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Before OT School

     Before beginning OT school, I completed my internship for my undergraduate degree in outpatient OT in a hospital.  I thought I understood a good bit about what was happening during evaluations and treatments.  However, looking back some things are more clear now, and I also question some things.  One thing I remember in particular is when one OT was explaining activity analysis to me.  He was working with a patient and the activity was too hard, so he asked me what we could do to make it easier.  At the time, I understood what he was doing, but I didn't understand the whole concept yet.  When learning about activity analysis, I thought of this experience and it was clear what was happening.
     Looking back I also see that a lot of preparatory activities were done.  At the time I didn't realize that doing the arm ergometer was considered preparatory.  That was done a lot where I observed as well as using the electrical stimulation units and ice/heat packs.  Now that I know more about the classification of activities I wonder more about the reasoning behind why that was done in place of purposeful activities many times.  Overall, since beginning OT school, a lot of what I saw in my observations and internship has become more clear.

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