By Tiffany Lai August 11, 2023
My foray into acute care was bumpy. After a stressful fieldwork II experience at a hospital, which I barely passed, I swore off acute care, telling myself I just didn’t possess the natural abilities needed for it. I came back to it later after having two years of experience at a SNF, which provided me with some medical knowledge and confidence as a therapist.
I applied for per diem positions for a full year before finally getting hired. When I finally did get hired, I had to go through another stressful learning curve before feeling comfortable and confident in my job duties.
I have had other therapists recount a similar story with many avoiding acute care after a difficult fieldwork experience. I found that many of us felt our schooling didn’t adequately prepare us for practicing OT in a medical setting. It seemed we had to learn on the job.
Continuing education courses and researching medical terms definitely helped in my transition to acute care. But most of the knowledge I acquired was on the job through asking other coworkers questions, cotreating with PT, and acute care experience.
It takes time to feel confident working in the hospital. It’s ok to not feel competent immediately.
Acute care is a fast paced setting with medically fragile patients and a wide range of diagnoses. Chart reviews are full of abbreviations and medical jargon. There is a need to be flexible, quick thinking, and confident. This can be challenging as a new graduate or as a therapist new to the setting, but it can be learned with effort and time.
I believe that your drive and desire to enter this setting will determine how successful you are, not your innate ability.
However, therapists who thrive in this setting tend to have the following qualities: self-confident, assertive communicators, detailed and observant, and interested in learning about medical procedures and medicines.
That being said, I can say for myself that I don’t fit all those qualities and yet I was able to work in all sorts of acute care settings: community hospitals, managed care hospitals, trauma and county hospitals, and academic hospitals.
There is definitely a learning curve in the transition. This website is meant to be a tool for students preparing for hospital fieldwork placements, therapists looking to transition or currently working in acute care. I am hoping that with the tools I’m giving you, your experience working in the hospital will be a more enjoyable experience.
Please continue to explore this site and give me feedback! What kind of information about the hospital do you want to learn about? And please reach out for questions. I offer consulting services for those who want to speak with me directly.