Public Health and Wellness

 In class, we've been learning how to create Occupational Profiles so that we can look at all aspects of a client/patient. However, it hadn't occurred to me that in the field of Occupational Therapy, we don't only work with individual client's/patients, but also populations of people. When looking at a population, OTs still use a holistic approach. They also look at the social determinants of health, which includes looking at the general socioeconomic, cultural, and environmental conditions. Through Professor Flick's lecture, I learned that these factors are extremely important to note because they can prevent people from getting the care that they need. One example is health literacy. If a person or population wasn't able to have the proper education (maybe due to socioeconomic reasons) to read a pamphlet, read the words on a prescription bottle, or know how to fill out paperwork at the doctor's office, they may be in danger of harming themselves by avoiding the doctor or accidentally overdosing on their medicine. Before listening to this lecture, I didn't know how common it was for people to have difficulties like this within the health care system. This reminds me that as a future OT practitioner, it is important to look for signs that a client/patient might be apprehensive about seeing a therapist or doctor because of these barriers and try to educate the population in health literacy. This also reminds me that as a future OT practitioner, it is important to be creative, diverse, and inclusive when thinking about the most effective way to help people.