Occupational Therapy: A Case Study

Career Areas Based On OT

Occupational therapy is for individuals who are attempting to regain independence from an effort or disease, whether mental or physical by enhancing exercise activities required for daily life (“The American Journal”, 2008). The occupational therapist help individuals with, getting dressed, cooking, eating and driving (“The American Journal”, 2008). All throughout occupational therapy there are many diverse vocations connected with this occupation including acute care units, home care services, clinics, and private enterprise.

Acute Care Units

Acute care is an inpatient healing facility setting for people with a basic medical condition. These patients may have encountered a sudden decrease in their therapeutic and

useful status because of a traumatic occasion such as head injury or spinal line damage; or intensifying of a dynamic disease. Some patients may also have emphysema or end-stage renal illness, the onset of another condition, and myocardial dead tissue or stroke (Robertson & Blaga, 2013). The essential objective of acute care is to balance out the patients’ restorative status and prevent any danger to his or her life and loss of capacity. Typically this included guaranteeing those daily tasks were accomplished. For example, toileting, showering, and eating regularly involved obtaining suitable equipment and education (Robertson & Blaga, 2013).
Acute care services.

An occupational therapist supplements different administrations in acute care including critical care, psychiatric, and pediatrics (Robertson & Blaga, 2013). An occupational therapist complements specialty services in acute care and critical care by evaluating the requirement for joint safeguard like chondroitin. This safeguard provides structural integrity for cartilage to provide compression resistance. Chondroitin also help protect skin from breakdown because of delayed pressure (Robertson & Blaga, 2013). They also perform bedside assessments to decide safety in eating, swallowing, and make suggestions for eating regiments and fluid consistencies. Lastly, therapist train families and guardians to help with range of motion activities, safe transfers, mobility, and skin checks (“The American Journal”, 2008). Additionally, in pediatric care, therapist evaluate sensory motor skills, psychological skills, and adaptive abilities. In this unit, therapist work with and train families to strengthen the patients therapeutic ability. Occupational therapist develop and implement an intervention plan, based on the child’s needs. Some intervention plans are to participate in various occupations and environments (e.g., school, home, playground), and including socializing with other children (“The American Journal”, 2008). Lastly, a therapist role in a psychiatric unit is to help patients in sorting out their everyday exercises, including self-care, home

administration, recreation, and group and social interest (Robertson & Blaga, 2013). An occupational therapist can show ways to help cope with stress and the advancement of adapting aptitudes. The therapist also addresses the issues of patients in behavioral or psychological units who have physical hindrances; they can arrange for consulting occupational therapy services. For the patient occupational therapists develop groups to address goal setting, sleep hygiene, prevocational evaluation, self-perception issues, and fundamental to advance activities of daily activities (“The American Journal”, 2008). Goal setting is the process of identifying something that you want to accomplish and establishing measurable goals and timeframes (Medicine Net). Hygiene includes simple steps that may improve initiation and maintenance of sleep, such as maintaining a regular sleep schedule, making the bedroom an inviting place to sleep, avoiding alcohol, large meals, or smoking prior to going to bed, and exercising regularly (Medicine Net). Prevocational evaluation an evaluation of the abilities and limitations of a patient undergoing rehabilitation for a disabling disorder. The goal is to find eventual employment in a sheltered workshop or in the general community. Activities of daily living (ADL) are routine activities that people tend do everyday without needing assistance (MedicineNet).
Home Care Services
Home health care is an extensive variety of human services benefits that can be given in your home for a sickness or injury. It is an element of outpatient care that serves to help individuals in coming back to full capacity. A home health service is normally less costly, more helpful, and pretty much as successful care you get in a clinic or skilled nursing facility. Completing a home visit to see the patients in their own particular home environment was seen as more essential for persons with cognitive weaknesses, who may perform a great deal better and a ton more secure contrasted and a healing assessment. The Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy stated “they saw that home visits empowered patients to adjust to their incapacity or change of capacity”. It's making patients mindful of the effect and how they may have the capacity to defeat the issues that they will experience, or then again the need to acknowledge and help manage issues (Harris, James, Snow, 2008).
Clinics
Clinics are groups or practice where several physicians work cooperatively in a facility for diagnosis and treatment of outpatients. There are a variety of clinics where an occupational therapist can obtain employment. For example, day treatment clinics serve people who may need daytime supervision, or are able to live in the community instead of an institution or full care facility. These individuals require some assistance (Brien & Hussey, 2012). Occupational therapy experts are utilized in day treatment centers to create and give organized projects of exercises to clients. Day treatment clinics may specialize in providing intervention activities for a variety of groups, including children with behavioral disorders, mental illness, Alzheimer’s disease, or elderly (Brien & Hussey, 2012). In a community mental health clinic, occupational therapist practitioners work with a client or group of clients to encourage social participation, explore leisure opportunities, and develop abilities to engage in areas of performance (Brien & Hussey, 2012).
Private Practices
A private practice is the act of one's career as an autonomous instead of as an employee. An individual practice consists of a companionless occupational therapist who provides services, while an organization has more than a single practitioner. An associate private practice typically has one therapist who serves as director and employer for other professional and technical staff members of the same professional group (Punwar, 1988).
Types of Career Areas
Geriatric patients. Occupational therapist also work with geriatrics in certain areas. A geriatric patient is an older person with impaired overall function. There is no set age, but he or she is typically older than 75 years old with chronic illness, physical impairment and or cognitive impairment (Patient & Caregiver Education).When dealing with geriatric patients’ attitude is important towards the patient and the need of a good sense of humor. All health care professionals working with the older population know and understand the implications of falls, and all have a common goal: to improve the quality of life of the older adult. The status of geriatric patients is so complicated for any one medical professional that improved results can be obtained only if the entire interdisciplinary team works together (Tinetti, Baker, Dutcher, Vincent, & Rozett, 1997). It is too daunting a task for anyone to accomplish alone. The interdisciplinary team must work to maximize the quality of care and the quality of life for patients and their family caregivers. The interdisciplinary team may include but is not limited to the primary care physician, specialist physicians, physician assistants, nurse-practitioners, and nurses (Tinetti, Baker, Dutcher, Vincent, & Rozett, 1997). Effective interventions assume that falls are not the result of random accidents but are the result of the presence of numerous risk factors and a compromised medical condition. Therapeutic exercise is an often underutilized, non-pharmacological treatment option for many geriatric syndromes. Medical long-term care institutional directors knowledgeable about proper prescribing of therapeutic exercise and its positive effects will help residents maintain their optimal functional level (Tinetti, Baker, Dutcher, Vincent, & Rozett, 1997).
Pediatric patients.

Pediatric patients are infants, children, and adolescents the age limit usually ranges from birth up to 18 years of age. A child’s life is made up of “occupations,” or daily activities. These occupations include playing, learning, and socializing. Occupational therapy practitioners work with children and their families to help them succeed in these activities throughout the day. They also help with basic challenges faced by most families, from creating morning routines to choosing appropriate toys (Smith & O’Brien, 2010). Pediatric occupational therapists evaluate and treat children of all ages using standardized testing, clinical observations, information gathering and parent child and or school interviews (Smith & O’Brien, 2010). The goal of the evaluation is to analyze the child’s functional performance in different areas to identify strengths and limitations that are interfering with functional abilities (Smith & O’Brien,

2010).