Hey ya'll,
Hopefully my recent failure is for all of our learning. So a couple of weeks ago I went in to talk to a therapy team at a SNF facility and they were eager to allow me to observe there. I work full time and had a week-long conference that I had to go to for work before shadowing. I let them know and everything seemed fine. The day I met with them I didn't have the exact days I was available so I said I would get back to them after I talked to my boss. Anyways, I went to the conference and forgot the OT's number back at home and there was no way to retrieve it so I wasn't able to contact her when I was available for shadowing. After that week I was home and texted her my info... no response. Waited for two days and called her and left a message... no response.
So I just showed up the day I told her I was going to come in and she told me to talk to the facilities director who I was in first contact with. Long story short, he cut me on the spot and was not willing for me to observe at all.
So there are two lessons that I learned from this story:
1. STAY IN CONSTANT COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR FACILITY AND ALL RESPONSIBLE PARTIES YOU NEED TO INTERACT WITH. Although I did text and call the OT, she did not respond at all. That should've been a red flag that I should've endeavored to call more or try to reach others at the facility.
2. DON'T WAIT FOR THEM TO CONTACT YOU. I left a message telling them to reach out with any concerns and they didn't. They will not. They are busy and even though they may be aware of your wanting to observe they will not go out of there way.
Anyways, this was a humbling experience for me because I do have a great work ethic and really want to be an OT. This little setback was disappointing for sure, but I definitely will not make the same mistake again.
Hopefully my recent failure is for all of our learning. So a couple of weeks ago I went in to talk to a therapy team at a SNF facility and they were eager to allow me to observe there. I work full time and had a week-long conference that I had to go to for work before shadowing. I let them know and everything seemed fine. The day I met with them I didn't have the exact days I was available so I said I would get back to them after I talked to my boss. Anyways, I went to the conference and forgot the OT's number back at home and there was no way to retrieve it so I wasn't able to contact her when I was available for shadowing. After that week I was home and texted her my info... no response. Waited for two days and called her and left a message... no response.
So I just showed up the day I told her I was going to come in and she told me to talk to the facilities director who I was in first contact with. Long story short, he cut me on the spot and was not willing for me to observe at all. So there are two lessons that I learned from this story:
1. STAY IN CONSTANT COMMUNICATION WITH YOUR FACILITY AND ALL RESPONSIBLE PARTIES YOU NEED TO INTERACT WITH. Although I did text and call the OT, she did not respond at all. That should've been a red flag that I should've endeavored to call more or try to reach others at the facility.
2. DON'T WAIT FOR THEM TO CONTACT YOU. I left a message telling them to reach out with any concerns and they didn't. They will not. They are busy and even though they may be aware of your wanting to observe they will not go out of there way.
Anyways, this was a humbling experience for me because I do have a great work ethic and really want to be an OT. This little setback was disappointing for sure, but I definitely will not make the same mistake again.
