In my opinion, the VAST majority of group "therapy" isn't really therapy. It's simply a way for corporations and therapists to squeeze more productivity and reimbursement out of Medicare. Additionally, in my experience most group therapy done by OT is a total waste of patients' time. I can't tell you how many UE groups I've seen done by OT when the absolute last thing patient's needed was UE strengthening. There are certainly times when group THERAPY is indicated, but this NOT how it's been traditionally done.
Ron ~~~ Ron Carson MHS, OT www.OTnow.com ----- Original Message ----- From: Sue Doyle <sue...@hotmail.com> Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2009 To: otlist@otnow.com <otlist@otnow.com> Subj: [OTlist] Vision ~vs~ Reality SD> In Inpatient Rehab you cannot see more than one patient as a time SD> unless they are part of a group. If they are a group they have to SD> have similar goals that are part of each patients individual plan SD> that can be matched together. While there is no set limit on how SD> much group therapy a patient can receive as a proportion of their SD> therapy, Skilled nursing facilities are limited to 25% and it is SD> recommended that rehab does not exceed this as well. SD> While some of patient's goals often include being able to use their SD> affected upper extremity one should really focus on the clients SD> occupational goals. The problems generally start with the evaluation SD> process. If you do not identify occupational issues and patient SD> goals in your evaluation but identify upper extremity issues that is SD> where you will focus your treatment. Has anyone used the "Cardinal SD> Hill Occupational Framework documentation that identifies SD> documentation that focuses on the occupational framework and hence SD> helps to guide the clinical reasoning process to a more occupationally focuses manner. SD> This then means that generally the clinical setting needs to change SD> particularly in rehab, so that the treatment media would need to be SD> focused on various occupational options. I built boxes or kits with SD> a variety of options that my clients expressed interest in. It is SD> best to use the real objects and occupations. SD> Hope this helps some. SD> Sue D -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/otlist@otnow.com
