brent braveman's blog - All Comments

jdelahunt — Tue, 02 Apr 2013 05:26:11 GMT

Congrats Brent!

andgarcia — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 22:06:27 GMT

Congratulations!

cjalterio — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 02:54:02 GMT

Welcome back, Brent - I have to admit that I was among those unwilling to dive too deep into this before the election because of the uncertainty of what would happen if administrations changed - but here we are and now is the time to engage.

If Chuck is reading this I will eat my humble pie because I think I even told him on the site somewhere or perhaps at conference that I thought we should wait because I expected we would see a partial repeal. That is not the case any longer!!!

I look forward to being involved in this effort.

Be well,

Chris

WongBWMAGIC — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 00:54:15 GMT

Great words! I think OT students and practitioners should work collaboratively on ways to achieve the things you described!

WongBWMAGIC — Sat, 12 May 2012 23:08:29 GMT

I saw you at conference, but I don't think you recognized who I am.

Anyway, I agree with the ego check part. For me, I wanted to make my mark as an emerging autism expert to the greater OT community, aside from my state of CA. But, the proposals I submitted was rejected. Nonetheless, I am definitely trying again this year as I have more experiences under my belt (both in presenting wise and personal wise).

Of course, same can be said about me wanting to be part of next year's Emerging Leaders Program. Janet Wright from AOTA told me that by no means I am not a deserving candidate. It's just that the program couldn't find a suitable person to mentor me. The rejection still hurts. But, what Janet told me at least eased the sting a little. So, I will definitely try again until I get in or when my eligibility window is over.

Last but not least, by the time I earned my stripes in OT, I do want to be AOTA president and/or deliver a Slagle Lecture. For the earlier, I believe it will be a big credibility statement within the autism community stating that OT is a major ally to the autism community. For the latter, I already have a title in mind, believe it or not. It's just the matter of collecting experiences along the way- through my practice, teaching (that's the reason I decided to pursue an OTD), and life experiences.

WongBWMAGIC — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 02:50:22 GMT

Good question, Brent.

I think AOTA is heading in a good direction through the Emerging Leaders Program. It is a great place to nurture the next generation of OT leaders. Meanwhile, then there is the "next cut" of potential leaders I think our profession should also spend some time and nurture, too. They might be a notch below the ones who got the leadership opportunities right now, but their upside could be just as great. I will BOLDLY say that I belong in the latter category! As someone from this perspective, it is important for some notable people in OT (I was fortunate to have Dr. Clark seeing this in me since she met me in day 1 before I started OT school!) to discover these people as well. Just as important as the current next generation "superstars are in our profession, people like me needs to be found and nurtured! Otherwise, I think the profession could lose a potential crop of leaders as they lose their power because there was no one to untap their potential (of course I am exaggerating here).

As for advocacy, I think this is where collaborating with other professions could be handy. In CA, we have an event called CaHPSA Lobby Day (CaHPSA = California Health Professional Student Alliance). Basically, we rallied at state capital building in Sacramento and we also make legislative visits (similar to Capital Hill Day AOTA) to advocate for single payer health care. I think having experiences like this will reinforce some of the things regards to how our profession came about and why we have to be an advocate for our profession.

In regards to what I do, I am actually advocating for an open line of communication between caregivers who are using school based services and the OT's working the profession. For me, I specifically target the autism community because it's an area that is near and dear to me. The fact that I took my time to explain what OT is, what OT could do, and clarification of OT's roles in the school settings to parents over and over again actually was well received by the autism community. So, this is something I will continue to do.

Of course, I will also try to tackle on topics that are crucial to the autism community and put them in form of OT conference presentations. If not, I will also like to team with other autism experts in OT to do conference presentations, as I believe the whole OT community can benefit from hearing about autism from a perspective like mine.

brentbraveman — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 04:28:35 GMT

I hope a lot of members will vote Bill!

