First Day on the Job…

** In case anyone was wondering: I did not blog about the duck race that I previously mentioned because… there was no duck race… The only thing that was going in the wee (in Scotland, if something is small or younger or happens infrequently, it’s wee e.g. wee child, wee brother, wee phone call) town of Irvine was a "dart tournament" so that must have been what the guy was talking about. Dart race, not duck race. But who the hell says dart race? It can be a tournament, a match or a competition but NOT A RACE!! It’s my logic by the way, so don’t question it. Just accept it.

Today was my first day of work at this hospital that I’m temporarily at. And… I love it I love it I love it. I can’t wait to start work (nono, I do not want to hear about job stress, politics and all that now) and if my love for my job is not yet evident, I think it will be by the time you finish reading this post.

Incidentally, I dislike writing in a "timetable" format (very unimaginative and makes me seem like I can’t put together an "essay-style" article, you know what I mean?) but you guys seem to enjoy reading it that way, so here goes…

9:30am: A guy (seriously good looking, I have to add) comes up to me and says, "You must be Mae". He introduces himself as "Timothy" and is going to be my temporary supervisor for the time I’m here. Yes, Timothy is obviously not his real name. I just signed a "confidentiality" statement today. My entire career is at stake here, ok? So give me a break, please...

9:45am: Timothy introduces my classmate who is attached to this same place, "Shirley" (aka Angelina Jolie lookalike), and myself to the place and setting. He goes through with us the usual "what we do here", working hours information etc and because my brain has such an amazing capacity to multi-task, I am able to observe him a bit better at the same time (you know, just the usual curiosity everyone has when they meet someone new?). Of course, I am still paying attention to every word he says…

As I observe, I realize that he is neat, well-groomed (clean shaven, great haircut that suits him, hair gelled – not excessively but in a nice boy next door way), well-dressed and color coordinated right down to his socks! Remarkable. Possibly a man with taste and a good dress sense… but I decide to go with my gut feel of: MARRIED. Hahaha…

Timothy has got a laid back, informal style that is unpretentious and comfortable, without that self-conscious awkwardness that is often present when one meets new people. Wonderful because it puts me at ease (students on their first day at work are considerably stressed). He is definitely not one of those ultra-stern supervisors that suddenly make bladder control very hard. In time to come, I will remember him as the first supervisor I hear say "Oh shit…" out loud. I have no doubt my previous supervisors have had that thought before but none had ever vocalized it.

10:15am: Timothy leaves for a meeting after giving us some materials to read through. Shirley and I set off to the dining room to read and have coffee at the same time.

11:30am: We have finished reading and are back in the office. We decide to start on our sandwiches (lunch) because we were hungry, although lunch is officially from 12-12:30.

12:30pm: Timothy returns from the meeting with 2 other colleagues. We all sit together and chat, getting to know each other better, as they have their lunch.

1pm: Timothy brings us to tour the ward. It is a mental health ward and because I’m not planned to be doing a mental health placement so I’m not quite prepared. I get a little nervous.

The first patient I meet (an elderly lady) does not help.

She introduced herself and taking my hand, kissed it. I am shocked and I do not quite know how to react, my lack of mental preparation compounded by the fact that I simply cannot decide if her actions are inappropriate (this is, after all, a mental health ward) or if it’s part of their culture. And although I did say this is a mental health ward, I cannot assume that everyone here is of "unsound mind" because dementia is classed under mental health, learning disabilities are included and drug and alcohol addicts are admitted into the mental health ward to detox as well.

A quick glance at Timothy’s expression tells me that her actions are inappropriate. So I do the safe thing. I smile at the lady and say "nice to meet you".

At this moment, I remember a similar situation when I was on placement in Australia: I was doing an initial assessment of a man suspected of brain injury when he made a remark and started laughing. I didn’t quite get the remark and I couldn’t tell if he was being irrelevant as a result of a brain injury or whether it was a valid joke and I didn’t get it because I don’t share his background.

It’s just one of those things that I have to be conscious of and consider instead of jumping to the conclusion that the person is "inappropriate".

Soon though, I realize that this is not unlike the mental health placement I did in Singapore. The people are different but the conditions, outward symptoms and behaviours are similar. Remembering my past positive experience, I lose my nervousness and become quite comfortable in the environment.

What is different here, however, is the environment of the ward. Here, patients are encouraged to make their own bed, do their own laundry in the laundry room on the ward and are allowed to wear their own clothes (no hospital garb! This was slightly confusing because some of them looked so well that you would not be able to differentiate them from say, their visitors).

The environment hence prevents reliance, promotes independence, encourages self-responsibility, decreases the sense of institutionalization (which in itself causes many ill-effects) and offers opportunities for normalization. Yes, OT-ish point of view…

2pm: Baking group! It was slightly chaotic but great fun! The patients are very capable of baking and following recipes. Some of them just need prompts and some guidance and it was our role to help facilitate their success. We ended by having tea with the patients and it is obvious that they are pleased with the tangible rewards of their efforts.

Is this OT?

Partly. Rather, it is a "snapshot" of OT, a small part of a whole. The choice of seemingly routine and commonplace activities appear absurd and some things we do seem like commonsense. But beneath that superficial simplicity, there is a philosophy and there are underlying principles. The purpose, the planning, and the execution of the activity determine the difference between OT and diversion therapy.

In future, would I go to work, spend my afternoon baking with my patients, bring a cake home to my children and say "Look what Mummy did at work today?"

Ermm…I don’t think so. Because OT is about a lot more than this (I cannot emphasize this enough) and baking is just one of the gazillion things we do. Besides, if I wanted to do that, I would be a baker.

4pm: Discussion of our observations of the group and the patients.

4:30pm: Goodbye and see you tomorrow!