Hello Diane: Thanks for writing.
I want to encourage you to try and see things a little differently. You said: "Instead of timing someone with a stopwatch for standing balance, I find out what table top activities are meaningful to them and have them stand while engaging in those activities. " Unless a particular activity is a patient's stated goal, I suggest NOT having patients standing at table doing activities. Instead, engage patients in those occupations which are impeded by decreased standing balance, endurance, etc. For example, if a patient can't get their clothes from the closet because they can't stand with their walker, then work on standing with a walker. If a patient can't ambulate to get their clothes, then work on mobility with a walker. Get away from the table top and move out into the "real world"! <smile> I also think that using a stop watch has merit because it gives the patient tangible and visual feedback on improvement. While standing for a certain amount of time should NEVER be a goal, patients can be highly motivated by seeing improvement in standing endurance. I recently d/c a home health patient whose had a goal to ambulate from her bed to her toilet. Treatment started with standing bedside. Her initial standing tolerance was 10 secs. I recorded this time and every time there after, not because they were goals, but because they were a measurement of progress towards her goal. Ron -- Ron Carson MHS, OT ----- Original Message ----- From: Diane Randall <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2008 To: OTlist@OTnow.com <OTlist@OTnow.com> Subj: [OTlist] AARGH! DR> Ron, I am a COTA student. I believe part of he problem is that media is not DR> being taught in OT school. There are two programs in our area. Our program DR> requires two media classes where we have to learn everything from knitting DR> to ceramics. Our teacher frowns upon "clothespins" and "cones" and makes us DR> up come up with a ideas that are functional and creative and meaningful to DR> the patient when we are treatment planning. The other program in the area DR> offers no media classes. At first, I could not understand why we were DR> learning so many crafts and why we were constantly forced to think outside DR> the box. Now that I am ready for my internship program, I see the benefit. I DR> have been taught to have a "bag of tricks" when I treat patients. Instead of DR> timing someone with a stopwatch for standing balance, I find out what table DR> top activities are meaningful to them and have them stand while engaging in DR> those activities. It is about taking the time to know your patients, however DR> briefly, and engaging them in activity that will sustain their attention and DR> interest. I know emphasis has been placed on productivity and profit seem to DR> have taken over some facilities. I think we can do both if we create our own DR> "bag of tricks" for our patients. It does have to be time consuming.Diane DR> -----Original Message----- DR> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] DR> Behalf Of Ron Carson DR> Sent: Saturday, November 29, 2008 04:36 DR> To: Deann Bayerl, MS OTR/l DR> Subject: Re: [OTlist] AARGH! DR> I sort of struggle to understand how OT's who set up patients on DR> simple, redundant and often inappropriate activities are not "bad". I DR> understand the productivity push, but I don't understand being so lazy DR> that the best a therapist can do is clothespins, pegs, etc. DR> And I don't think it's that so many OT's are physically lazy as they DR> are mentally lazy. OT's have allowed themselves to be backed into a DR> corner of meaningless and silly activity that is often more DR> diversional than therapeutic. It seems that some OT's are quite DR> comfortable in the back seat of the rehab. In my opinion, these OT's DR> should be ashamed of their practice patterns. DR> Ron DR> -- DR> Ron Carson MHS, OT DR> ----- Original Message ----- DR> From: Deann Bayerl, MS OTR/l <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> DR> Sent: Friday, November 28, 2008 DR> To: otlist@otnow.com <otlist@otnow.com> DR> Subj: [OTlist] AARGH! DBMOl>> Ron, DBMOl>> I do understand your frustration, even more so from having spent some DR> time DBMOl>> in IP rehab. Here are two of the problems outside of lack of DBMOl>> creativity....productivity and required IP pt rehab hours. Although I DBMOl>> preferred to work with pts on ADLs in the am, b/c they were the most DBMOl>> relevant, some of those pts had to be down to pt at an early hour & DR> you just DBMOl>> can't get to all of them (although you CAN shift your schedule around DR> from DBMOl>> day to day, but in my experience this was not often done). Thus the DR> next DBMOl>> part of the day was often working with pts in the rehab room, where DR> there DBMOl>> was a considerable push for working with more than one pt at a time. DBMOl>> Instead of working with them together, they were often set up a DR> separate DBMOl>> 'stations' and given a task that they could do without 1:1...thus the DBMOl>> towels, clothespins, bead sorting, etc. It takes thinking outside the DR> box to DBMOl>> set up a session that is both meaningful and therapeutic; which is DR> often not DBMOl>> the case on a day to day basis. It's not that these are not good DR> OT/OTAs, DBMOl>> they just are not creative. I've seen this in OT and I also saw this DR> for DBMOl>> many years in my previous profession as a teacher. There are those DR> truly DBMOl>> dedicated to the profession and those that see it as a job that pays DR> the DBMOl>> bills. No matter where you work, there will be people of both types. DR> The DBMOl>> best we can do is be the former and put in the extra effort to DR> provide DBMOl>> meaningful therapies and explain to our clients why and how the DR> particular DBMOl>> activities we choose are therapeutic and pivotal to OT. DBMOl>> d DBMOl>> -----Original Message----- DBMOl>> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] DBMOl>> [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf DBMOl>> Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] DBMOl>> Sent: Thursday, November 27, 2008 3:00 PM DBMOl>> To: otlist@otnow.com DBMOl>> Subject: OTlist Digest, Vol 48, Issue 2 DBMOl>> Send OTlist mailing list submissions to DBMOl>> otlist@otnow.com DBMOl>> To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit DBMOl>> http://otnow.com/mailman/listinfo/otlist_otnow.com DBMOl>> or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to DBMOl>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] DBMOl>> You can reach the person managing the list at DBMOl>> [EMAIL PROTECTED] DBMOl>> When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific DBMOl>> than "Re: Contents of OTlist digest..." DBMOl>> Today's Topics: DBMOl>> 1. AARGH! (Ron Carson) DBMOl>> 2. Re: AARGH! (Lehman, David) DBMOl>> --------------------------------------------------------------------- DR> - DBMOl>> Message: 1 DBMOl>> Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2008 06:37:53 -0500 DBMOl>> From: Ron Carson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> DBMOl>> Subject: [OTlist] AARGH! DBMOl>> To: OTlist@OTnow.com DBMOl>> Message-ID: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> DBMOl>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=windows-1252 DBMOl>> I evaluated a home health patient who was just out of rehab DR> secondary DBMOl>> to a total hip replacement. This is a 55 y/o who was DR> previously DBMOl>> independent. DBMOl>> During the eval, I asked her if she receive OT in rehab. She DR> rolled DBMOl>> her eyes and explained that the OT's had her folding towels at a DR> table DBMOl>> and standing at a table playing cards. DBMOl>> I will NEVER, EVER understand why so many OT's have client's DR> doing DBMOl>> essentially meaningless activity when there are so many other DR> NEEDS DBMOl>> and DESIRES. DBMOl>> Why do OT's stand with patients at a table playing cards? It makes DR> NO DBMOl>> sense because it's contextually incorrect. Who plays cards DR> standing? DBMOl>> And why will OT's stand with patients but won't take the initiative DR> to DBMOl>> address mobility issues such as getting clothes from the DR> closet, DBMOl>> ambulating to the toilet, etc? DBMOl>> On that happy note <smile>, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! DBMOl>> Ron DR> -- DR> Options? DR> www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com DR> Archive? DR> www.mail-archive.com/otlist@otnow.com DR> -- DR> Options? DR> www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com DR> Archive? DR> www.mail-archive.com/otlist@otnow.com -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/otlist@otnow.com