Lecture Reflection: Aging Adults and Sexual Health
When thinking about aging adults, it is not uncommon for society as a whole to assume that sex and sexuality is not an important part of an older adult’s day to day life. However, our guest lecturer today proved that assumption to be a myth. Based on statistics she shared, sex and sexual health is an important and integral part of an older adult’s life. Some key takeaway points include physical issues adults will face as they age and how it changes their sexual responses. This includes but is not limited to hardening of arteries and high blood pressure which affects blood flow. Also, cancer treatments along with other medications can cause fatigue, depression, and loss of libido. And finally, arthritis, weakened muscles, and limited range of motion can limit positioning. How and why would an occupational therapist address sexual health in the aging adult population? First, sex is an occupation that statistics show is very meaningful to older adults. There are many things occu
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you learned a lot at your facility and I enjoyed hearing about your experience. I'm glad you were able to confidently perform MMT & ROM. I totally agree it was so intimidating when we were doing it over a year ago! Your CI is correct - you are naturally a people person and conversations just flow with you! You have a natural empathetic personality and I'm glad your CI noticed that and told you that.
Also, TOTALLY agree about documentation & chart review! I enjoyed getting to hear a little about your fieldwork experience and I hope you have a wonderful summer!
Lauren,
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like you had a great experience during your last level 1 rotation! I'm so glad that you were able to see this setting because I do feel that you possess a lot of qualities needed in OTs in this level of care, like your FWE mentioned! I was in a LTAC facility which I feel has a very similar client population, except I was more able to focus on treatment sessions, whereas it sounds like you might have focused on evaluations. It really sounds like our previous aging course, OT641 really helped you during this FW rotation, and I can attest to that as well.
I was excited to hear that your rose was your increased confidence in your MMT/ROM skills. I, too, felt very intimidated by these concepts during our classroom learning, but when in the field it feels so much more natural. Also, when you mentioned the difficulties you had with chart review, I am in complete agreement that this was a very hard obstacle to face everyday as well, because it took up so much of their time and energy. But, during this rotation I was able to really see the importance of doing the chart review, which has been highly enforced during our classroom learning, and it made it feel a little less stressful and more informative.
Congratulations on finishing up your level 1 FW! Have a great summer!
Morgan Petersen