What is cardiac care and how can occupational therapy help?
A key aspect of cardiac care is that treats the patient as a whole person. Through occupational therapy, patients in cardiac care are encouraged to become not only independent but also empowered to participate in the activities they value most. Occupational therapists can help patients with cardiovascular disease in the following ways and more:
What is occupational therapy (1)?
Occupational therapy (1), also referred to as OT, is an evidence-based therapy that helps patients adapt to physical, cognitive, or sensory problems in order to live their lives to the fullest. It's called occupational therapy because the everyday activities and tasks people perform are called occupations.
What should an occupational therapist do in an exercise program?
The OT would provide an exercise program appropriately dosing exercise while monitoring her vitals (blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation levels) to ensure physiological changes occur. Using the modified BORG enables the clinician to monitor the patient’s perceived exertion to provide the appropriate care.
Are You a good candidate for Occupational Therapy?
Lastly, a good candidate for therapy will exhibit the motivation for therapy and cognitive capacity to participate. For some, the OT evaluation will be the end of their OT experience as the OT may determine further intervention is not merited. Your occupational therapist will work with you to set goals for your OT treatment.
Why are vitals important for occupational therapy?
Vital signs include blood pressure, heart rate, respiratory rate, and if indicated, body temperature. These measures help us determine the patient's overall health and well-being. Vitals can help us become aware of serious events such as a possible heart attack and sudden drop in blood pressure.
What are the 3 steps to the occupational therapy process?
There are three main steps to the occupational therapy process: evaluation, intervention, and outcomes.
Do OTs take vitals?
Acute Care Precautions For New OTs This includes (but is not limited to): Therapy orders. Lab values. Vital signs.
How does occupational therapy help heart disease?
Occupational therapists can teach patients how to monitor their blood pressure, blood sugar, and heart rate. Patients need to know how to monitor their heart disease in order to manage the condition well, prevent it from getting worse, and ensure their own safety.
What is the OT evaluation process?
The process of OT includes evaluation, intervention, and tar- geting of outcomes that occur in the environments and contexts of the client to assist them in achieving health, well-being, and participation in life through engagement in occupation (AOTA, 2014).
What are the 5 domains of occupational therapy?
These domains are:Occupations.Performance patterns.Performance skills.Environment and context.Client factors.
How do occupational therapists assess patients?
Assessments can explore the following areas: Developmental skills including motor and play development. Self-care and functional skills such as feeding, toileting and dressing. Fine motor skills in relation to handwriting and using a knife and fork. Gross motor skills in relation to riding a bike, sitting posture.
What is an initial assessment in occupational therapy?
The initial assessment usually involves a discussion with you about the difficulties you may be experiencing in completing your daily occupations. These could be completing personal or domestic tasks, difficulties with mobility, accessing the community, accessing the home environment, work or education.
What blood pressure is contraindicated for physical therapy?
Absolute contraindications to aerobic and resistance training programs include recent myocardial infarction or electrocardiography changes, complete heart block, acute congestive heart failure, unstable angina, and uncontrolled severe hypertension (BP ≥180/110 mm Hg).
What is cardiac OT?
A well-equipped cardiac operation theatre consisting of surgical instruments, ventilators, piped gases, OT lamp need to be prepped for a smooth functioning operation.
What are cardiac precautions?
Sternal precautions might vary depending on your surgeon or rehabilitation facility, but they typically include instructions such as: Don't reach both arms overhead. Don't reach both arms out to the side. Don't reach behind your back. Don't lift more than 5 to 8 pounds.
What is Cardiac Rehabilitation Programme?
Cardiac rehabilitation, also called cardiac rehab, is a customized outpatient program of exercise and education. The program is designed to help you improve your health and recover from a heart attack, other forms of heart disease or surgery to treat heart disease.
Evaluation
The occupational therapist will conduct a thorough evaluation of the patient’s physical and psychological functioning while also seeking to understand the social supports they have in the hospital, home, or community.
