Heather Salzwedel, MOT, OTR/L
Dallas,TX
Summary
Occupational therapist with advanced experience in Acute Care (including ICU) with additional experience in outpatient and home health. Has spent nearly 8 years learning and growing at the Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital, dealing with many challenging patients and conditions. Adept with evaluations, treatments, adapting environments and DME recommendations. Extremely optimistic, high energy and team-oriented, going any distance to provide the best care to my patients.
Overview
8
8
years of professional experience
1
1
Certification
Work History
Acute Care Occupational Therapist
VA North Texas Health Care System
2016.06 - Current
- Primarily inpatient but provides cross coverage in outpatient including a 5 month time period of primarily working outpatient
- Exercising my therapeutic use of self with a very diverse patient population to include many mental health diagnosis daily including PTSD, schizophrenia, substance abuse, bipolar, personality disorders amongst many others.
- Improved patient outcomes by implementing individualized treatment plans and monitoring progress.
- Utilizing modalities of various types including NMES, TENS, utlrasound and cryotherapy
- Researching EBP to increase my knowledge of medical diagnosis and procedures, working on all floors of the hospital with a plethora of patients and conditions
- Evaluating and treating patients of all abilities including ICU patients- Experience with early mobility with severely critical patients including CABG patients, patients with LVADs, CRRT patients, and patients on ventilators
- Providing bi-annual presentations to my department on various therapies and diagnosis
- Rounding on critical ICU patients
- Improving patient outcomes by implementing client centered and occupation based treatment plans and monitoring progress
- Managing a caseload of up to 25 patients
- Supervising COTAs and Level I and II Fieldwork students
- Triaging patients and covering for the lead therapist
- Recommending and ordering a variety of unique specialized DME/AE daily and training patients and family accordingly
- Volunteering and serving on multiple committees to to include Fit testing N-95 masks for the hospital
- Collaborating with PT and others in the interdisciplinary team to holistically treat each patient effectively
- Creating HEPs and programs for my patients to work on at home or post discharge for continuation of care
- Evaluating and making discharge recommendations utilizing clinical reasoning
- Served as the primary Covid Occupational Therapist for the hospital in 2020 while researching and developing safe treatment and evaluation protocol and creating new templates for the hospital
- Serving as chair for employee appreciation committee and increasing coworker relations and planning events
- Created a screening program and materials to distribute DME in the ER while training ER employees for the national "Gerivet" program
Home Health Occupational Therapist
Foreman Therapy Services
2016.02 - 2016.05
- Evaluated and treated patients in the setting of their home
- Adapted their environment to increase independence and safety, including DME recommendations
- Educated caregivers and family on various strategies
- Created occupation based interventions to achieve client centered goals
- Ensured safety by monitoring vitals during treatment
Education
Master of Occupational Therapy - Occupational Therapy
Texas Womans University
Denton, TX12.2015
Bachelor of Science - Kinesiology
Texas Woman's University
Denton, TX05.2013
Skills
- Thrives in a fast paced environment
- Advanced medical knowledge and experience with severe conditions including ICU level
- Experience with multiple modalities
- Good rapport with patients of diverse demographics, cultures and mental health conditions
Certification
- OTR/L - Occupational Therapist Registered - Licensed in Texas
- BLS CPR Certified
Timeline
Acute Care Occupational Therapist
VA North Texas Health Care System
2016.06 - Current
Home Health Occupational Therapist
Foreman Therapy Services
2016.02 - 2016.05
Master of Occupational Therapy - Occupational Therapy
Texas Womans University
Bachelor of Science - Kinesiology
Texas Woman's University
- OTR/L - Occupational Therapist Registered - Licensed in Texas
- BLS CPR Certified
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