Nurse practitioners and physician assistants are advanced healthcare practitioners with similar responsibilities, such as diagnosing illnesses and prescribing medications. However, their training and paths toward certification differ in significant ways. This blog post unpacks the key differences between NPs and PAs to help you determine which career path best aligns with your goals. What Is a Nurse Practitioner? A nurse practitioner (NP) is a licensed clinician who provides comprehensive healthcare to patients of all ages. An NP can work in virtually any healthcare setting, diagnosing patient conditions and prescribing medications. As of October 2022, nurse practitioners have full practice authority in 27 states, meaning that they can practice Read more
February Making the Rounds
“Making the Rounds” features faculty checking in on the students who are out on fieldwork.
Submission from Becky Piazza
Making the Rounds” features faculty checking in on the students who are out on fieldwork.
One of our FLSA Flex MOT students, Liz Weinbender, is at The Health Pavilion Oak Hammock in Gainesville, FL with Jenn Smith, MOT, OTR/L in a skilled nursing facility.
Liz is receiving a diverse learning opportunity as her fieldwork educator additionally consults across the memory unit, outpatient rehab, and home health (https://www.oakhammock.org/senior-health-care/health-care-services).
Liz’s educator shared that Liz has caught on quickly to their fast paced environment and tight nit rehab team culture of hand off communication. Liz shared that her previous professional experience in Early Intervention has had more relevance with the geriatric population than she had anticipated, specifically in her ability to implement the coaching model with client and caregiver education. Liz is currently assisting her fieldwork educator with the creation and implementation of a restorative maintenance program for older adults – the first of its kind in this facility!
Great job team for preparing Liz for success!
Submission from Sheri Genovese
USAHS OT student, Daniel Dang, is at North Coastal Consortium for Special Education, assigned to Fieldwork Educator, Shannon O’Brien, MOT, OTR/L, in the local Carlsbad Unified School District.
Daniel is receiving a fabulous learning opportunity with Shannon, who specializes in education. During a site visit earlier this week, Daniel shared how much he is both enjoying and experiencing during this level II B rotation. Shannon also shared that Daniel has jumped in and has started taking on students at the school sites.
Great job team for preparing Daniel for success! We are thrilled that the Shannon and the North Coastal Consortium for Special Education have agreed to offer fieldwork opportunities for our USAHS level II students!
Submission from Patti Palomar
On 2/5/2020, FLSA Academic Fieldwork Coordinator and Instructor, Dr. Patti Palomar, OTD, OTR/L, ATAC, visited one of her Blue Flex students, Drew Sawyer, at PT Solutions in Palm Coast. His fieldwork, educator Ruthie Spencer, CHT, has taken many students from USAHS in the past. She is very impressed with Drew’s knowledge, professionalism, and work ethic. It is a bustling clinic with 8-14 clients per day. For documentation, they use the Web PT electronic system. Assessments include MMT, ROM, Quick Dash, dynamometer, pinch grip, and the Semmes Weinstein.
During the site visit, Drew shared that he and Kasey Durham are creating a PPT of the various diagnoses and interventions that they are learning about during their hand therapy rotations. Dr. Palomar asked him if they would be willing to share the PPT with students. He immediately replied that they would.
Dr. Palomar is thrilled at their self-directed learning and hopes that they will eventually present it at a FOTA conference.
When asked how USAHS could prepare students for this setting, Drew stated that he would have found it beneficial to visit an outpatient clinic like this that has a heavy emphasis on hand therapy. He thought it would be best to include it in one of the classes in the last term, as it could motivate students to review their anatomy and goniometry measurements. He said that he would encourage students who are interested in hand therapy to shadow a CHT for a day.
Submission from Patti Palomar
On 2/6/2020, Dr. Palomar visited with Maggie Jones and Nicky Blando at the ARC of St. Johns. They have an excellent fieldwork educator, our own Thais Petrocelli.
At ARC, they see clients from 22-65 years old with a variety of diagnoses, and a substantial range of physical, emotional, and cognitive levels. Nicky and Maggie stated that the staff there is excellent! They are running three sensory/self-regulation groups and one feeding group every day. There is always at least one staff person beside them to help with students who have behavior issues. Maggie stated that most of the clients are not aggressive, but occasionally have self-injurious behaviors when frustrated.
Both students said that the biggest challenge was working with individuals who are non-verbal. They discussed creating some simple communication boards, like the ones they made in AT class. Maggie is pursuing whether they have access to a laminator for these boards. She also stated that they are using S’cool Moves every day.
