{"id":862,"date":"2015-05-05T08:00:15","date_gmt":"2015-05-05T12:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/?p=862"},"modified":"2015-05-04T22:22:50","modified_gmt":"2015-05-05T02:22:50","slug":"aota-conference-through-the-eyes-of-a-graduate-student","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/2015\/05\/05\/aota-conference-through-the-eyes-of-a-graduate-student\/","title":{"rendered":"AOTA Conference – Through the Eyes of a Graduate Student"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Kimberly Cosgrove (Graduate student, MS ’15)<\/strong><\/p>\n

I recently was provided with the opportunity to attend the AOTA Conference in Nashville, TN.\u00a0 It was an amazing experience to say the least.\u00a0 I was able to attend many sessions about new and exciting initiatives in occupational therapy practice.\u00a0 I also attended many poster sessions.\u00a0 It was wonderful to see how much research is being done in the field of occupational therapy. One session I attended was by the Wounded Warrior Project, and this was by far my favorite.\u00a0 The session was on how to assist Veterans with amputations and prosthetics.\u00a0 One of the main ideas that still resonates with me from the session is to enable individuals from the beginning.\u00a0 We have to help individuals realize that they can do things, despite disability, and empower them.<\/p>\n

Another key session that I attended was maintaining ethical practice despite having to meet productivity standards.\u00a0 This session was so relevant to much of the education we receive in school on ethical practice.\u00a0 One of the primary presenters was the Vice President of AOTA and it was amazing to be able to hear her stance on ethics and productivity standards.\u00a0 Through this presentation, I learned about AOTA\u2019s new version of the Code of Ethics, which was approved by the Representative Assembly at the conference. In addition, it was so powerful to hear the Vice President of AOTA speak about advocating for our profession and our needs to clinical managers.<\/p>\n

In between sessions, I attended the exhibition hall, with over 1,000 vendors and employers.\u00a0 I found this hall to be overwhelming.\u00a0 However, it was incredible to see some of the newest equipment and the differences the equipment is making with clients.\u00a0 It also was a great time to test out new equipment as well.\u00a0 In addition to getting to test out new equipment and toys, it was a great opportunity to network.\u00a0 There were many employers present which provided me with many opportunities to practice my communication with possible employers.<\/p>\n

\"Jennifer<\/a>
Jennifer Bush & Kimberly Cosgrove – AOTA 2015<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Finally, one experience that I had a conference that I will never forget is being able to present a poster of Jennifer Bush<\/strong>\u2019s and my senior O.T. Honors in the Discipline project, \u201cThe Occupational Challenges of, and Support for, Individuals Providing Care to People with Dementia<\/span><\/em>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0 This was such a great experience and a great way to network with other occupational therapists who are interested in this.\u00a0 It provided a chance to help further my research and get OTs\u2019 opinions of ways to continue expanding it. I am now motivated to take my research further.\u00a0 Many of the occupational therapists asked if I would be publishing the research as they felt the area in which my research was completed has limited information, and they helped to validate the findings in my research that others need to know to help their practice.<\/p>\n

After attending conference and finishing my graduate year, I am excited to go to my second Level II fieldwork this summer and make a difference.\u00a0 I learned to not just follow status quo but to challenge it and make it better.\u00a0 I am excited to be more innovative in therapy and contribute to the profession in many ways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Kimberly Cosgrove (Graduate student, MS ’15) I recently was provided with the opportunity to attend the AOTA Conference in Nashville, TN.\u00a0 It was an amazing experience to say the least.\u00a0 I was able to attend many sessions about new …<\/p>\n

AOTA Conference – Through the Eyes of a Graduate Student<\/span> Read More »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-and-accomplishments","category-student-spotlight"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=862"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":868,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862\/revisions\/868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/groups.etown.edu\/ot\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}