A common misconception is that OT's simply work with the upper extremity (upper body) and PT's work with the lower extremity (lower body) (and by the way we too were amongst those who believed this). This is an untrue phenomenon and unfortunately many people who work outside of the healthcare profession believe this to be true.
In a typical rehab setting where there are both OT's and PT's working simultaneously on a patient it is definitely true that an OT will focus more on the upper extremity and the PT will focus more on the lower extremity. But in reality PTs, generally, are responsible for assisting patients with issues related to mobility (i.e. balance, lower extremity strength/range of motion, safety awareness), whereas OTs, generally speaking, are responsible for assisting patients with activities of daily living (i.e. dressing, bathing, grooming, upper extremity range of motion, household activities).
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
SO WHAT DOES AN OT DO??????
An occupational therapist is NOT to help people find jobs. OT's help people engage and participate in occupations of daily life that are both purposeful and meaningful to them. There are eight basic categories of occupation: Basic Activities of Daily Living (grooming, dressing, bathing...), Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (money management, shopping), Education, Work, Play, Leisure, Rest and Sleep, and Social Participation. All these basic occupations require certain skills that are termed Performance Skills to be able to engage in them successfully.
Thus our overall goal as Occupational Therapists is when there is a person with a certain disfunction, impairment or any deficit causing limitation in these "performance skills"we want to move them back to their prior level of function so they can be able to engage in these occupations once again. We want to maintain their optimal quality of life in order to provide them with the most independance possible. OT's do this through the use of various actvities which we will elaborate on in our next blog so stayyyy tuned!!!
Thus our overall goal as Occupational Therapists is when there is a person with a certain disfunction, impairment or any deficit causing limitation in these "performance skills"we want to move them back to their prior level of function so they can be able to engage in these occupations once again. We want to maintain their optimal quality of life in order to provide them with the most independance possible. OT's do this through the use of various actvities which we will elaborate on in our next blog so stayyyy tuned!!!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)