Sample Essay On Occupational Therapy's Role In Primary Care

            I have established that primary care has emphasized the management of chronic conditions that help improve population health and reduce costs. Occupational therapy contributes to primary care's effectiveness by influencing individuals' routines and habits (Alshehri et al., 2019). Through occupational therapy, individuals can improve health and wellness by altering their habits, highlighting barriers, and suggesting solutions that may help manage chronic conditions (Pape & Muir, 2019). However, occupational therapy is undertaken in different ways in different countries. In this paper, I will focus on occupational therapy in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

            In the United Kingdom, I have established that the purpose of occupational therapists is to help patients live their best lives at work and at home. The occupational therapists see beyond diagnoses and limitations and change them to aspirations and hopes. The occupational therapist recommends adjustments to the life of a patient that is unique to each patient so that they can elevate their daily life. Occupational therapists in the United Kingdom focus on frail older adults, people with mental health issues, and working-age adults that have difficulties in their workplaces (Alshehri et al., 2019). For frail older adults, the occupational therapist utilizes frailty indexes to establish the individuals that require care and implement a rapid crisis response that helps speed discharge or prevent hospital admission. For people with mental health issues, the occupational therapist focuses on risk assessment to identify acute distress, after which they develop personalized care plans for care management. For the working-age adults, occupational therapists utilize vocational rehabilitation, after which they use AHP health and work reports to ensure allocation of sick pay.

            In the United States, I have established that occupational therapy is provided slightly differently. Rather than identifying patients to be catered for, occupational therapy in the United States focuses on referrals from physicians, governmental agencies, and community networks (Halle et al., 2018). The purpose of occupational therapy in the United States is to provide interventional care plans and functional risk assessments for the referred patients. Rather than focus on a specific group of people, in the United States, occupational therapists work with patients of all ages in various niche areas such as geriatrics, pediatrics, orthopedics, neuromuscular, and oncology (Pape & Muir, 2019). Since the implementation of Medicare, there has been an increase in the need to reduce hospital readmissions, which has increased the need for occupational therapists to help reduce the possibility of readmission.

            On the other hand, in Canada, I have identified that the role of occupational therapists is to facilitate chronic disease management, assessments, self-management, health promotion, fall prevention, educating families, palliative and end-of-life care, educating caregivers, undertaking community mobility, and restructuring the physical environment. Due to the prevalence of chronic diseases in the country, there has been an increase in the demand for occupational therapy to help reduce the number of people at hospitals and reduce the possibility of readmission. According to the Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists, occupational therapy should be accessible and available to all Canadians (Halle et al., 2018). This is especially true for people with mental health issues, multiple chronic conditions, people in end-of-life care, and people living with disabilities regardless of their location in the country. Occupational therapists in the country help improve these individuals' quality of life, facilitate them in achieving their goals, and rebuild their independence to undertake their everyday duties. There is also a close collaboration between physicians and occupational therapists to help identify senior patients that should be enrolled in occupational therapy programs.

References

Alshehri, M. A., Falemban, R., Bukhari, R. A., & Bakhsh, H. R. (2019). Occupational therapy practitioners' decision-making preferences, attitudes, awareness, and barriers in relation to evidence-based practice implementation in Saudi Arabia. JBI Evidence Implementation, 17(2), 121-130.

Halle, A. D., Mroz, T. M., Fogelberg, D. J., & Leland, N. E. (2018). Occupational therapy and primary care: Updates and trends. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 72(3), 7203090010p1-7203090010p6.

Pape, S. B., & Muir, S. (2019). Primary care occupational therapy: How can we get there? Remaining challenges in patient-centered medical homes. The American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 73(5), 7305090010p1-7305090010p6.