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Occupational Therapy Can Be One of the Great Ideas of Myopic 21st Century Health Policy Experts
(with deep apologies to the memory of Mary Reilly)Social media has been one long party this week in the occupational therapy world with therapists and membership associations popping champagne corks over the recent article that appeared in Medical Care Research and Review entitled " Higher hospital spending on occupational therapy is associated with lower readmission rates. " Click here for the abstract, but please go read the whole thing.Once you get beyond the abstract you get straight to the nut of the problem where the authors admit right in the introduction that " the relationship between hospital spending and qu...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - September 16, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: health insurance OT practice philosophy policy Source Type: blogs

The Case of Lena
History provides context for understanding. We are so far removed from the daily life struggles of 100 years ago and our own experiences are so very different that it is difficult for us to develop a clear understanding of why events unfolded the way that they did.Occupational therapy is a health related profession that was born from the crucible of American society and culture at the turn of the 20th century. As such, events from those times greatly influenced the thinking of our primary founders.George Edward Barton lived in Clifton Springs in Ontario County on the street behind the Clifton Springs Sani...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - September 2, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: Barton history Source Type: blogs

Time to throw in the towel on sensory processing assessment
Today ' s Wall Street Journal includesthe standard article in its Life/Health section on Sensory Processing Disorder that we are all accustomed to seeing published every six months or so.The general idea of these journalistic offerings includes the standard trope of expert occupational therapists who can identify a disorder that the medical community can ' t quite agree on. It also includes the standard ethical bombshell that occupational therapists can ' t bill insurance for this therapy and that the costs are $175 per session and are needed for 18 or 30 sessions, depending on who you ask. Maybe it depends on ...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - August 15, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: evidence-based practice sensory integration Source Type: blogs

How to damage OTA practice and diminish the OT profession in three easy steps.
 1. Promote mission and scope creep of community colleges without < a href= " https://www.google.com/url?sa=t & amp;rct=j & amp;q= & amp;esrc=s & amp;source=web & amp;cd=1 & amp;cad=rja & amp;uact=8 & amp;ved=0ahUKEwj9oabp1ITOAhVDgj4KHeO8BV4QFggpMAA & amp;url=http%3A%2F%2Ffiles.eric.ed.gov%2Ffulltext%2FED556034.pdf & amp;usg=AFQjCNGf9vcAhSxJotWhr8TRt1Wy0J2AjA & amp;sig2=IWwgWIBLdKpzZg6zconFuw & amp;bvm=bv.127521224,d.cWw " target= " _blank " > thoughtful vetting of the consequences < /a > . 2. Purposely ignore < a href= " http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/the-avenue/posts/2016/01/06-rising-...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - July 21, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT Education OT practice Source Type: blogs

Occupational therapists want the general systems funk
Specialization is an unfortunate by-product of expansive knowledge. It is challenging to remain abreast of developments in multiple fields and in the busy lives of modern day humans people come to rely on the comprehensive thinking of 'others' while they busy themselves with their specialized thinking.Few stop to consider whether or not those 'others' to whom great power is ceded for their comprehensive thinking are actually up to the task. Or, if they are up to the task, who is doing the checking to make sure that the use of said power is being delegated for the broader good?In particular, occupational therapy...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - July 14, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: health insurance OT practice philosophy Source Type: blogs

Sometimes the most logical thing to do is to stop being logical
An issue came up today that probably needs some discussion. A parent of a young child was worried about protecting the child's remaining kidney with a kidney guard. The doctor was not interested in supporting the request for the kidney guard, mostly based on evidence that there is no reason to believe that they are effective and also based on the fact that kidney injuries are quite rare. (Grinsell, et al, 2012).One particular recommendation regarding kidney protection by Psooy, 2009 reads as follows:Parents should try to keep things in perspective: If they are not going to restrict a child from an activi...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - June 9, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: parenting Source Type: blogs

The demise of authentic makerspaces: From Dad's workbench to Angie's List
Makerspaces or hackerspaces are terms used to describe environments where people build or create with materials, to learn how to share resources and work together to make things. & nbsp; In their current iterations they are often found in libraries, schools, or even community centers and people are invited to come into the environment to work on individual or shared projects. & nbsp; Here is a picture of a modern makerspace: < div class= " separator " style= " clear: both; text-align: center; " > < a href= " https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--4_7ZHZF_yY/V0fcX2iGySI/AAAAAAAAAo4/f-TvAdBS6w0mZm8MlKsTnWNi9OFl9zjNwC...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - May 27, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: history parenting Too much information Source Type: blogs

