Hello All: 1. A couple months ago, a new evaluation said she thought I was coming to teach her how to make baskets. I sort of laughed and said it was many years ago that OT's did that. Well, come to find out, "many years ago", the patient was a nurse in Sweden and the OT's in her psych hospital did teach patients how to make baskets. This is one of the few times a patient has relayed a crafts story about OT.
2. I've been treating a woman with the worst short-term memory of any person I've ever met. During my initial eval, the husband reported that the patient previously crocheted baby outfits and donated them to local hospitals. However, her advancing dementia left her almost totally devoid of any productive occupation, including crotchet. Initially, I planned to provide the patient with some pen and paper cognitive exercises. However, this approach just didn't seem right. Honestly, I'm not a big believer in paper exercises to improve cognition. But, without the cognitive exercises, I had no treatment ideas and I was seriously considering discharging the patient without really getting started. Somehow, it occurred to me that her previous occupation of crocheting had much therapeutic equivalence and so her husband and I began trying to persuade the patient to start again. Over the course of our visits, I prompted the patient with questions about her crocheting. In an effort to prompt the patient to see the usefulness of her "product", I took a previously made hat to give to a baby in our church. I also explained a need for her product at our local Christian pregnancy center. Her husband participated by bringing out yarn, patterns, etc. Well, to make a long story short, yesterday the patient started crocheting. For 20+ minutes, she "fiddled" with yarn and needle as her husband and I talked. It was so interesting and rewarding seeing this patient remain focused on task and being productive in her life. I don't know what next week bring, but hopefully this occupation can provide new meaning and purpose for this patient. I just can't explain how rewarding and "neat" this experience has been. Ron -- Ron Carson MHS, OT -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
