OT Students Practice ADL Skills with Mock Patients in Simulated Home — USAHS
Occupational therapists focus on Activities of Daily Living (ADL), and at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences (USAHS), students practice them in an ADL Lab. The lab is a simulated home with a kitchen, a washer and dryer, and a bathroom. In this video, a USAHS faculty member plays the client, and students instruct her on getting in and out of a bathtub, on and off a toilet, and even putting toothpaste on a toothbrush.
The setting makes the practice feel real, and mistakes are welcome. Errors made with a faculty member or standardized patient become lessons, so students won’t repeat them with actual clients.
Repeated simulation leads to better outcomes and more confident graduates, a difference faculty sees once it’s time for students to reach their clinical settings.
Transcript
OT Students Practice ADL Skills with Mock Patients in Simulated Home — USAHS
[00:00:00] Deborah Ruediger (OT Faculty): This is the new way. It is wonderful that we have this simulation department. [00:00:06] Theresa (OT Student): The first time that I ever came in here, I was just blown away by how real it looked. [00:00:10] Devon (OT Student): It’s unique. Uh, not many other students that I know that go to other programs have this. [00:00:15] Deborah Ruediger (OT Faculty): We want to have the students practice in what would be more of a realistic setting. In a classroom, it is not as realistic. [00:00:23] Viktoria (OT Student): It’s more helpful to learn it in that setting than the ideal classroom setting. [00:00:27] Devon (OT Student): Occupational therapists are concerned with activities of daily living, and that is what we can practice in this room. [00:00:32] Deborah Ruediger (OT Faculty): We want them to be hands-on, so this gives them an opportunity to actually practice with a washer and dryer, a kitchen setting, a bathroom setting, and not just read about it in a book. [00:00:42] The students are doing a simulation with me, where they’re going to instruct me on how to do things that they’re going to have to instruct their real clients to do every day out in the real world. Today, they were instructing me on how to get in and out of the bathtub, um, how to get on and off a toilet, and even how to put on toothpaste onto a toothbrush. [00:01:00] Melanie (OT Student): We were able to, uh, give an individual an assistive device to make, for example, cutting, um, their lettuce in the kitchen, uh, more accessible and easier for them. [00:01:11] Deborah Ruediger (OT Faculty): And also looking at my safety and looking at whether or not I was actually able to do things correctly. The whole point of it is that they are in a safe, simulated environment so that they can make those errors with someone like me or a standardized patient. [00:01:26] Viktoria (OT Student): It’s okay to make mistakes here. I won’t make them again in the real world because I’ve learned from them. [00:01:30] Deborah Ruediger (OT Faculty): You will see better outcomes. You will see when a student has experienced a certain diagnosis or a certain circumstance or a situation in simulation multiple times, they’re going to be so much more prepared when they go out into their clinical setting. [00:01:46] Melanie (OT Student): When we do graduate, we are more comfortable. And when we do get out in the community, I feel more confident because of this room. [00:01:51] Viktoria (OT Student): It definitely makes me a better practitioner, and I think I’ll be a better person towards my clients. Ultimately, our clients will benefit.