Education
Occupational therapists can teach patients how to monitor their blood pressure, blood sugar, and heart rate. Patients need to know how to monitor their heart disease in order to manage the condition well, prevent it from getting worse, and ensure their own safety.
Exercise
Exercise is especially important in cardiac rehabilitation because it can improve heart health. Unfortunately, many people lead sedentary lifestyles and don’t participate in enough aerobic exercise to promote a healthy heart and reduce the risks of cardiovascular disease.
Stress Management
Stress can exacerbate heart conditions and make many of the activities of daily living more difficult. Occupational therapists look at stress in the context of the patient’s life, environment, and cardiovascular disease.
Independence
Having a cardiovascular condition can prevent the patient from carrying out daily activities that make it possible to live independently like cooking, showering, or doing laundry. Patients may have less strength and endurance and may even have trouble breathing because of their cardiovascular disease.
Return to Work
Research has shown that work is beneficial to mental health and well-being, but patients with cardiovascular disease may feel conflicted about whether to return to work and how to return. Occupational therapists can evaluate the types of work the patient may want to pursue and the patient’s capacities.
Why is it important to ask questions to an occupational therapist?
As important as it is for your occupational therapist to ask you questions, it is equally important that you ask questions of her to make sure that her services are a good fit. If there is an area of your life that you feel will impact your healing that she does not mention, be sure to bring it up.
What does an OT do after an interview?
After the interview, your therapist will perform assessments to obtain some concrete information about your general health and how your diagnosis is impacting your ability to perform everyday activities. Your OT is trained to assess the following: 2
What is OT evaluation?
Occupational therapy (OT) treatment begins with an evaluation. Your occupational therapist will likely have a set flow to the OT evaluation process, but knowing what to expect can help you advocate for what you want to get out of the therapy process. Evaluations are a uniquely skilled process.
What does an occupational therapist do?
Your occupational therapist will work with you to set goals for your OT treatment. Goals need to be measurable and relate back to the reason for your referral. Your OT will craft long-term and short-term goals. 3
What should an OT refer to?
For example, if a professional with less training, such as a massage therapist or exercise coach, could address your problem, your OT should refer you to them instead. Lastly, a good candidate for therapy will exhibit the motivation for therapy and cognitive capacity to participate.
How long is an OT evaluation?
The length of an OT evaluation can range anywhere from 20 minutes (in a setting such as a hospital) to several hours (such as in an outpatient pediatric setting.)
How to treat hypertension?
The primary goal in treating hypertension is to decrease blood pressure to levels below those used in determining a diagnosis. Prior to introducing blood pressure medication, individuals who have been classified as pre-hypertensive are typically encouraged to make lifestyle changes to minimize the risk of disease progression. With appropriate healthcare guidance and support, a number of nonpharmacological interventions have been shown to help decrease blood pressure. Interventions include participation in a tailored weight loss program, a reduction in sodium intake, a regular exercise regimen, limiting alcohol consumption, and smoking cessation.10
Why is hypertension considered a silent killer?
Hypertension is commonly called the “silent killer” because it is typically asymptomatic and individuals are commonly unaware of the disease until a medical professional conducts a blood pressure measurement during a physical examination. In order to determine a diagnosis, a doctor may require multiple readings over the course of several days in order to assess whether high blood pressure persists over time. High blood pressure is classified by its degree of severity, which also guides the treatment plan, but it is equally important to consider the individual’s family history and any additional risk factors that may require attention. 6
Why is occupational therapy important?
Occupational therapy is great for those who are unable to take care of themselves, move easily, or perform a normal function in school or at work because of illness, pain, injury, or disability. The patient may be able to perform tasks with or without assistive devices, and an occupational therapist can evaluate whether one is needed ...
What is occupational therapy?
An occupational therapist can help an individual navigate their everyday tasks as independently as possible, which can improve both their physical and mental abilities. Learn more about occupational therapy, including what it is, why someone may need it, and what responsibilities an occupational therapist and assistant typically have.
