R is for… Research!

Occupational Therapy Month continues to fly by, along with the #abcsofOT, and we are up to the letter R! So let’s talk research. Research is my life at the moment. Literally, everything I do related to school relates to research. Those statistics courses I’m taking? I’m doing them so I can do my own statistical math to find significance in my research. I’m doing a literature review of research that has already  been completed on my dissertation topic, in preparation for doing my own research. I’m doing research with a robotics lab that isn’t even related to my dissertation. It isn’t hyperbole to say that 21 out of every 24 hours of my life have something to do with research. As a mom on top of that, even if I’m not researching for school, I’m researching how to be the best parent for my child! 

But I digress. Would you like to know what my tentative dissertation topic is? It’s timely… It's Covid! It’s both a qualitative and quantitative look at people who have been hospitalized with Covid and have a subsequent diagnosis of Long Covid. Long Covid is defined as “a syndrome characterized by the persistence or development of symptoms attributed to Covid-19 (typically including extreme fatigue, breathlessness, and muscle weakness) more than twelve weeks after initial infection.” At this moment, the plan is to interview at least a dozen people who have this diagnosis, along with another 12 acute care occupational and physical therapists who have provided treatment to Covid patients in the ICU. With these interviews in hand, I’ll look for similar words and phrases used to describe symptoms, treatments, etc. I will also be using blood samples to look at levels of white blood cells, red blood cells, and other components in an effort to find similarities between those levels and patients who are self reporting deficits in IADLs. That's a lot, right? That’s why I will be plugging away at this for the next three+ years! If you don’t hear from me for an extended period, I’m likely in my lab, reading peer reviewed articles, transcribing interviews, or running numbers! Oh, and writing, because that’s ultimately what is going to earn me the title of Dr. Emily, PhD, OTR/L! Wish me luck!