Occupational Therapy Awareness Month: Three Specialty Areas of Care

April is Occupational Therapy (OT) month, a time to both honor the profession as well as raise awareness of the diverse services OT can provide across the continuum of care. Occupational Therapists (OTs) are highly trained healthcare professionals that are critical to helping patients regain functional independence through interventions that address barriers in their performance following an illness, injury, or surgery. OTs help individuals through meaningful tasks, also known as occupations. Erlanger provides three of the many OT specialty services including acute care, children’s acute/outpatient, and adult outpatient focusing on the upper extremity.

Specialty 1: Acute Care Occupational Therapy

In the acute care setting, patients are often critically or medically unstable. OTs assess the individual, environment, and occupation to determine barriers that disrupt occupational balance during or after a hospitalization. OTs utilize assessments to address any physical, cognitive, or emotional obstacles that may impact functional performance in any task the patient finds meaningful. These tasks, also known as occupations, include activities of daily living (ADLS) such as self-care (dressing, bathing, toileting, grooming) and instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs), which are more cognitively complex such as medication management, financial management, and home/family management. OTs are uniquely qualified to complete task analysis and determine individualized challenges with tasks based on the patient’s presentation as well as addressing strength, range of motion, sensation, vision, coordination, balance, endurance, functional mobility, and functional cognition to make determinations related to the next level of care. They also work closely with other disciplines to assist with discharge planning to ensure the patient and their caregivers are educated on any modifications, adaptations, or equipment needs that may assist with a safe discharge plan.

Specialty 2: Children’s Occupational Therapy

Pediatric occupational therapists seek to understand a child’s ability to participate in their ADLs including play and community participation. Through monitoring, Pediatric OTs uncover any factors that might be limiting the child throughout their development from participating in these activities as independently and fully as possible. They then address developmental delays within the areas of fine motor, visual motor, sensory processing, strength, coordination, feeding and dressing.  Pediatric OTs are knowledgeable in methods of using functional play to promote the advancement of developmental skills within a child friendly environment. By providing education to caregivers on strategies to use within daily routines, therapy related goals are instilled in the home environment providing confidence for the caregivers to meet their child’s specific needs.

Specialty 3: Outpatient Occupational Therapy

Outpatient occupational therapy services at Erlanger allow patients to receive treatment while still maintaining regular routines at home. Outpatient therapy focuses on the upper extremity after orthopedic interventions, traumatic injuries, or chronic conditions. These services consist of custom splinting, joint mobilization, strengthening programs, joint conservation, edema control, manual therapy, and use of modalities. Outpatient occupational therapists also assist in treatment of a variety of conditions that can affect functional use of the hand, such as carpel tunnel syndrome, trigger finger, arthritis, pain, and tenosynovitis. The main goal is to address the challenges in function secondary to injury and provide interventions targeted to the patient’s goals related to their return to independence.

OT is a diverse profession that can assist individuals across the lifespan with any dysfunction whether physical, cognitive, or emotional. Erlanger is proud to offer services to patients on their journey to regain functional independence.