Khatta Meetha OT TALK-Dr Ruby Aikat (OT)

Introducing the twelfth guest of my column is an excellent  professional who is known for her expertise and dedication at work.She is also my mentor of fellowship and i am very glad to be her student.She has a spark of compassion and is an inspiration to me.

Dr Ruby (OT)

Dr Ruby has completed her Bachelors in Occupational Therapy from Pandit DDU Institute for Physically Handicapped and MOT in Neurosciences from TNMC Mumbai in 2001. She has also done M.Sc Psychology and B.Ed Spl Edu (MR).
She is currently pursuing PhD from IIT, Delhi.
She has presented several papers in National and International conferences and won several awards. She has more than 25 publications in books, and peer reviewed journals.
Dr Ruby has been a faculty (Assistant Professor)  in Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi. Currently working as Assistant Professor in Amity University, Noida.

Let's read her views further:

1)What is your moment of professional pride?

The look on the face of my patients when they achieve what they had not expected in terms of rehabilitation


2) Transformation is in trend how is it in relevance of upcoming practice and gold standard therapy?

I am not sure if i have understood what you mean to ask here. Nevertheless, i feel occupational therapy as a pure profession no longer can continue to exist.It has to merge with electronics, with IT, etc.It has to transform itself in terms of amalgamating with the other sciences, to work for the complete rehabilitation of the patients. I feel, a gold standard therapy may not continue to be an isolated gold standard,it has to incorporate the recent developments of patient care, collaborating the intellectual resources from other fields.

3) How well is documentation practiced in India?

I feel documentation, in its ideal form, is still to go a long way in India. We definitely need to have detailed, standard and uniform documentation procedures, not only to facilitate patient care within the profession, but also to have a communication with the other professionals involved in the team. We need to have regulations to implement documentation procedures.

4) Being a female therapist how do you maintain work life balance?

Yes, i do agree, being an Indian female, it does become sometimes difficult to maintain the balance between work and life. but i guess, it is a part of life. according to me, both the aspects of life (i.e. work and personal life) are important. I don't aim at becoming a purely dedicated Occupational Therapist who would sacrifice the personal life, nor vice versa. To maintain my intellectual and emotional health, i need both for sure. so, to the best of my abilities, i try to do justice to both.

5) Can you advise on how to manage the period of pregnancy or marriage which inevitably causes pause in the work front & how do you get back on field after a break? 

I feel, one should accept that there comes phases in life when certain things assume priorities. marriage and pregnancy are certainly the phases when one should happily take a break, or maybe give profession a backseat. Even though we are professionals, we are human beings as well and need to enjoy and relish certain moments or times of our lives. So if one doesn't wish to take an absolute break, maybe involving oneself in researches, research writing, publications etc can be a good option to add on to the CV.

Your highlights:

*My Professional Strength - ability to motivate patients for rehabilitation

*What turns me down- lack of honesty and humanity in occupational therapists

*I am known for- positivity

*Word that describes me best- compassionate

-SSW

P.S :I express my gratitude to her for giving me her valuable time. See you all next Saturday with another guest.

-SSW