My family was watching the Cantonese news and they featured a segment from Dr. Sanjay Gupta on smell retraining for parosmia after COVID-19. He suggested that patients try retraining their sense of smell using scents such as essential oils. A research article published earlier this year suggests essential oils with those scents may help a … Read more
If you are on Paxlovid to treat mild to moderate symptoms for COVID, you may have noticed a funny taste in your mouth. This is one of the side-effects of this drug, which is currently provided to the public under emergency use authorization in America. This ‘paxlovid mouth’ has been described many ways, like grapefruit … Read more
Introduction I have been thinking for a while about how we can help those who are anti-vax or the vaccine-hesitant to change their mind and be more willing, if not ultimately more receptive and take action to become vaccinated. I am not just talking about COVID-19, but for other diseases for which vaccines have a … Read more
Introduction As the omicron variant is on the rise in the US, reports of it affecting the younger population are a concern. Adults with ASD continue to face difficulties in managing their day-to-day life due to factors such as economic instability, job security, mental health, physical health, and overall uncertainty. Here are some ways you … Read more
As my wife has just left to do a 2nd COVID-19 test, my anxiety has shot up again. The last time this happened, I was at work and it was bad news. We ended up isolating from each other for weeks. This was when the CDC did not really give clear guidelines and before the … Read more
Eupnea means to breathe air normally without trouble. Introduction Let’s talk pulse oximeters. Lately, these nifty little devices have gotten a lot of attention due to COVID-19. How do they work, are they accurate, and should you get one as an OT? I have been using pulse oximeters for many years now, ever since I … Read more
Where to Schedule an Appointment Check with your school, fieldwork coordinator, or fieldwork site. Check with your hospital (insurance) network. Check your local county health website, which may contain a list of vaccination sites. Sometimes other hospitals provide vaccinations to patients outside of their network, check hospital websites such as Kaiser, Sutter, or whichever is … Read more
Background COVID-19. There have been many social media posts and articles on the silver linings of COVID-19 and its negative impacts. COVID-19 has had far-reaching effects on humanity and on society, economy, healthcare, public health, culture, politics, technology, religion, mental health, and more. News headlines often focus on the negative – infection rates, death counts, … Read more
FFCRA for COVID-19 The Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA or Act) requires certain employers to provide their employees with paid sick leave or expanded family and medical leave for specified reasons related to COVID-19. What is it? A federal act providing up to 80 hours of emergency paid leave that is available immediately to employees … Read more
Introduction Congratulations on getting hired on your first occupational therapy job! If this is your first time working full time as an occupational therapist, then this post will inform you of the labor laws in California. Each state has its own laws and this post cannot describe all such laws. However, it should give … Read more