The demise of authentic makerspaces: From Dad's workbench to Angie's List
Makerspaces or hackerspaces are terms used to describe environments where people build or create with materials, to learn how to share resources and work together to make things. In their current iterations they are often found in libraries, schools, or even community centers and people are invited to come into the environment to work on individual or shared projects. Here is a picture of a modern makerspace:Occupational therapists are becoming more interested in makerspaces, perhaps based on a seemingly genetic interest in the concept of a constructed milieu where people can come together to develop skills.&nb...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - May 27, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: history parenting Too much information Source Type: blogs

Collected thoughts on narrative in occupational therapy documentation
About ten years or so ago I wrote about the potential power of using writing and hypertext as a qualitative methodology for understanding human narrative. I got that idea back in high school, actually, after reading the Langston Hughes poem, Theme for English B:The instructor said, Go home and write a page tonight. And let that page come out of you— Then, it will be true.I wonder if it’s that simple?...The poem is all about identity, and expression, and trying to understan...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - May 20, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT stories philosophy Source Type: blogs

The impact of the janitor on an occupational therapy practice
Owning a private practice is a never-ending adventure that usually causes the owner to take on many different job roles. This Saturday I put on my janitor clothes and tried to take care of some things that were starting to turn from minor annoyances to full blown problems.I am not embarrassed to talk about the presence of these things that need fixing or adjusting, mostly because I have a comfort level with the humble nature of our mom-and-pop therapy shop. The families that come to us seem to understand that, I think, because sharing stories about the tribulations of trying to get things done probably resonates with...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - April 27, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: ABC Therapeutics OT practice Source Type: blogs

From elite social clubs to personal atonement: The history of the formation of Consolation House.
Private and elite clubs were vehicles of socialization and business transaction during the Gilded Age. Clubs were often restricted in membership and members were highly scrutinized before being offered the opportunity to join. The Tavern Club in Boston is one example of an elite social club. It was established in 1884 and was a gathering place where the members were focused on fine dining, lectures, and the arts. Notable members included Charles Eliot Norton, William Dean Howells, and Henry Cabot Lodge. Herndon (1892) described the club as "an organization of good fellows, mostly artists, music...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - March 30, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: Barton history Source Type: blogs

Check your patron
Reciprocity. It is customary in ethics to discuss the connection between purpose and values in terms of reciprocity. The body of knowledge in any discipline - that is, the reflective concepts and the action of technology - is derived from its reciprocal relationship to the purpose of its services... Searching for patronage and constructing a new support system is a dangerous venture for any discipline....The shift to a client system represents, perhaps, a desperate strategy to survive under the awesome pressure of the self-interest of medicine. - Reilly, (1984).Last year I noted that an article published ...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - March 22, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: health insurance OT practice policy Source Type: blogs

Update on occupational therapy and case management
One year ago I posted about the American Occupational Therapy Association process of an Ad Hoc committee to delineate the role in case management for occupational therapy in primary care and mental health.My concern at that time centered around two primary points:1. Case management is not a recognized domain of concern of occupational therapy practice. 2. There is a difference between 'things that can be done with OT skills' vs. 'what constitutes OT practice.' I believe that occupational therapists should be delimiting practice and clarifying professional roles, not blurring them.My objections have nothing at all t...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - March 18, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: OT practice policy Source Type: blogs

Why Dads are so lucky.
I pulled this out of a fifteen year old journal tonight and decided to post it. My daughter will be 21 years old next week so I thought I would remind her of a story.+++3/14/01I need to explain a couple seemingly disconnected points.Casey (my youngest daughter) will write novels or be an artist someday - I am sure. She writes constantly, and she is only in kindergarten. I find scraps of paper all over the house, and she will take books from my library and sit down to spend hours copying the words. She is like a little monk scribe, preserving the world's knowledge before the Dark Ages.It is so funny ...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - March 14, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: parenting Too much information Source Type: blogs

How some OTs are responding to criticism
Sometimes images can convey an action or feeling better than words, so I offer this as representation of the occupational therapy profession's response to the Washingtonian article that some in the profession believed was overly critical: Like the Spartans, many occupational therapists responded to the message in the article by killing the messenger. That might not be the best idea.I made the following comments in the article but since I am not assured that those comments will persist I thought I would document them here.Some OTs are concerned that the article is unfair and undermines the legitimacy of OT in general ...
Source: ABC Therapeutics Occupational Therapy Weblog - March 3, 2016 Category: Occupational Health Tags: evidence-based practice OT practice sensory integration Source Type: blogs