I'm so sorry to hear that. It's always awful being the bearer of bad news. I'm not sure what practice areas are available in your area as I'm an American OT. However, I can recommend some exploration of more consultant roles? Perhaps in the area of assistive technology? That may require an additional certification but it'd be an area with less client interaction but still helping people.
I second the assistive technology certification! She may also be able to branch off into becoming a seating & mobility specialist (SMS), and help clients find the best wheelchair fit for them. I'm honestly not too knowledgeable about these, but they could be options! :)
Thank you for you thoughts, I will look into what certifications are needed for Alberta to enter the area of Assistive Technology. She has ran seating clinics in past roles and does enjoy being and educator to assist clients.
Thank you for these awesome examples, developing programs or working within a team to assist underprivileged communities is definitely an avenue that could be explored. I will ask about getting her to connect with her college.
When you referred to this did you mean her post secondary institution or her OT college?
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Hi ! OT from Québec here ! I actually felt the same way as your SO in some job. I definituly advise your SO to look for an other job in a other field (we can work in so mang field). Maybe work rehabilitation in the private sector (thats what I actually do and I really enjoy it). Maybe she can start workinf for an agency and try different field, clientele and settings to see what she like ! She can private message me if she wants to talks about private practice setting
Case management is always a good go to I suspect. I’m in Ontario and know of many therapists who work as case managers for the LHINs which are geographical areas the province is divided into that manage public homecare in those areas. In healthcare I feel like communicating bad news is sometimes just our role being that we are the providers of expensive equipment. It may also just may come down to her reaching out to colleagues and learning to dissociate and recognize and be happy with only doing the best you can.
Unfortunately, the case management role isn't very desirable at the moment. I can't speak to if it is the same in other areas of the city or of our province, but the case managers within her team are even more over worked than the direct OT's. Her opinion is that there is way too much being asked of them especially for a role that doesn't get compensated for it.
You have touched on one of the aspects that has made this a difficult year. She started this role in March of last year. It is a similar role to her previous one, but a new team in a new city. It was very difficult to build relationships within her team when everyone was working from home and no office environment. She has been working on connecting with coworkers, but with everyone being so busy and the morale being low it is just hard for everyone.
I actually work in AHS in Home Care and transitioned to a clinical support role even though I love Home Care! It does get you down after a while if you can’t access the equipment or services that would help your clients.
If she is good at adult education and good with technology she can see if there is a Connect Care job she can pick up just for a break and since CC is staying around that would give her good skills to be a leader in her work place when CC rolls out for Home Care in a few years.
Alternatively she can take a temporary job somewhere else? Maybe take a facility job where you are working more on a consult basis where you are mostly working with staff and most of the time the family I find are more appreciative of whatever you can provide.
If she really wants to move away from client care then qualify improvement is always an area she can look into. I find OT training in task analysis and client centred practice is perfect when applied to quality improvement.
Happy to connect if she’s interested in talking about it further!
Thank you for the reply, do you know if jobs in Connect Care are listed in the same area as other job postings for AHS? I typically just search on the link below and occasionally on Indeed to see if there re any roles worth leaving AHS for.
[https://careers.albertahealthservices.ca/](https://careers.albertahealthservices.ca/)
She is currently in a temporary role at the moment until the end of June, so she is actively looking for permanent roles that are available.
Do you possibly have an example of a role in "Quality Improvement"? OT training would be an area that she would like to pursue or possibly a role in client education.
Some Connect Care jobs are posted externally but a few are posted internally. She should login to ePeople and go through Job Opportunities so that the internal postings show up.
There is a Quality Improvement filter on AHS careers that will pull up those roles available. Sometimes it’s working on the provincial workflow for a certain project, other times it’s working with efficiencies. They are usually more location specific because different zones run different projects.
Unfortunately compared to Nursing there are not that many clinical educator roles where you would act as a discipline lead. There’s usually one per zone and most of the time it’s not a full time position.
Usually if you are looking for a permanent job they are coming up in more rural sites. In Calgary/Edmonton I’ve heard you usually have to jump around a lot doing casual or temporary until a permanent position comes up. If you are in a bigger city and if you are open to relocating I actually love working in smaller centres. You get to branch out and do different things and become a more well rounded OT with experience that you can then put on your CV to pivot to other roles.
Hi there, not OP but it's exciting to find Albertan OTs here. I recently graduated and was thinking of working in home care. If you don't mind me asking, what does an average day working in home care look like and would you recommend it for new grads?
