A couple points on this... first of all in defining ourselves/our profession
we shouldn't have to give an example of what every OT does in every setting.
That is information overload. When was the last time you heard a doctor say,
" I am a doctor, I practice medicine to help people get healthy. I work in a
hospital with patients who have heart problems, but some doctors work with
children in an office, other doctors work in the military and do surgery,
some do surgery on the brain but other doctors do surgery on bones, still
others work only with skin... blah blah blah."
See where I'm going? We are allowed to work with different clientele in
different settings without feeling like we have to give an "OT101 Intro to
OT" lecture in 15 minutes. It is much more effective to give broad statement
defining OT as a health profession that helps people be independent in their
daily lives by focusing on what is important and meaningful to each person.
Our title comes from the word occupation- activities that are personally
meaningful to the client. THEN you can briefly state your specialty area, or
better yet, make it meaningful to the audience. If you are talking to a
teacher, explain how OTs work with children to help them participate in
classroom occupations.
The second point is that we can enlist the help of others but educating key
people like other disciplines on the team. My brother is a PT and the head
of a rehab department. He fully understands occupation and how occupations
define our work. He is able to identify who is practicing OT and who is not
and provides supervision accordingly thus reducing duplication of services
and protecting the integrity of OUR profession. He even strongly suggests
key OT articles to be read and incorporated into practice by the time the
next review comes.
Wendy
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