What are occupational therapists responsible for?
You now know that occupational therapists are responsible for adapting an environment or set of tasks to better fit their patient's needs , but here are a handful of other things OTs and OTAs may do on the job:
How can occupational therapy help with chronic pain?
An occupational therapist can help patients with chronic pain by practicing relaxation techniques, providing them with exercises that are gentle yet effective in increasing their strength, and talking the patient through the brain's role in pain and how they can change their pain response.
What can an OTA do?
An OTA can assist them with developing a full range of motion, getting in and out of bed, standing for a certain amount of time, and going up and down the stairs. An occupational therapist can prescribe any equipment the patient may need to navigate their home more effectively.
How does an OTA help?
An OTA may help these patients by encouraging them to use a memory journal or teaching them anger management techniques that will help them maintain positive relationships with friends, family, and coworkers. Mental health issues: People often associate occupational therapy with patients who have physical difficulties.
How does an OTA help with chronic pain?
Chronic pain: An OTA may help someone with chronic pain by first understanding how their pain impacts their everyday life and how positive the patient is about their ability to control and overcome the pain.
What is the most stressful aspect of being an OT?
1. Productivity Targets. The first and sometimes most stressful aspect of being an OT of which I can attribute to is productivity. Almost every OT job in the adult setting – whether it’s acute care, inpatient rehab, outpatient therapy, home health, or skilled nursing – will have some sort of productivity requirement.
Is it common to work with difficult patients?
While they are less common to work with, you will still encounter difficult patients on a sometimes regular basis. While all clinicians know and understand this, it can still be pretty draining to work with this type of person every day while they are rehabbing.
How long does it take for dopamine to work?
Achieving chemical stability in the brain takes time and hence the medicines prescribed might take 3 to 4 weeks to show the full effect.
Can changes happen overnight?
Since changes cannot happen overnight , it is easy to lose track of progress. Recognizing time-bound progress as a necessary component and factoring this into the intervention is crucial. Finally, none of the above is possible unless one involves a multi-disciplinary team with each professional’s role well laid out.
Can an occupational therapist help with sensory integration?
An Occupational therapist may accompany sensory integration along with the activities, for better results. ADHD kids have many issues in a daily living task like donning and doffing of the shirt, buttoning-unbuttoning, and other fine motor skills.
Client Interview and Information Gathering
Assessments
- After the interview, your therapist will perform assessments to obtain some concrete information about your general health and how your diagnosis is impacting your ability to perform everyday activities. Your OT is trained to assess the following:2 1. Pain 2. Vital Signs 3. Mental Status 4. Skin Health 5. Joint Range of Motion 6. Manual Muscle Tests 7. Level of Assistance Needs with …
Deciding Whether You’Re A Good Candidate For Therapy
- Through the interview and assessment process, your OT will have identified a list of problems that she believes she can help you with. These problems should not be ones that would resolve on their own rather they must merit skilled intervention. It is also important that your problem merits her level of skill. For example, if a professional with less training, such as a massage therapist o…
Goal Setting
- Your occupational therapist will work with you to set goals for your OT treatment. Goals need to be measurable and relate back to the reason for your referral. Your OT will craft long-term and short-term goals.3 Here is an example of a short-term goal: Within two weeks, the client will be able to complete basic grooming while standing for 5-minute...
Creating A Plan
- After setting goals, your OT will set out a plan for achieving them. Often the plan has to be approved by a doctor. At a minimum, the plan will include how often you will benefit from therapy, how long you will benefit from OT services, and what strategies you will use to achieve the stated goals.3 Here is an example of a plan: The client will benefit from skilled OT three times per we…
How Can You Be More Involved in The OT Eval Process?
- As important as it is for your occupational therapist to ask you questions, it is equally important that you ask questions of her to make sure that her services are a good fit. If there is an area of your life that you feel will impact your healing that she does not mention, be sure to bring it up. If there is something you do not understand, ask, and if you think of questions beforehand or after…