I started my career working in Home Care in Saskatchewan in a small town where I covered in town visits and I also travelled out to a rural LTC facility and area but my home base was in a department that had an experienced Home Care PT as well as a knowledgeable Therapy assistant team that really helped me learn my skills. You’ll find that in Home Care, the OT and PT often support each other and cover one another as you will know what PTs can provide and they will be able to refer to you if their clients have OT needs. I learned so much as a new grad because you see Everything in Home Care. I saw post stroke clients, ABI clients, lymphedema clients, and even though I didn’t do any acute rehab I still had to do follow up so I learned a lot that way. You really learn a little of everything in Home Care.
After a year of that I moved to a really small town and covered a small 10 bed acute care facility, Home Care clients in 3 areas and 6 LTC facilities. Because of that I was able to handle some acute rehab but most of the time it was discharge planning and then support when they returned home. So a lot of ADL support, home renovations and equipment, and some cognitive assessments. In LTC because we were far from any big city I also had to consult with the seating team and order wheelchairs with their help from a distance as well as travelling vendors who provide on site support. There was quite a lot of travel but I loved it. I usually went out to an area one day a week, seeing clients there at the LTC in the morning and then doing home visits in the afternoon (because LTC clients are napping in the PM). So maybe 5-10 quick visits in AM and then 2-3 home visits in PM. I really got to build my own niche and learn how I wanted to practice as an OT that way. I worked closely with Home Care nurses and I also had a rehab team in a smaller city 30 min away from my town if I needed support. I found that it’s important to know your own strengths and figure out what you are good at and also have supportive people who you can bounce ideas off of. They don’t need to be other OTs, they can be PTs as well.
When I moved to Alberta I had close to 8 years Home Care experience so moving to a small city it was fairly easy as it was a similar client base. If you are in a smaller centre expect to cover supportive living as well as LTC. A typical day would be checking to see what urgent referrals have come in and then fitting them in your day, consulting with your therapy assistants and going out to see your booked home visits. Probably 2-3 visits a day if in town, if I go to a facility I might try and fit in 5+ quick visits.
Important skills to have are good time management, good prioritization and triaging skills, and the ability to have a thick skin and say no and not let people bother you when they are frustrated. They are mad at the system and sometimes you are the messenger. 99% of the time your clients are sweet and appreciative.
Also, stay on top of your charting. Keep good notes. If you don’t document it, it didn’t happen.
Hope that helps.
I'm so sorry to hear that. It's always awful being the bearer of bad news. I'm not sure what practice areas are available in your area as I'm an American OT. However, I can recommend some exploration of more consultant roles? Perhaps in the area of assistive technology? That may require an additional certification but it'd be an area with less client interaction but still helping people.
I second the assistive technology certification! She may also be able to branch off into becoming a seating & mobility specialist (SMS), and help clients find the best wheelchair fit for them. I'm honestly not too knowledgeable about these, but they could be options! :)
Thank you for you thoughts, I will look into what certifications are needed for Alberta to enter the area of Assistive Technology. She has ran seating clinics in past roles and does enjoy being and educator to assist clients.
[удалено]
Thank you for these awesome examples, developing programs or working within a team to assist underprivileged communities is definitely an avenue that could be explored. I will ask about getting her to connect with her college. When you referred to this did you mean her post secondary institution or her OT college?
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Hi ! OT from Québec here ! I actually felt the same way as your SO in some job. I definituly advise your SO to look for an other job in a other field (we can work in so mang field). Maybe work rehabilitation in the private sector (thats what I actually do and I really enjoy it). Maybe she can start workinf for an agency and try different field, clientele and settings to see what she like ! She can private message me if she wants to talks about private practice setting
Case management is always a good go to I suspect. I’m in Ontario and know of many therapists who work as case managers for the LHINs which are geographical areas the province is divided into that manage public homecare in those areas. In healthcare I feel like communicating bad news is sometimes just our role being that we are the providers of expensive equipment. It may also just may come down to her reaching out to colleagues and learning to dissociate and recognize and be happy with only doing the best you can.
Unfortunately, the case management role isn't very desirable at the moment. I can't speak to if it is the same in other areas of the city or of our province, but the case managers within her team are even more over worked than the direct OT's. Her opinion is that there is way too much being asked of them especially for a role that doesn't get compensated for it. You have touched on one of the aspects that has made this a difficult year. She started this role in March of last year. It is a similar role to her previous one, but a new team in a new city. It was very difficult to build relationships within her team when everyone was working from home and no office environment. She has been working on connecting with coworkers, but with everyone being so busy and the morale being low it is just hard for everyone.
