Hello Ann: This is a very interesting question. There are many questions to consider and just as many options. For starters, I would want to better understand why the client is saying one thing and his wife is saying something different. The inconsistences would be of great concern. Also, I would want to understand why the client chooses to not care for his dressing needs. There are so many possible explanations as to why a client might not want to dress himself! I would take a period of time and good therapeutic rapport to better understand the client's perceived and/or actual needs.
If the client truly does not wish to dress himself and he understands that as a result of his decision he will end up in a nursing home, who am I to judge that his decision is wrong. I will always go to the OPPM and say if a client and/or family member, care giver etc are unable to identify occupational performance issues, then there is no role for OT. IF a client of sound mind clearly states that he has no desire to care for his self-care needs, then so be it! Obviously, it's not important to him so I don't know why it would be important to me from a professional perspective. I may have great personal issues with the client's choice but part of the AOTA Practice Principles is to respect the autonomy of our clients. This means that for those clients with the capacity to make decisions, as their OT, I am to respect their decisions even if they are not what I perceive to be in the client's best interest. I don't think I would refer him to anyone but I don't know that I would treat him. Ron ====================================================== On 10/7/02, [EMAIL PROTECTED] said: Dac> Ok, say this patient is not highly motivated to increase his dressing Dac> abilities - he expresses that when he gets home, he will (magically) be able Dac> to do this, or he says, "Oh, my wife can help me with that" while she is Dac> standing behind him shaking her head no. She has told you, or maybe another Dac> member of the team, that she can not bring him home if he can't do certain Dac> things like dressing for himself. Would you say that this man is not an OT Dac> candidate? To whom would you refer him instead? *********��*********** Unsubscribe? Send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] In the message's *body*, put the following text: unsubscribe OTlist ** List messages are archived at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] *********��***********
