The One Thing all OT and OTA Students Should Know

AOTA recently posed the question, “What is the one thing all first year OT & OTA students should know?” on Facebook. With more than 130 responses, both new and well-seasoned OTs and OTAs shared their best advice on everything from organizational skills to patient interactions on fieldwork to the merits of duct tape. Here is a collection of the top tips for students to keep in mind as the year progresses.

Tips for the Classroom

• Stay organized. Don't just say you will, but have a plan. Create a file folder for all your important documents (i.e., awards, mid-emester evaluations, graded papers). Keep your notes organized so you can easily access information in the future, and USE your resources! AOTA, your local librarian, and your professors have tons of knowledge to share. You just need to ask and you shall receive.
• Coffee is your best friend.
• Speak up! Find your voice. Share your diverse opinions. It makes the classroom more stimulating for your peers and instructors.
• Pay attention when you learn about frames of reference and models! Like, really, PAY ATTENTION!
• Transitioning into graduate school is a process. It's a new way of thinking from previous levels of education. Learn how to take in information from assessments, descriptive studies, symptoms of diagnoses, and how our bodies’ work, and start to analyze realistic implications of what you learn. I like to use the analogy of how glass ornaments are made to describe the graduate learning experience: the glass has to be exposed to so much heat and temperature to come out polished, sturdy, and complete.
• Think about "real life" in every class and learning situation. Apply what you are learning to what you know. Keep doing that for the rest of your life, and you will go far!
• Don't memorize everything. Have it make sense to you. This will help you in your clinicals, jobs, and patient care.
• Don't have an expectation that you will know everything you need to know by the time you finish the program. This is a field of constant learning—and honestly sometimes you have to “fake it till you make it!”
• Pay attention to the course material, but also use the time to develop your interpersonal skills. They will take you very far!

Tips for Self-Growth

• Invest in deeply learning about yourself. Peel back the layers. Be brave and compassionate with what you find. This will enable you to cultivate your therapeutic use of self, which will be your most important tool.
• Work hard, stay calm, don't panic, study, and find balance. You are never going to enjoy the journey or thrive without balance of school, work, and social life. You need the balance for your sanity.
• Be kind to yourself. School is but a part of the journey! You can’t do everything perfectly all the time. We would never expect this of our patients!
• Remember that grades aren't everything. Obviously, you are an incredibly talented, intelligent individual to have gotten this far.

Tips for Getting Involved

• Take initiative to learn as much as possible—from reading for your classes to attending conferences and CE courses. And of course, be an active member of AOTA and your state OT association!
• I'd advise getting involved in your student OT association, your state association, and AOTA. It will give you a tremendous real-world education about what is OT, where OT fits in with other disciplines, and the challenges and the possibilities our field is facing.
• Lead by example!

Tips for Fieldwork

• Keep things light and remember to have an appropriate sense of humor with your patients. If they sense you're too "clinical" it can cause them to shy away from engaging in therapy.
• Let your creative juices flow. Often a clinic lacks modalities or it is dated and missing parts. If you're creative you can often mimic a commercial product with a homemade one.
• Be flexible —your patients won't always be willing participants.
• Treat each patient/client/consumer as if they were a member of your family. Truly listen to what they are speaking about and the nonverbal communication, which says more than words. Be compassionate.
• Get a support system, and really take advantage of those seasoned therapists! Listen to your patients. As therapists, we are sometimes the only ones who really hear them.
• Never forget to ask your patients what their goals are. They may be very different from yours. 
• Never underestimate the use of duct tape.

Final thoughts

• Work hard. And when it is all over—this will go by fast—the rewards come every day in ways you couldn't even imagine.
• One day it will all click. But until then have faith in the process.
• Welcome to our wonderful profession.
• You should know that you are in for a life-changing journey! 
• We're all pulling for you! Good luck!