Brent

WongBWMAGIC — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 02:23:29 GMT

Oh man. That's two giants in AOTA going head to head. I can imagine it will be a close race.

sweetpeamom — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 18:54:32 GMT

It was so validating to read comments from a Director of Rehab that included concerns for retention and morale. As a salaried staff OT in a skilled facility contracted with a large rehab company, it seems the focus has been on micromanaging productivity, reimbursement and budgets at the expense of morale and retention. Currently, retention in our department is threatened by a staff looking for greener pasteurs (if there are any) as requests for support and resolutions have not been met.

Experienced clinicians question if less expensive new grads are more desirable. Is an expectation for advancement and development in a company that has our loyalty a thing of the past? Does upper management of a large organization realize there is a gap between the vision and the actual support available to those providing direct patient care? I hope to find answers/resolutions with the company that I respect and desire to provide valued services with for years to come. I hope to identify the support needed to again feel a valued contributor to the vision.

Congratulations on your new position. I hope you continue to value staff morale and retention in a position filled with the many challenges our current healthcare system presents. As OTs, I believe we will find the balance. The honeymoon may be over but a vision shared at all levels by professionals that feel valued and supported will surely result in 10th anniversary success.

sweigertc — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 21:48:41 GMT

Thank you for not letting us fall into a "label and dismiss" mindset.

brentbraveman — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 06:15:07 GMT

Hi Chris,

I have not had the opportunity yet......I feel like I have been chasing my own tail trying to explain what I have and have not said.

I will make the point to read your thoughts though. I would love to write an "The Issue Is piece" and need someone with a different perspective for balance :)

cjalterio — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 04:19:31 GMT

Nice summary, Brent. Were you able to (or interested!) in reading the blog post I linked about the developing lexicon in occupational science?

If you did, I would be interested in talking to you about some of what I wrote in there. However, if all the oxygen has left the room because of the other conversation I fully understand!

The RA proposal is interesting and has merit - but actually I am kind of interested in the topic more as it relates to how we are framing our practice interactions. That is what I was getting at in my blog post.

Peace,

Chris

brentbraveman — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 06:56:03 GMT

Cheryl,

Acute care certainly has its challenges. This is the third environment where I have supervised staff who see medically acute and fragile patients.

Productivity expectations may vary from setting to setting but I think (I hope) that one key is successful benchmarking. Many acute settings are similar. Likewise, while my staff are TOTALLY special :) there are other cancer hospitals who treat both acute and rehabilitation patients, and who see peds and adults and who see both inpatients and outpatients.

I am hoping that by effective benchmarking and collaboration with managers at like facilities I can set reasonable and appropriate expectations and meet them by standardizing work processes and eliminating unnecessary work and rework.

I am 100% positive that the majority of barriers to efficiency are related to systems and environments. However I am equally certain that some of the barriers are related to unnecessary variance in employee practice. Some work processes will have to be standardized more to eliminate the need for decision making and assuring standard outcomes.....that part is going to be tricky!

I will check out the discussion on the acute care board....we can always learn from others and I don't want to reinvent the standard process!

Brent

cheryldotot — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 06:06:56 GMT

We did a SWOT analysis (strengths/weaknesses/opportunities/threats) as a group a year or 2 ago to form the equivalent of your PI groups. One of these has been focused on "barriers to efficiency" and trying to overcome that. But in any acute care, and I would think especially with a medically complex population prone to fatigue, there are a lot of hoops to jump through as a therapist before you can treat. I feel that in this environment I need to be especially certain that I can treat safely and not cause a pt. harm. We often end up holding evals until a test or consult is done, there's also no accounting for a pt. being off the floor and unable to be seen. There will be up days and down days from a billable perspective. I certainly don't have the answer, but I will be interested to see what you and your staff come up with. we also talk about this topic on the Acute Care OT board if you want to pop over.

jennifer03 — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 09:18:51 GMT

So great to see you post this! We are excited to see how this project will "improve performance" and most importantly help us to deliver the best patient care!

Jennifer