Open AccessSay what? A Guided Virtual Level I Fieldwork for Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) Students
Author(s) -
Amy M Wix
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
hsoa journal of alternative, complementary and integrative medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2470-7562
DOI - 10.24966/acim-7562/100079
Subject(s) - spina bifida , neural tube defect , psychology , fetal surgery , neural tube , medicine , fetus , surgery , pregnancy , embryo , biology , in utero , genetics , microbiology and biotechnology
Life experience is what makes us who we are. I started my career in academia as a fieldwork coordinator in fall 2013, so I learned quickly that securing traditional fieldwork sites can be difficult. I am certainly a fan of faculty led fieldwork and have used this approach. In spring 2017, I was excited to find out that I was expecting my first baby however in the summer of 2017, at the 20-week anatomy ultrasound, my excitement turned to tears as we found out our baby had a Neural Tube Defect (NTD) and the most severe type of spina bifida (myelomeningocele). I was then introduced as to what I call the “spina bifida underworld” private pages for moms who were considering fetal surgery, moms who had fetal surgery, moms who had post-natal repair, pages called united by spina bifida, blogs from various individuals with spina bifida etc., I have personally found these pages to be a wealth of knowledge and have made many friends in unexpected places.