Knowledge Check #17

On the video we watched last Wednesday on empathy and perspective, it really captured the rawness of the different trials, hardships, thoughts, and feelings that so many patient's and their families go through. Just because someone looks "ok" on the outside does not mean that they are not worried and struggling about medical issues. It really makes you stop and think as a future OT practitioner that you can be having the worst day, but your client and their family have to be more important than any of your issues because that's what occupational therapy is about: Client-centered. Being empathetic and comforting to your client as well as their family is one of the most important aspects of this field.  Seeing a husband worried about how he would take care of his wife because she had just had a stroke, a mom taking her little girl to see her terminally ill daddy for the last time, and even a woman who was just told the heartbreaking news that she has cancer are all situations that OT practitioners will see every single day, and I think it is so important to realize that no matter how big your problems may seem, as an occupational therapist, client centered practice is so important and your problems have to go on the back burner.