Blog post #2- Social Determinants of Health
In my own words, social determinants of health are the things around you that effect your health such as your living area, work place, outside/inside environment, & the people you spend time with. In the Ted talk, Dr. Manchanda tells a story of a woman named Veronica who just couldn't seem to get over an illness. This all stemmed from her doctors not asking about her home life or living situation. The doctors came to find that she had been living with mold, water damage, and roaches. These factors contributed to her chronic allergies that they finally were able to diagnose her with. This simple question of "what is your living situation like?" can make a world of difference. Social determinants of health can also effect our nervous system and what goes on inside our brains. They can lead to social disparities which is a higher burden of injury, illness, disability, or death that's experienced by one group over another due to access and quality of health care. Cortisol levels are at an all time high especially for those dealing with health disparities. This can diminish the function of the PFC as well as cause amygdala tissue to grow. These are just some of the main nervous system issues that can arise for certain groups of people that deal with health disparities.
Lastly, our program at UTHSC implements a requirement for us as OT students in which we must reach a certain number of service/professional development hours each term. I do think that this a good idea for us as students because not only will we need to keep up with our hours, but we will grow as students as we learn and participate in these professional development hours. We have a wide range of options as students to expand our learning either online or out into the community. It has been a little different since COVID-19 started up. We have had to come up with other ways of getting hours like online courses, or different online meetings within our program like COTAD or a fall prevention course. Either way, we are still able to learn and grow as students and every little bit is helpful towards preparing us to become OT practitioners in the future.
Lastly, our program at UTHSC implements a requirement for us as OT students in which we must reach a certain number of service/professional development hours each term. I do think that this a good idea for us as students because not only will we need to keep up with our hours, but we will grow as students as we learn and participate in these professional development hours. We have a wide range of options as students to expand our learning either online or out into the community. It has been a little different since COVID-19 started up. We have had to come up with other ways of getting hours like online courses, or different online meetings within our program like COTAD or a fall prevention course. Either way, we are still able to learn and grow as students and every little bit is helpful towards preparing us to become OT practitioners in the future.
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