They are starting individual evaluations with the clients. Thais created an assessment form similar to the AOTA Occupational Profile to use with this population. It sounds like she may need to publish it! The students enjoy Thais’ creative, professional, goal-driven supervision.
Great job, faculty, for helping these students be successful in their transition from being students to clinicians! Thank you, Thais, Mary, and Tammy, for creating this phenomenal community fieldwork rotation for our students!
Submission from Becky Piazza
One of our TXAU Flex MOT students, Bri Beason, is at Achieve Therapy Services outpatient pediatrics with Anna Wright, OTR/L in Indian Harbor Beach, FL.
During a site visit Bri shared that she has enjoyed the pediatric population more than she anticipated, specifically the problem solving and creativity that is required with treatment intervention. Anna indicated that Bri has progressed quickly over the last 5+ weeks and has shown an increased ability to modify her treatment activities “on the fly” in order to respond to her pediatric clients’ needs and levels of engagement. Bri shared that she has learned the most about the importance of developing and implementing clinical observation skills with this population and how these skills drive assessment, intervention, and therapeutic recommendations. Bri also shared that she had no idea of the power of the therapeutic relationships that develop between the clients, family/caregivers, and the therapists and has learned firsthand how these evolve over time as the clinicians become important members of the client’s extended family across the child’s lifespan.
Great job team for preparing Bri for success!
Submission from Becky Piazza
FLSA MOT student Mary Salo is completing her IIA fieldwork rotation at Select Physical Therapy Merritt Island, FL with Diane Reid-Van Asdale OTR/L, CHT in an outpatient hand specialty clinic.
Diane has over 25+ years of experience and is the only OT in this clinic.
During a site visit Diane shared that Mary has demonstrated initiative with her level of preparedness and her ongoing investment in self-study each week with standardized assessment measures and clinical protocols for a variety of elective shoulder surgeries and hand issues. Mary shared that this rotation has been more challenging than she expected due to the complexity of the clients, the advanced knowledge of the clinicians , and the increased number of clients with shoulder repairs that the clinic sees. Diane shared that Mary is continuing to develop her assessment skills and is growing in her ability to apply her assessment findings to client specific treatment planning and intervention. Mary shared that she is committed to demonstrating creativity with her approach to occupation based intervention and finds herself having multiple conversations with clients to help them translate their hand and UE abilities to their everyday ADLs and occupational performance.
Great job team for preparing Mary for success!
Submission from Becky Piazza
FLSA OTD student Nicole Cook is at Play for Real Therapy Solutions in Rockledge, FL with Lyn Bennett, MOT, OTR/L in a pediatric outpatient clinic.
Nicole is receiving a fabulous learning opportunity as her fieldwork educator is also co-owner of the clinic with her husband Peter. Lyn and Peter both trained as occupational therapists in Oxford, England and have spent their careers continually pursuing professional development and lifelong learning with a commitment to children and families. They are remarkable ambassadors for our profession! Lyn is a DIRFloortime certified practitioner and Peter is Certified in Sensory Integration. https://www.pfrtherapy.com/meet-the-team/about-us/
During a site visit I had the opportunity to meet with both Lyn and Peter to discuss their philosophy of practice, the mission of Play for Real, and their years of experiences investing in the profession through quality student education. Nicole shared that her current learning experience is a challenging, engaging, and hard work! Lyn is challenging Nicole to move past having the right answers and to instead prioritize clinical observation skills and activity analysis that is specific to each child’s needs and environment. Nicole said this has been a difficult mental shift but something that she is learning to embrace and adopt as part of her clinical style.
Great job team for preparing Nicole for success!
Submission from Patti Palomar
On 2/11/2020, I had the pleasure to visit with Sarah Madden, Blue Flex MOT student, and her fieldwork educator, Kellye Olson, OTD, OTR/L, CHT.
Sarah is doing her Level IIA at Lake Centre for Rehabilitation – The Villages. The setting is outpatient hands with a wide variety of diagnoses. It is a bustling clinic, with the OTs seeing 10-14 clients per day. Kellye is the director of the OT department at all six locations. As the director, she has instituted weekly staff meetings covering one diagnosis and the associated differential diagnoses.
Kellye is thrilled to have Sarah there, stating that she learns quickly, asks insightful questions, and is a hard worker. When asked about her student’s preparation, Kellye said that Sarah seems to be well-prepared for this setting in terms of assessments. Sarah feels that she has a good foundation in evaluations from her Adults and Gero courses (GO TEAM!).
Submission from Patti PalomarOn 2/12/2020, I visited with Mackenzie Parish, Blue Flex MOT student, and her fieldwork educator, Allison Rios, OTR/L.
