Hannah Pugh, OTR/L: OT in Digital Health
In this post, we will learn from Hannah Pugh, OTR/L an occupational therapist who specializes in Digital Health. Hannah has been a practicing occupational therapist for 5 years. She studied kinesiology at Michigan State University and then received her Masters of Occupational Therapy from the University of Pittsburgh. She has traditional OT experience working in an outpatient setting, acute, and inpatient care but through that time she realized she was interested in helping people through a different lens. Early in her career, she realized she could have a greater impact on people's lives by leveraging technology to reach more people. She took a course in UX design and now works as the Head of Clinical Experience at Reactiv, a health tech startup that uses augmented reality to treat people with joint pain.
Q & A with Hannah:
Please tell us a little about yourself.
Hi! I have been a practicing occupational therapist for about 5 years. Through grad school and the first years of my OT career, I always knew the traditional route just wasn't for me. I have always been intrigued by helping people and that was the main reason I got into OT, like many others. I felt like I could help more people outside of the traditional 1:1 scope of practice and in the world of health technology. Outside of work, I love trying everything Chicago has to offer from new restaurants, a new workout class, or just enjoying walking and window shopping in a neighborhood. Aside from that, I love listening to podcasts (hence how I found this one), reading, and hanging out with my family.
What motivated you to contribute to this podcast series?
When I started having the feeling that I didn't want to become a seasoned occupational therapist I felt really lost and almost like I made the wrong decision to go to grad school and spend the money on this career. It wasn't until I started connecting with other rehab professionals who were doing things outside of the traditional lens that I saw the real value that occupational therapists could bring to many tables. I want others who are in the position of feeling hopeless or frustrated with their career choice that they do have options, they do have skills, and that there are routes for them.
Please describe the UncommonOT work that you do and the setting in which you work, the population you serve, and the needs that you address.
I currently work as the Head of Clinical Experience for a digital health startup, Reactiv, which uses computer vision technology from the mobile device to capture motions and tie them to games. We currently are working with patients with joint pain to help teach them that movement is good for the joints and can help reduce pain and stiffness. We help address the patients that may fall off from the traditional medical model but can still benefit from long-term care and support. We help connect the patients with an OT to provide support and guidance.
What inspired you or drew you to this type of OT work?
When I was working in an outpatient setting, I worked with an underserved community that often couldn't make it to the clinic during normal clinic hours. These people then often just didn't receive any care. I was really interested in how we could bridge that gap and how we could provide people with resources and technology to give them care.
How did you get there? Can you describe your path?
I started exploring other ways that OTs could make an impact and stumbled upon User Experience (UX) design. I immediately saw the parallels between treating patients as an OT and the user experience lens. I thought that I could bridge my experience and get my foot in the door into the health tech space by taking a course on UX design. I ended up taking the part-time UX design course through General Assembly which really just opened my eyes to how my experiences could be used outside of a clinical setting. From there, I began networking a lot through the Clinician Transition (a group on LinkedIn) and with people outside of the healthcare space which helped me gain resources, colleagues, and experiences. I started freelancing a bit both with a friend and on my own to help perform UX audits of existing apps and websites within the healthcare space as well as volunteering with the Universal Design Project. Within that time frame, I also was busy networking and attended the Rehab Tech Summit where I gained additional information, motivation, and connections. From there, I got connected with the start-up I currently work for, Reactiv, and started as a contract employee and then to a full-time role.
Please describe a typical day or OT session in your uncommon setting. What OT skills do you utilize?
I think it is hard to describe a typical day because within a startup things are in flux at all times. On the Reactiv platform, I will treat patients on the app for a few sessions throughout the day. My lens for this is trying to pull insights into the patient's experience to help determine higher-level decisions on the business and product side. While treating the patients, I utilize the same communication, empathy, therapeutic use of sense, and clinical skills I did in an outpatient setting. I also use those skills to glean insights and communicate findings to the rest of the team.
Can you talk about some recent highs (successes) and lows (challenges) of your current role?
The highs come from successfully providing care for the patients or when you have a patient who truly appreciates the product and the experience. Some of the challenges come on the business side and trying to figure out how to fit this into the market.
How do you continue to learn in order to stay on top of things within your role?
I continue to learn clinically through taking continuing education and reading research/ literature. On everything non-clinical, I learn a lot from the people I am working with. I find that whenever I don't know what people are talking about I will do some research on my own to make sure I am up to speed with what we are talking about it whether it be on the marketing side, the business side, or the product side.
Can you share a little bit about salary and compensation in this setting? How do OT or the services you provide get funded?
We are currently pursuing reimbursement through RTM codes and insurance providers for the virtual services. We are also working on fundraising on the business side. My salary is a bit different than a traditional role because I have a different compensation package. Salary is more of a package than a traditional fee-for-patient type of model.
Any career advice for our followers and listeners on how to get started on this path?
Initially, just start talking to people. This will help you get a sense of what you maybe would like or not like to do. It will also open your eyes to all of the options outside of the clinical world. I'd also say, don't be afraid to reach out to people whether that be a small company on LinkedIn, someone you admire their work or someone who works for a company you are interested in. I think a lot of people are fearful of rejection or "bothering" people but in my experience, most people were nice and willing to help, talk, or provide recommendations.
What’s a common myth or misconception about your job/role you’d like to call out or demystify?
You don't need to know it all a willingness to learn and to be bad at things goes a long way
How do we find you, follow you, be in touch with you, and promote your unique work?
You can find me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/pughhann My work IG: @reactivrehab
Please list any resources you would like me to include with your Show Notes (courses, articles, assessments, tools, etc.)
Here is the course I took through General Assembly: https://generalassemb.ly/education/user-experience-design
An article I wrote on the comparison between OT and UX: https://pughhann.medium.com/comparing-ot-and-ux-using-the-double-diamond-process-of-design-thinking-91ea0ad68462
As always, I welcome any feedback & ideas from all of you or if you are interested in being a guest on future episodes, please do not hesitate to contact Patricia Motus at transitionsot@gmail.com or DM via Instagram @transitionsot
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