Social determinants of health (SDoH) are the surroundings in which you live and work that affect you. They are things like your socioeconomic status, education, and the neighborhood you live in. SDoH relate to the nervous system because they can affect ones health. They can affect things like whether you have high blood pressure or if the diet you choose and have available to you will be linked to higher risks for cardiovascular disease. From the Ted Talk titled “What makes us get sick? Look Upstream” one puts together that SDoH like living situations easily affect someone’s health and can cause simple things like allergies to worsen and go undiagnosed. When looking at health conditions, healthcare workers should start to look at things like SDoH and how we can improve certain conditions. We must start to look for the root of the problem and change the negative conditions of our surroundings.
The UTHSC OT program’s requirements for service and professional development hours prepares students as future OT practitioners by getting students out into the world so they can have tangible experiences. For me it is a requirement that has allowed me to think about what areas I am interested in volunteering with and learning more about. The requirement allows students to choose their own areas of interests so they are more likely to stay focused and involved. The service hours category has allowed me to be active in my community by volunteering with a youth group but also by riding a bike delivering food to the homeless. This category opens the door to being a servant leader. The professional development category has pushed me to attend meetings, workshops, and think about improvements for the program in the future. It has opened my eyes up to continuing education opportunities that I can do as a student now but will also have to do as a practitioner. Finally the leadership/advocacy category has encouraged me to advocate for our profession and run for a position on the SOTA board. I feel that this requirement encourages students to grow and think about the future.
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