Katie Swan

July 12, 2018

Professional Development Tool
SELF-ASSESSMENT WORKSHEET (1)
Reflection
Reflect on your practice or professional work activities. The following questions may guide your
reflection.
How is my practice, scope of work, or work environment changing related to. . .?

 Different populations/clients/consumers/employees/students?

As I am exposed to more individuals, I have begun to learn more about inherent similarities
and differences among us. During my school work and fieldwork experiences, I learned to
take the time to get to hear and understand others’ lived experiences. While I can never fully
understand their perspectives, listening to others helps me to be more open-minded, better
informed, and holistic in my practice and life. Traveling through China for the last four weeks
taught me a lot about how different people live and relate to one another. It demonstrated
to me how much I have to learn, but also how much I have to offer. The experience pushed
me far outside my comfort zone and also deepened my passion to help others, increase
independence, and strive for better practices world-wide.

 New technology or information systems?

While I have had exposure to many new technologies throughout my graduate school career,
the most impactful has been learning about the Go Baby Go program. It is amazing to see
how these relatively simple technologies can impact families lives. Within minutes, a child
that was only able to lay on the ground and have things done for them can be transformed
into a playful, spunky toddler that can explore independently and experience life in a totally
new way. Technology definitely has its down-sides, but after seeing the cognitive, social,
physical, and emotional benefits it can have through switch adapted toys or cars, I hope to
continue to work with the Go Baby Go program to promote its use in the clinic and home
environment. I hope to continue to learn about additional technologies such as
communication systems and prosthetics.

 New standards or requirements (internal and external)?

Productivity standards and insurance coverage is challenging for me. While I understand the
reason that both came to be required, I do think that I often see a benefit to additional time
with a patient or a different approach which may not be covered. It is difficult to receive
training in school and learn the best practices, but find that therapists cannot always follow
their training due to limitations in both time and money.
Katie Swan
July 12, 2018
Professional Development Tool

 Changing work demands and work systems?

I have found that I am most passionate about pediatrics. Through my fieldwork experiences
working with this population, I am easily motivated to study, read journal articles about
evidence-based-practice, and continue to push my understanding in this area of practice. I
think and hope that I continue to learn about diverse and new areas of practice, as well
though. Additionally, I have found that mentorship is extremely important to me. Through
this discovery, I have been able to narrow my job search and understand that a setting with
other therapists, who are more experienced then myself, is important as I begin my career.

 Changes in the profession?

As of right now, the transition to OTD has most impacted my life. I chose to pursue an OTD
because I saw value in increasing our knowledge in evidence-based practice, increasing our
clinical reasoning through additional experience in the field, and through being able to serve
more diverse and underserved populations. My capstone project has been an amazing
experience, and I hope has had a positive impact on GBG Oregon, GBG China, on the
therapists we came into contact with, and on the many children we worked with.

 Changes in the community?

In my level IIB fieldwork, I saw how much changes in the community impacted my patients.
As this communities’ home prices increase, people who have lived here as long term
residents are being pushed out. This makes getting to the hospital very difficult for
outpatient services or to visit loved ones more complicated and increases the need for home
health occupational therapy services. Seeing this motivated me to advocate more for my
patients and learn more about the services that we can provide them with as a community.

 Changes in client or consumer expectations?

I think that this is so dependent upon the individual, but there is a trend toward being a more
informed consumer. Regardless of our clients’ expectations, I think it is important to be able
to be informed about best practices and evidence-based practice in order to educate or
inform our clients if they do have questions or concerns. While it is important to not over
explain to a client that doesn’t need the explanation, it is important for me as a therapist to
always know my rational for the specific treatment/intervention to be able to justify to
insurance, other healthcare professionals, students, or the client’s family members (if
appropriate).
Katie Swan
July 12, 2018
Professional Development Tool

SELF-ASSESSMENT WORKSHEET (2)

Identifying Areas for Professional Development

You can identify learning needs by assessing the level of congruence between your own
knowledge, skills, and attitudes and those required by the various responsibilities and roles you
hold—or strive to hold. The following questions may guide your exploration of possible growth
areas.

Related to Current Practice

 What is going on within my practice or work responsibilities that indicate a need for
improvement?