Mackenzie is at Westminster Towers in Orlando for her Level IIA rotation. This location is a SNF, sub-acute, and acute long-term care facility. In the rehabilitation department, there is one OT, one OTA, two SLPs, and two PTs. In the basement of the towers is a mini shopping mall with a beauty salon, library, snack shop, and white elephant store. Mackenzie said that she has taken clients down there to practice their shopping and money management skills.
They see up to nine patients a day, ages 62-100, with predominate diagnoses of CVA, dementia, and orthopedic issues. Mackenzie had the opportunity to shadow the wound specialist nurse to see how the debridement of pressure ulcers and the management of other wounds. She found this experience to be very helpful information when working on ADLs with the residents.
Allison said that Mackenzie is well-prepared from both USAHS and her previous work experience at Brookdale. Mackenzie stated that she would have liked more experience with EMRs at USAHS. Mackenzie said that the Adult and Gero classes prepared her well (Go Kellye and Kaitlyn!).
Submission from Patti PalomarLater that morning, I visited with Syleen (Eileen) Blanco, Blue Flex MOT student, and Lindsey Wetteland, OTR/L, her primary fieldwork educator.
Syleen is on her Level IIA rotation at the Orange County Public Schools – Orlando. She covers five schools during the week. Syleen also has a second educator, Gloriam Gonzalez Burgos, at some other schools two days a week. On this date, we met at the Lovell Elementary School in Apopka, FL.
Lindsey stated that she is so happy to have Syleen in the schools with her! She remarked that Syleen is adequately prepared for the school setting, with her background as a middle school science teacher and her instruction from USAHS (Go, Eric and Gayla!). They see 7-10 students a day, with an occasional small group of 2-3 children. The most common diagnoses include: autism, Speech/communication disorders, specific learning disabilities, ADHD, CP, Down syndrome, and some medically fragile students with trachs. Syleen wishes that she had received more information about the IEP process at USAHS.
Submission from Patti PalomarIn the afternoon, I visited with Catalina Blanco, Blue Flex MOT student, her fieldwork educator, Kirstin Raymond, OTR/L, USAHS alumni, Paige Draper, Blue MOT student, and her educator, Corinne Painter, OTR/L (who is applying to our PPOTD program!).
Catalina and Paige are doing their Level IIA rotation at Central Florida Therapy Solutions in Longwood, FL. This pediatric outpatient clinic is quite busy with each clinician seeing up to 14 children a day. Catalina shared that each treatment is 30 minutes long. She said that Kirstin has helped her to pace her interventions. She was surprised at how many interventions they could get through in 30 minutes! They see a variety of diagnoses including autism, sensory processing disorder, ADHD, Down syndrome, learning disabilities, and feeding disorders.
Kirstin and Corinne are very pleased to have our USAHS students. Corinne has had a number of our students before Paige. She stated that they have all been very well-prepared by the Peds course (Go Gayla, Inti, and Eric!)! The two educators said that they wish the students had more familiarity with EMR systems (they use Genesis) and normal developmental levels (to help them accurately grade their interventions).
Catalina and Paige stated that USAHS prepared them adequately, but that more exposure to EMR documentation would have been helpful. They both agreed that pacing and grading interventions with kids would have been helpful. Both students say that this is an excellent fieldwork setting!
Submission from Becky PiazzaFLSA OTD student, Theresa Oakley, is at Taylor Made Therapies in Rockledge, FL with Apryl Balmir and Cheryl Williams in a pediatric outpatient clinic. Theresa is receiving a fabulous learning opportunity in an outstanding multidisciplinary clinic – the 1:1 treatment areas, sensory room, gym space, therapy equipment, and resources available to the therapists are unbelievable! These clinicians are passionate about the pediatric client population and the continual advancement of their skills to impact their community. https://tmtherapies.com/
During a site visit I had the opportunity to meet with the owner of the clinic, Angie Taylor, SLP, as well as with Theresa and her FWEs, Apryl and Cheryl. Theresa shared that her current learning experience has been better than she had hoped for; that she is learning from two seasoned clinicians who challenge her and support her in both her personal and professional development. What a gift! Her mentors are challenging Theresa to hone her behavior management skills with the children and her communication skills with families, and to choose confidence in her delivery of treatment interventions.
Feedback from the clinic owner and her FWEs is that Theresa arrived with an elevated ability to implement, grade and modify treatment activities. Theresa credits course content and level I experiences from Gero and Adults as equipping her in how to plan and grade activities “on the fly”.
Great job team for preparing Theresa for success!
