Occupational Therapy:
Occupational therapy (OT) is offered as part of the rehabilitation
team. It is performed by a therapist that has a degree in OT and is
certified with the national board and most states also require them to have a
license in the state they are working in.
The goal of OT is to look at what the resident's prior level of function was
prior to going into the hospital or in the past 6 months to a year. The OT
will evaluate the resident and write goals to be obtained in a certain time
frame. The OT will work with the resident to teach them to be as
functionally independent as the resident can be and to their prior level of
function if possible.
The OT works on items such as:
ADL's (activities of daily living) which includes bathing, dressing, grooming
and hygiene.
Safety and awareness. This may include the safest way to cook a meal,
take a shower with adaptive devices, or to ambulate in their environment by
removing hazardous rugs and items.
They will work with adaptive equipment and teach the resident how to use
them. Adaptive equipment can be items such as: equipment for
dressing if the resident has perhaps had a hip replacement and isn't allowed to
reach down beyond 90 degrees of hip flexion, grab bars in the shower, a shower
chair or bench, a hand held shower. All these items are used to maximize
the resident's independence.
Energy conservation is for residents who get short of breath or worn out
quickly. The OT will teach them different techniques and breathing
exercises to help the resident be more functional and to teach them to pace
themselves out.
Feeding themselves again by using adaptive equipment such as built up
utensils for a decreased grasp or use of a divided plate to separate foods or to
help them scoop food up on their utensil.
There are many other functions of the OT but this was just to give you a
basic understanding.
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