Do you know how much an occupational therapist can help you? Here are 4 ways they assist their patients to make their lives better and happier.
There is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding occupational therapy and occupational therapists. For any type of recovery plan, occupational therapy can be a lifesaver. It’s the only branch of therapy that aims to help patients get back on their feet with normal, everyday tasks after an injury, accident, or illness. Aside from recovery, occupational therapists can also help disabled patients and elderly patients who experience the difficulties that come along with getting older.
In this article, we will discuss just a few of the various services that an occupational therapist can provide.
Help People Perform Different Tasks
In order to understand what occupational therapists do, we must understand the goals that their patients have. An occupational therapist will guide a patient in performing certain tasks, from everyday ones, like tying a shoe to more complicated tasks, such as work duties. For example, an occupational therapist may help a stroke victim learn how to dress or they might help a patient with cerebral palsy to eat.
Assess the Patient’s Needs
After evaluating a patient’s condition, an occupational therapist will assess the patient’s needs. This helps the therapist to understand what recovery will look like for the patient, if applicable. If the patient has an incurable condition, the occupational therapist will create a lifetime, long-term plan that is both manageable and convenient for the patient.
Evaluate the Patient’s Workplace
In some cases, an occupational therapist will visit the patient’s workplace and decide if it’s a safe environment for the patient to return to after an accident, injury, or illness. In these cases, the therapist will work alongside the employer to collaborate on any changes that need to be made to the patient’s schedule or workspace to ensure no further issues with injuries/illnesses.
Provide Health and Vision Screening
One of the many methods an occupational therapist uses to evaluate a patient’s progress is through health and vision screening. Especially for patients who are returning to work in a labor-intensive environment, vision screening is of utmost importance. Without diagnosing the health of a patient’s vision, further accidents or injuries might take place. For example, if a patient works at night, but has not been diagnosed with issues with night vision, they could cause further harm to themselves and their coworkers.
As the duties of an occupational therapist expand more and more each day, it’s helpful to be able to rely on technology to take on some of the burden. An occupational health vision screener makes an occupational therapist’s job much easier by testing for several optical capabilities at the same time.
This vision screener can test for the following:
- Hyperopia
- Distances (nearsightedness and farsightedness)
- Night vision
- Monocular and binocular vision
- A patient’s complete visual field
- Astigmatism
- Fusion
- Depth perception
- Color
Aside from performing the above tests, the right piece of vision screening tech can interpret the results, taking any guesswork out of the equation and ensuring the accuracy needed to make the best therapy plan.
Occupational Therapists’ Unique and Important Role
From health and vision screening to workplace evaluation to motor skill development, an occupational therapist is responsible for almost every aspect of a patient’s recovery. Many of them are also well-versed in mental health and wellness. To learn more about how an occupational therapy and what it can do for you, visit Depisteo.