I think the biggest area of growth for me is going to be confidence as a therapist. I think that I
have quite of bit of knowledge and skills at this point, but I still feel unsure of myself making
these big decisions on treatment plans and goals by myself. I think that as a beginning OT, I
hope that I could go in just about every area but confidence is key. I also hope that wherever
I begin my practice, I will have a mentor close by that can assist me or answer questions as I
start treating my own clients.

 What can be changed or improved?

My goal writing is an area that I would really like to improve. I think that each setting has
such different expectations of goals that I will learn this more as I begin working at a specific
clinic or setting. I also think that my communication skills could improve, in general, to make
sure that I have collaborative and effective goals and am able to effectively verbalize my
rationale with my clients, families, and other healthcare providers.

 What changes in the external environment suggest the need for new learning?

I think as insurance demands continually change, I need to understand the laws and political
atmosphere (as it relates to OT specifically) much better. I think this will help me to better
advocate for the clients, find them the resources that are available to them, advocate for
myself as an employee and healthcare provider, and advocate for the profession of
occupational therapy as a whole.

Related to Future Goals

 What are new opportunities and potential areas for growth?
Katie Swan
July 12, 2018
Professional Development Tool
I hope that there are many areas for growth and new opportunities for me as I begin
applying for jobs in the Denver area. I really hope to pursue pediatrics and would love to
pursue certificates in more specialized areas. DIR certification particularly appeals to me.

 What are my career goals?

I would love to become an expert in pediatric outpatient care. I particularly am attracted to a

job that would emphasize evidence-based practice. I have always appreciated learning about
research (although I am unsure to what extent I would want to be directly involved with
research). I would absolutely love to have more opportunities to practice abroad in different
countries, expand the Go Baby Go program, be a fieldwork educator, and become certified in
DIR. I sometimes dream of opening my own outpatient pediatric clinic in the mountains of
Colorado (my home) and have a hippotherapy practice on the side, but these are lofty goals
that I am sure may change as I begin my career.

 In what areas of practice or the profession would I like to achieve excellence?

As previously mentioned, I am extremely interested in a DIR certification, international

education, and continuing the Go Baby Go program (particularly the toy adaptation and
assistive devices branch).

SELF-ASSESSMENT WORKSHEET (3)

Further Reflection
 What do I want or need to do that would lead to my career goals?

The obvious next steps for me are to graduate, pass the NBCOT, gain licensure, and accept a
job offer. I have applied to multiple jobs in the Denver area and am continuing to try to find
job offers that are in settings that I would be passionate about and that I would see the
possibility of career growth. One job that I recently applied to is the STAR Institute in Denver.
This opportunity would allow me to have intensive mentorship and pursue a DIR certification
and learn more about sensory integration. Although I may not get accepted for that
particular job opening, I hope to find a place that would allow me to have similar
opportunities. I also think that attending conferences such as the AOTA conference would
allow me to further pursue my interests of teaching and learning about the most up-to-date
interventions and research.

 What do I want or need to do to realize my potential for growth?

I think that I could benefit from all of the examples listed as suggestions. I think that advanced
CE, great mentoring, big challenges, and a lot of routine are all important for my personality.
Katie Swan
July 12, 2018
Professional Development Tool

 What do I need to do or learn to provide better intervention for my clients?

I think that securing mentorship and staying up-to-date on journal articles will be the most
critical parts of my practice, initially. During my fieldwork experiences, I learned so much
from my supervisors that I was either unaware that I was doing wrong or thought I was doing
but they didn’t see evidence of it. The best example of this is at my pediatric fieldwork
experience. They regularly video themselves and the students to be able to self-assess. One
of my supervisors kept commenting on how I wasn’t using enough affect when I felt as if I
was being super expressive. After watching the video and hearing her feedback, it was
obvious that I needed to practice this skill more. Almost immediately, I found that I was much
more effective while working with certain kids because of my exaggerated emotions.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN WORKSHEET (4)

Learning Goals
Using the self-assessment process, identify specific learning goals to guide your professional
growth. Refer to the areas outlined in the Standards for Continuing Competence as a
framework. Only write goals for the standards that apply.

