I am fairly new at this but I was suprised when I went into a very self-conscious and proud bariatric patients room for the first time to do an ADL with him and he could not understand why I was there. He was a little uncomfortable. I explained that although he sees me in the gym and he does perform UE strengthening exercises along with other therapies that my main focus was to make sure he was able to perform daily living activites with as much independence as possible. All gym therapy was a means to an end. Over the next few weeks his overall conditioning improved through exercise etc and he was able to transfer himself for the first time into the shower. He also made gains in his ability to not rely so much on the nursing staff to wash, bathe and dress him. He lost a significant amount of weight even in three weeks. I think that the problem is that therapists are not educating patients on what and why they are doing what they are doing. Even in Rehab, ADL's are a part of it all. Patients will assume we are simply helping the CNA staff because they might be shorthanded if we don't make the effort to educate them.
-----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]]on Behalf Of Ron Carson Sent: Friday, July 10, 2009 20:14 To: [email protected] Subject: [OTlist] Why OT's Should NOT Focus on the UE Today, I evaled a man on home health who had a recent cardiac bypass surgery. He was just home after 10 days in a rehab hospital getting OT and PT. During my eval, I explained what OT was all about. Thinking my words were falling on deaf ears, one of my worst nightmares came true. The patient had previously received OT. They explained that they already had hand exercisers and a reachers and that they didn't need any more OT. Now, this is a sad picture. The patient did need OT and I offered it but they declined. Here are two reasons why: 1. Previous OT's demonstrated that OT was about strengthening hands and arms. 2. Home health PT had already evaled the patient and THEY were providing what the patient needed. Now, why would OT work on giving this man hand exercisers? That makes NO sense to me and for the patient, OT has no apparent value for making this man safe and independent in his home. They felt that PT could do this better than OT. AND THAT IS AN ALL TO OFTEN STATEMENT ABOUT OT! AND THAT IS THE PROBLEM WITH OUR PROFESSION. IT'S NOT OUR NAME, IT'S THE THERAPISTS THAT ARE THE PROBLEM. Ron -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
