Rachel Smith just did my favorite kind of blog post… the “Day In The Life” type of post. (You can read her’s here.) I just think it’s really interesting to see how other people live. Well, either that or I’m nosey. 
So, I might as well share what my average day is like at the hospital…
9:00 – 10:00ish – Arrive, say hello to everyone in the office, print out my census of patients and read up on their nursing notes from the day before. I also work on song learning during this time. I always try to get to work at 8:30 but that never happens… I am NOT a morning person.
10:00 – 12:00ish – Go to the NICU and work with the babies. I do the Multimodal Music Therapy technique in here. Doing this requires requires singing lullabies and I often yawn a lot since it’s the morning (did I mention that I’m not a morning person?). Nurses like to tease me that I’m making them tired… and it’s working on me too! It’s just gotta be this way since I have to work in this area first thing due to infection control reasons.
12:00 – 12:30ish – LUNCH
12:30ish – whenever – Document from the NICU. Call me old fashioned (seriously, it’s ok) but I don’t like to dash off right after lunch. So, I work in some kind of office assignment. I only have 30 minutes scheduled for lunch so sometimes I can sneak in that dessert that I didn’t have time to finish too! (ssssh, that’s our secret!)
whenever – 3:30 – Start working with different patients in the hospital. I’m able to run on referrals given to me from all staff (nurses, CNAs, case managers, child life specialist, PT/OT/SLPs, etc.). I’m hardly ever without a referred patient to do an initial visit with or a patient already on my caseload to do a follow up visit. I do have to prioritize my list throughout the day so that I’m seeing regular contact patients first and patients on contact precautions at the end of the day. This is an infection control precaution.
3:30-4:00 – Walking on Sunshine Program – This is a program that I’ve been meaning to write a blog post about but obviously haven’t. In a nutshell, I encourage the patients on our cardiovascular unit to get out of bed and walk down the hall with me… and music of course. So, we end up making a little musical parade of sorts. Ok, so this concept seems a bit cheesy at first, but it really isn’t. Most patients on this floor are encouraged to walk the hallways so many times a day to help their circulation. So, this is just a dedicated time (and peer pressure dedicated encouragement) to help patients achieve one of their walks for the day.
4:00 – 5:30 – Work with the rest of the patients on my list.
I end up documenting off and on during the day when I have pockets of time. This happens a lot in the hospital environment because NOTHING is ever on time and you are often waiting. I’m pretty lucky because my online documentation forms are extremely streamlined and speedy to fill out.
My Wednesdays are special so here’s what those days are like:
7:00 – 10:00 – Arrive, say hello to office mates, grab materials and work with out patient, pre-op pediatric patients.
10:00 – 11:00 – Document and plan for Behavior Health group.
11:00 – 12:00 – Have Behavior Health group.
12:30ish – LUNCH
1:00 – 2:30 – Document and prepare for Physical Rehabilitation group.
2:30 – 3:30 – Have Physical Rehabilitation group.
3:30 – asap – Document and head out
This makes for a really long day for me but also very quick, so please don’t think I’m complaining.
Are you inspired to share your average day? I’d love to hear it!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m the same way – I think it gives a great perspective into what a music therapist (or anyone who does a “day in the life” post)…somewhat reminiscent of a backstage pass!
Oh, and I’m glad to hear you’re not a morning person, either
I had no idea you were able to work in the NICU, in addition to the other areas of the hospital – how nice to have such a variety!
Other MTs: I want to hear about your day, too!!!
Oh my, you’re Wednesdays are early! And I thought my alternating Tuesday/Wednesday 8:30 IDTs were early…
A day in my life is fairly flexible, yet full. As an itinerant hospice music therapist, I travel throughout the Metro Denver/Boulder County area visiting people in their homes (or ALFS and SNFs).
I try to start my days later in the morning because:
1) it takes me a while to feel fully functioning in the morning.
2) I want to mindful of when the nurses or CNAs may be visiting.
3) I want to wait until breakfast time is over.
It’s an interesting juggling act working in hospice because traveling times can be an issue, which can make me late for a scheduled visit, as well as the challenges of coordinating my schedule around the schedules of other team members, while avoiding mealtimes, and catching someone when they’re awake or desiring a visit.
I love it, though. Such rewarding work.
I have to say, though, that I’m glad that I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve been able to limit my traveling radius some and create a job for another music therapist!
Thanks for the look at your work week. My varies so much from day to day and week to week. As Faith mentioned, working in senior living communities, I am generally a little later start for those sessions (10:30AM seems to be prime time).
Seems not many of us are morning people.
My day is very similar to yours, except my hours end at 3pm. Then I either pick up my son from daycare or head out to see a client. Very interesting about your contact precaution requirements…the hospital we contract with is not as strict. As long as I am following Universal Precautions (donning gown and gloves, wiping down my instrument and books/binder/materials following a session, etc) then there is no problem.
Glad to hear you don’t dash off after lunch as well. I’m always sleepy after lunch and try to reserve that time for documentation. Gives the food time to digest as well.
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