Ron, My clients and their families often wonder what is Occupational Therapy (?), and in my practice at a SNF, the main issue for the geriatric patients is getting back home...whatever it takes. So I try to explain from the very start that Occupation all things people want or need to get back to doing, and the Therapy is all the things that need to be done to make that happen. Educating the client that the interventions will be very functionally based and based on every-day tasks need to begin early and repeated often. My Subacute Rehab clients want to know what is in it for them... and to use a business term, they need to be marketed to, like a coach or consultant. They need a good sales pitch! A great percentage of my clientele, and their families,are becoming increasingly savy and sophisicated, goal-directed, and often do not tolerate any interventions that seem like a waste of time. This fact is welcome because it often makes treatment effective, effecient, and meaningful. The key is to get off to a good start, reach a common understanding, and meet Occupational needs by being relevant to the client. It is client-centered practice and does require a great degree of effort and skill. In our department we have a display board that show pictures of former clients in OT doing Occupation- based tasks, cooking , shopping, laundry, using adaptive equipment, etc.. in our department environment. This board is used to show touring visitors, and newlly admitted clients examples of what can be addressed in OT..."a picture (board) is worth 1000 words" This often helps especially with families who realize these areas will need to be addressed. But there are a certain percentage of my clients that don't get the concept of Occupational Therapy because of a history of bad experiences with OT, or have observed others having a bad experience...doing unwanted, meaningless, sometime mudane tasks. They also have a concept of all therapy solely involving exercises and walking. This perception is hard to overcome if the persons mindset has be reinforced from other facillity staff and bad history. People even refuse to perform needed Occupation-based relevant and meaningful tasks prior to discharge due to their resistance, fear, and denial. They often assume things will be "just fine when they get home". Theses clients require a lot of work and skill to motivate, engage, and connect with. It really can be what I call a public relations challenge. Additionally, there are the folks who have a very passive mindset, and wish to be simply want to fixed by therapy without any personal goals,effort, or planning. THese patients often can't identify Occupation in their life because, upon detailed examination, their lives are devoid of much Occupation as a result of chromic disease or social deprivation. Here the challenge is again to motivate, engage and connect, and make an relevant impact where possible to get that client in the best situation to maximize the opportunity for a good quality of life. Theses are usually your nursing home residents and they require a great deal of skill and perserverence to adequately serve as a therapist. So the "Public Relations Challenge" faced by OTs requires a consistent overall effort to first understand peoples needs....and then be understood through education and communication. This is hard work in a demanding productivity-driven work place. It helps to have a department of likeminded energetic OTs. Otherwise, it's often tempting to just pass out a peg board and some cones and go finish my charting. But that onlly leads to further professional grief! "I'm just a boy whose intentions are good......Oh Lord.. Please don't let me be misunderstood..." The Animals .......somewhere fromthe 1960s (LOL) Thanks for listening, Brent Cheyne OTR/L Sarsota
--- On Sat, 8/30/08, [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: OTlist Digest, Vol 41, Issue 19 To: [email protected] Date: Saturday, August 30, 2008, 3:00 PM Send OTlist mailing list submissions to [email protected] To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://otnow.com/mailman/listinfo/otlist_otnow.com or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can reach the person managing the list at [EMAIL PROTECTED] When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of OTlist digest..." Today's Topics: 1. Difficulty Articulating OT (Ron Carson) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Fri, 29 Aug 2008 18:06:32 -0400 From: Ron Carson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: [OTlist] Difficulty Articulating OT To: OTlist <[email protected]> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 Has anyone noticed that people have difficulty articulating the word "occupational"? Just today, a patient's husband had difficulty saying the word. And, I noticed it with other people as well, even with health care providers. Anyone else? Ron -- Ron Carson MHS, OT ------------------------------ -- Unsubscribe? [EMAIL PROTECTED] Change options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] Help? [EMAIL PROTECTED] End of OTlist Digest, Vol 41, Issue 19 ************************************** -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
