understanding their roles and responsibilities. For example, when working at the interprofessional rehabilitation clinic, we had weekly team meetings to introduce new clients, report on client progress, and/or discuss discharge of clients. I took initiative to present and summarize new clients based on initial interviews I conducted. Furthermore, I had to indicate which services the client would benefit from receiving and consult with team members to see if anything was over looked. To accomplish this task, it was crucial that I had to clearly understand the roles and responsibilities of all team members!
Future Learnings
I’ve always enjoyed working in a team environment and I feel as though I’ve developed and gained essential skills that have helped me build and contribute to a supportive and positive team dynamic. With that said, an area within this competency that I would like to improve on is finding effective strategies to work through team conflicts. I haven’t been exposed to many opportunities where major conflict has occurred within a client's context, thus I haven’t had the chance to build on these skills as much as I've hoped. I am aware that conflict is part of team building and when team barriers or misunderstandings occur in the future, I will make sure to focus the team on the client’s values, goals, and objectives to ensure the client remains an active member and at the core of the treatment plan.
