My friend, Ron....so, what is happening within your professional organization via the president's call for advocating occupation and moving away from the medical model? Is there a task force, a conference, or any format to discuss this and make it happen? Also, it is apparent the medical model, or should we say the medical model business is what led to OTs constraints of what you do (PTs, too). What will OT do is they move away from medical model? Will it be more of a cash only clientel, as I assume insurance reimbursement may be an issue if outside the medical system? And, if this is so, how will OT promote and define their purpose and usefulness to the cash only client?
Just thinking out loud. Hope all is well. David A. Lehman, PhD, PT Associate Professor Tennessee State University Department of Physical Therapy 3500 John A. Merritt Blvd. Nashville, TN 37209 615-963-5946 [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Ron Carson Sent: Friday, February 13, 2004 11:11 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: [OTnow] Another Client's Experience with OT :-( I was at an ALF doing some screens when a woman in a wheelchair asked if I was a therapist. When I said yes, she told me that she was getting OT and PT. She went on to say that she had just got out of 100 days of rehab. When I asked her about her OT treatment, she said that they weren't doing much. The client said the OT was having her pick up cones with her good arm. She said the the therapist got off on a bad start because she told the client that she "would bring back her arm". The client said that after 100 days of rehab nothing had changed! Anyway, I asked the client if she was having trouble caring for herself because and she said that she could pull up herself from the toilet using a grab rail and her good arm but then she was stuck because she couldn't let go of the rail. She denied that the OT was working on any of the occupational things. In my mind, I am just thinking what in the heck are these OT's doing. Why are they 'wasting this woman's valuable money and time by working on something so limited as an arm instead of focusing treatment on trying to restore this woman's independence and dignity through occupation based evaluation, treatment and outcomes. I am so disgusted with my profession at times because most of us don't seem to know what we are supposed to be doing for our clients. How did WE get so far off base from what used to be good quality therapy. I bet I can count on one hand how many times a client has said that their OT worked on occupation (or something like self-care, grooming, etc). It is almost always the same thing.... they worked on my arm!!!! The most recent issue of Advance talked about needing a special interest section for hands and upper extremity treatment. We don't need a special interest section for hand therapy because apparently the majority of OT's are already practicing the stuff. Seems like we need a special interest section on occupation!!!! We are such a fragmented profession it's not even funny. On one hand you have the AOTA president advocating for occupation and movement away from the medical model. Next you have clinicians practicing and wanting to practice like PTs and then the educational model is stuck not knowing what to do. What a mess!!!!!! Ron _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, visit: http://otnow.com/mailman/listinfo/otlist_otnow.com The OTnow Mail Archive: www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] =============================================== _______________________________________________ To unsubscribe, visit: http://otnow.com/mailman/listinfo/otlist_otnow.com The OTnow Mail Archive: www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ==============================================
