Hello Wendy:
Thanks for your commentary.
It seems that one difference between doctors and occupational therapists is
that 100% of the adult population knows the role of doctors and I bet less
than 1% knows the role of OT. So, doctors don't need to explain what they
do because almost everyone knows what they do. However, if a speciality
doctor is asked about their vocation, I am willing to bet that because few
people know what do, they often need to explain their role.
What do you think???
Ron
<<<<< Original Message Follows >>>>>
On Monday, September 17, 2001, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
-
Oac> A couple points on this... first of all in defining ourselves/our profession
Oac> we shouldn't have to give an example of what every OT does in every setting.
Oac> That is information overload. When was the last time you heard a doctor say,
Oac> " I am a doctor, I practice medicine to help people get healthy. I work in a
Oac> hospital with patients who have heart problems, but some doctors work with
Oac> children in an office, other doctors work in the military and do surgery,
Oac> some do surgery on the brain but other doctors do surgery on bones, still
Oac> others work only with skin... blah blah blah."
Oac> See where I'm going? We are allowed to work with different clientele in
Oac> different settings without feeling like we have to give an "OT101 Intro to
Oac> OT" lecture in 15 minutes. It is much more effective to give broad statement
Oac> defining OT as a health profession that helps people be independent in their
Oac> daily lives by focusing on what is important and meaningful to each person.
Oac> Our title comes from the word occupation- activities that are personally
Oac> meaningful to the client. THEN you can briefly state your specialty area, or
Oac> better yet, make it meaningful to the audience. If you are talking to a
Oac> teacher, explain how OTs work with children to help them participate in
Oac> classroom occupations.
Oac> The second point is that we can enlist the help of others but educating key
Oac> people like other disciplines on the team. My brother is a PT and the head
Oac> of a rehab department. He fully understands occupation and how occupations
Oac> define our work. He is able to identify who is practicing OT and who is not
Oac> and provides supervision accordingly thus reducing duplication of services
Oac> and protecting the integrity of OUR profession. He even strongly suggests
Oac> key OT articles to be read and incorporated into practice by the time the
Oac> next review comes.
Oac> Wendy
Oac> ********************
Oac> Unsubscribe by sending a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message's body,
put the following text:
Oac> unsubscribe OTlist
Oac> ------
Oac> OTnow messages are archived at:
Oac> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] (and)
Oac> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
Oac> ********rC***********
********************
Unsubscribe by sending a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message's body, put
the following text:
unsubscribe OTlist
------
OTnow messages are archived at:
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] (and)
http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
********rC***********
