- by Alicja Cygan and Allison Sortore -
Our occupational therapy curriculum includes a research project and interprofessional courses — and in our final semester, those two worlds combined.
Interprofessional classes are awesome because they allow students from Nazareth’s different health majors to learn with and about each other. We got to interact with students majoring in physical therapy, speech therapy, music therapy, biomedical sciences, education, art therapy, and social work. In interactive simulations, we treated a theater major (acting as a client) as a team!
For our research project, we interviewed Nazareth alumni about how they use — with current patients — what they learned in their interprofessional classes. Just about all of the participants said that the class was great for learning the basics and that the realistic opportunities Naz provides (simulations, service trips, study abroad, volunteer opportunities, etc.) really put things into perspective!
One moment in my undergrad years that stood out for me (Alicja) was being able to take a Naz service trip to a therapeutic horseback riding facility in Pennsylvania. The group of us were a mishmash of OT, music therapy, education, law, and history majors. It was such a great experience to learn not only about therapeutic horseback riding, but also about each other and how each of us could bring different skills to the table to help these individuals with disabilities in a holistic, well-rounded manner. It also quickly taught us how to work together as a team as typically 2-3 people were assigned to one rider and horse at a time.
Our big takeaway from the research project and our own personal experiences are the clear benefits of supporting people around you to work towards a common goal! It was a rewarding process that allowed us to look back on the fun experiences we had here as well as to better see what can be improved upon for future students. Nazareth provides great teamwork opportunities for a wide array of majors!
Allison Sortore ‘21, ‘22G and Alicja Cygan ‘21, ‘22G plan to enter the workforce after graduating in May 2022.