 What knowledge do I need?

As a novice practitioner, I will need to rely on my scientific, diagnostic, pragmatic and

procedural reasoning that I learned in school and fieldwork experiences. As I begin to feel
more comfortable, I believe the narrative and conditional reasoning become automatic and
are more natural to the profession of OT.

 How will I apply critical reasoning in my practice?

School and fieldwork experiences have really taught me to try to apply all forms of critical
reasoning and look at the person as holistically as possible. While my experience level, my
client’s diagnosis, and time do not always allow as full of a picture as desired, it is something I
strive for in my practice. At first, it may be helpful to really try to reference my textbooks and
course materials and organize my reasoning in a very concrete way but as I become more
experienced, I hope that I will just naturally be able to apply the various reasoning aspects
that are most applicable to my setting and particular client.

 What interpersonal abilities do I need?

During my level II fieldwork experiences, I found that the trait that was the most helpful was
also a hindrance to effective practice and that trait was my passion and empathy for my
Katie Swan
July 12, 2018
Professional Development Tool
clients. It was difficult for me to always emotionally separate myself from my clients and
understand the practical aspects to treatment (i.e. discontinuing treatment due to insurance
limitations or suggesting a discharge plan that may not be ideal for the family). However, I
also think that this is a benefit for me. It helps me to relate to my clients more, treat them
more holistically, delve into research and evidence-based practice, and advocate for them in
their time of need.

 Will I need to develop particular performance skills?

- Applying multiple reasoning aspects to be as holistic as possible in my intervention

- Applying research and evidence-based-practice
- Understanding the pragmatic side of treatment and understanding the political
environment to advocate and provide the best treatment possible for my client

 What ethical reasoning is needed?

Ethical Dilemma Worksheet (Morris, 2006)

This is designed to flow in a decision sequence, working down the page to the final question. If
consensus, then solution has been found, if not, then return to analysis stage and repeat subsequent
steps.

Am I facing an ethical dilemma here?

1. What are the relevant facts, values, and beliefs?

2. Who are the key people involved?
3. State the dilemma clearly.
Analysis:

1. What are the possible courses of action one could take?

2. What are the conflicts that arise from each action?
Proposed course of action

1. Ethical principles (Level III)

2. Code of Ethics
3. Social roles (Level II)
4. Self-interests:
Does your proposed course of action lead to consensus? If yes – then proceed…

If no… then return to analysis stage to consider other possible actions.

Morris, D. M. (2006). Is it possible to be ethical? In D. Y. Slater (Ed.), Reference guide to the

occupational therapy code of ethics (pp. 35-48). Bethesda, MD: AOTA.

At times, there is a very distinct right versus wrong in the ethical realm. However, at times it
becomes much more difficult. As individuals, it is easy to allow our emotions to dictate what
we believe is right and I don’t always think that that is wrong. I think “what is ethical” is a
Katie Swan
July 12, 2018
Professional Development Tool
combination of sticking to the ethical principles of the profession and of your own beliefs and
values. As demonstrated in the decision sequence above, it is above weighing the pros and
cons and looking at as full of a picture of the situation as possible.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN WORKSHEET (5)

Learning Plan
Structure your learning plan to indicate how you will achieve your identified learning goals. The
completed plan should be included in your portfolio.

Learning Goal: I will read and understand at least 3 journal articles per week and apply them to
practice.

Related Standard: 1. Knowledge

 Strategy: What is the best way or ways to achieve this goal?

I will need to keep my memberships up-to-date to ensure access to peer-reviewed journals,

set aside a time each day to ensure that I have time to read this, and then I will reflect weekly
with a co-worker or mentor on how the article could be applied to practice.

 Resources: What do I need to help me achieve it?

I will need access to journal articles and a reliable mentor or co-worker who I respect and has
expertise in the field.

 Success Indicators: How will I know I have achieved it?

I will keep track of meetings and articles on a calendar.

 Target Date: By what date or time period do I plan to achieve it?

Throughout my first year of practice, I will achieve this goal 90% of the time. By the end of
the first year of practice, I will review my goals and update it or add to it as necessary.
Katie Swan
July 12, 2018
Professional Development Tool