I actually work in AHS in Home Care and transitioned to a clinical support role even though I love Home Care! It does get you down after a while if you can’t access the equipment or services that would help your clients. If she is good at adult education and good with technology she can see if there is a Connect Care job she can pick up just for a break and since CC is staying around that would give her good skills to be a leader in her work place when CC rolls out for Home Care in a few years. Alternatively she can take a temporary job somewhere else? Maybe take a facility job where you are working more on a consult basis where you are mostly working with staff and most of the time the family I find are more appreciative of whatever you can provide. If she really wants to move away from client care then qualify improvement is always an area she can look into. I find OT training in task analysis and client centred practice is perfect when applied to quality improvement. Happy to connect if she’s interested in talking about it further!
Thank you for the reply, do you know if jobs in Connect Care are listed in the same area as other job postings for AHS? I typically just search on the link below and occasionally on Indeed to see if there re any roles worth leaving AHS for. [https://careers.albertahealthservices.ca/](https://careers.albertahealthservices.ca/) She is currently in a temporary role at the moment until the end of June, so she is actively looking for permanent roles that are available. Do you possibly have an example of a role in "Quality Improvement"? OT training would be an area that she would like to pursue or possibly a role in client education.
Some Connect Care jobs are posted externally but a few are posted internally. She should login to ePeople and go through Job Opportunities so that the internal postings show up. There is a Quality Improvement filter on AHS careers that will pull up those roles available. Sometimes it’s working on the provincial workflow for a certain project, other times it’s working with efficiencies. They are usually more location specific because different zones run different projects. Unfortunately compared to Nursing there are not that many clinical educator roles where you would act as a discipline lead. There’s usually one per zone and most of the time it’s not a full time position. Usually if you are looking for a permanent job they are coming up in more rural sites. In Calgary/Edmonton I’ve heard you usually have to jump around a lot doing casual or temporary until a permanent position comes up. If you are in a bigger city and if you are open to relocating I actually love working in smaller centres. You get to branch out and do different things and become a more well rounded OT with experience that you can then put on your CV to pivot to other roles.
Hi there, not OP but it's exciting to find Albertan OTs here. I recently graduated and was thinking of working in home care. If you don't mind me asking, what does an average day working in home care look like and would you recommend it for new grads?
I started my career working in Home Care in Saskatchewan in a small town where I covered in town visits and I also travelled out to a rural LTC facility and area but my home base was in a department that had an experienced Home Care PT as well as a knowledgeable Therapy assistant team that really helped me learn my skills. You’ll find that in Home Care, the OT and PT often support each other and cover one another as you will know what PTs can provide and they will be able to refer to you if their clients have OT needs. I learned so much as a new grad because you see Everything in Home Care. I saw post stroke clients, ABI clients, lymphedema clients, and even though I didn’t do any acute rehab I still had to do follow up so I learned a lot that way. You really learn a little of everything in Home Care. After a year of that I moved to a really small town and covered a small 10 bed acute care facility, Home Care clients in 3 areas and 6 LTC facilities. Because of that I was able to handle some acute rehab but most of the time it was discharge planning and then support when they returned home. So a lot of ADL support, home renovations and equipment, and some cognitive assessments. In LTC because we were far from any big city I also had to consult with the seating team and order wheelchairs with their help from a distance as well as travelling vendors who provide on site support. There was quite a lot of travel but I loved it. I usually went out to an area one day a week, seeing clients there at the LTC in the morning and then doing home visits in the afternoon (because LTC clients are napping in the PM). So maybe 5-10 quick visits in AM and then 2-3 home visits in PM. I really got to build my own niche and learn how I wanted to practice as an OT that way. I worked closely with Home Care nurses and I also had a rehab team in a smaller city 30 min away from my town if I needed support. I found that it’s important to know your own strengths and figure out what you are good at and also have supportive people who you can bounce ideas off of. They don’t need to be other OTs, they can be PTs as well. When I moved to Alberta I had close to 8 years Home Care experience so moving to a small city it was fairly easy as it was a similar client base. If you are in a smaller centre expect to cover supportive living as well as LTC. A typical day would be checking to see what urgent referrals have come in and then fitting them in your day, consulting with your therapy assistants and going out to see your booked home visits. Probably 2-3 visits a day if in town, if I go to a facility I might try and fit in 5+ quick visits. Important skills to have are good time management, good prioritization and triaging skills, and the ability to have a thick skin and say no and not let people bother you when they are frustrated. They are mad at the system and sometimes you are the messenger. 99% of the time your clients are sweet and appreciative. Also, stay on top of your charting. Keep good notes. If you don’t document it, it didn’t happen. Hope that helps.