Group items tagged

This AOTA article defines "restraint", provides information on the role of OT in regards to providing restraint reduction or elimination, and lists common environments where this type of intervention takes place. By assessing what client-centered modifications, as well as environmental modifications, can be made, occupational therapy looks for ways "around" the use of restraints in order to enhance the client's engagement and participation in meaningful occupations.

This is a great list of energy conservation tips ideas for patients. I thought this was a great reference list since we were discussing cardiopulmonary patients who really need to learn about energy conservation. This breaks down the ideas into: Rearrange Your Environment, Elminate Unneccessary Effort, Planning Ahead, and Priortizing. This is a great reference list for energy conservation.

Actually, I can and in some cases do, use these tips as well! Gotta save that energy.

Ergonomics: Occupational Therapy in the Workplace (From the American OT Association: Reproducible consumer handout to further public education) Ergonomics is the science of designing a person's environment so that it facilitates the highest level of function. A person's work environment should fit his or her capabilities as a worker.Good ergonomics prevent injury and promote health, safety, and comfort for employees.

Be approachable, open-minded and non-judgmental. This is a great checklist to read over before talking with your clients about sex. Included is how to provide an environment that the client feels safe speaking of sex, key areas that should be covered, some barriers that are faced by minority populations, and many reminders to be open minded, non-judgmental, and to keep your personal beliefs out of the discussion.

According to the Mayo Clinic, there are 4 tools we can use to either cope with stress or reduce the stress. The 4 tools include Avoid, Alter, Accept, and Adapt. Each tool is explained and ways to use each tool are included. Stress can be good and bad. Knowing yourself and your environment and what causes your stress will help you deal with it. The tools are easy to follow and are a good reminder that in many situations we are in control.

These tools can be applied to all aspects of life and are easy to implement or have a client implement.

Occupational therapy practitioners have the knowledge and expertise to modify activities and environments to allow individuals to do the things they want and need to do to maintain quality of life. The role of occupational therapy in oncology is to facilitate and enable an individual patient to achieve maximum functional performance, both physically and psychologically, in everyday living skills regardless of his or her life expectancy.

At my last fieldwork placement I got to watch a couple of driving assessments. Driving brings a person much freedom. Taking away the privilege can be devastating to some. This article gives some good tips on to talk with a loved one about their ability or non-ability to drive. I think the tips would apply to those of us who find ourselves working in situations where we would have to talk with client's about this subject.

This is a tough issue. I used to worry about my grandmother so much. She started having little fender benders. It is good for us to be aware as COTA's how significant driving or not driving can be to our clients.

The conversation regarding when someone should no longer drive could be quite hard. I found this website that gives advise on how to have this conversation. It discusses how to plan for it, how to bring it up, how to handle objections and the environment in which it should take place. It also talks about how to help the individual with the transition (finding other means of transportation, etc).

This was some interesting information on adapting toys, and the enviornment.

Note- in order to view this article online, you must be a member of AOTA. This article talks about how different people may define the word "home" differently and how that definition can impact someone's ability to safely "age-in-place" and how a person's home environment can impact a person's engagement in meaningful occupations.

This article talks about independent aging and living at home for as long as possible is always preferable to residing in a rest home, where you are away from what is familiar and existing in a hospital-like environment. But, you may have some natural fears to being home alone, just in case something happens. Just thought this article tied in to the upcoming home assessments

This article supports OT in aging in place. This article provides evidence that the I-HOPE is an effective tool when evaluating barriers that elderly individuals are faced with as they age in their homes. By using the I-HOPE evaluation, it ensure the ability for individual to make adjustments and remain in a safe home environment. Safety evaluations are (I think) a billable service.

I know we are past aging in place by a little bit, but I came across this again and wanted to share! A really interesting outlook on aging in place in a mock village for dementia patients. The patients live on site in their own apartments which they are aided in managing independently. The town has everything from grocery stores to movie theaters. Nursing staff dress in plain clothes to give the environment a "real-life" feel and encourage patients to operate on their own schedule. This is currently in the Netherlands, but how cool would it be to have OT's work in something like this!

Print out our checklist to use with your patients to help them develop individual stress management strategies. Click here to print now! Stress is a commonly under-recognized, untreated dimension of recovery, rehabilitation and medical intervention. While all patients seeking medical care experience stress, for individuals with disabilities the dynamics are not the same.

The checklist Richard mentioned is a great resource! Thanks Richard. I plan on using this in the future. :)

Great article about how to help our patients with chronic conditions manage stress that impacts their daily activities.  Personal stories of stress management coping skills and how to help our clients identify their personal triggers. This article has some great questions for patients to ask themselves when identifying their personal stress management techniques.

This is a article out of AJOT. It is about OT in the and how we can help people reach maximum potential in work environments. It goes through and gives examples of how this can be done. Best of all it is what we just covered today. I think it is very important we understand our role in this area. It is actually something I did not really think about until Teri explained it so well today. Also, everyone was very engaged in the the discussion and it makes it so easy to learn that way. Thanks.

I am sure all of us have already designed our adaptive devices, but this journal has a few cool ideas that we could share with future patients. These are things found around the house that can be easily adaptable.

Some cheap and easy adaptive ideas for clients in the home environment. I may even use some myself!