yay! just got home from taking the NBCOT Exam to become a certified OTR! one more step complete... now more waiting.
it was an hour-and-a-half drive from my parent's house to the testing center...and mixed with a 9am scheduled test, i was getting anxiety last night about being late. so i gave myself 2.5 hours to get there. haha, maybe a bit of a stretch, but there WAS a good bit of rush hour traffic outside of columbus and it never feels good to feel rushed.... and reading back over the conseuqences/procedure if i was late and the $500 cost... yeah no thanks. so i was 30-45 minutes early, got taken care of right away, and got to start before 9 ... much better than waiting. only... just have to say, thank GOD i hadn't completely unpacked my car amidst all the traveling and moving the last month. not only did i need two forms of ID, but two forms of signed ID... and of course my signed credit card was missing because i had it out when i was ordering practice tests the other day. an older man signing in next to me wished me luck and i said, "off to a great start, don't even have the right kind of ID!" to which he responded, "that just means you'll have a good finish!" THANKFULLY for labeling efforts two years ago, i knew exactly where my passport was in a file box in the back of my car. day saved. and THEN as i sit down to take my test... nothing comes up on the screen. did i miss an instruction? is my computer broken? am i just being impatient and the test will pop up in a second? i sat there for a good 10 minutes looking at the home screen clicking around and waiting for something to happen, haha. then as the proctor walked by, i grabbed his attention and we got everything figured out and i was on my way. haha, GREAT start.
looking back at my education i have to say that i appreciate, more than ever, the approach and philosophy of the program i graduated from. the emphasis on theory, clinical reasoning and ethics would have been a lot harder to learn on your own than all the topics and diagnoses and facts and protocols in my study guide. even though our program lacked a lot of formal testing (much more clinical application assignments, writing, problem-based learning, case studies, and critical analysis of research), i am glad i got what i got in the short two year time frame. it's impossible to know everything you need to know for every area of OT at the end of two years, especially when our profession doesn't require specialization. but with facts and evidence and protocols that are always changing anyways, it makes much more sense to teach the process and skills to problem-solve and think through situations. still... in the clinic, i'll totally be able to look up a diagnosis or term or milestone i don't remember or recognize, or ask another therapist, or actually physically see the impairment. but, i guess that's why we don't have to get a perfect score to pass, and why we still require supervision when we first start working, and why we have to continue participating in continuing ed (oh yeah, and also why health services are constantly audited and checked to make sure people are doing their job). anyway, i guess what i'm saying is, even though the test is a pretty big step in becoming a practitioner, it definitely doesn't stand alone in assuring good OT.
here's to the next 40 years of a career in which i'll never stop learning!
p.s. i am on the lookout for OTs/PTs/STs/other rehab professionals or students or interested people whose blogs i can follow! if you're out there, speak up and comment so we can find each other! :)
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