Occupational Therapy News OTnews November 2019 | Page 42

FEATURE REHABILITATION
Completing chores in the garden
while wearing the mitten .
Investigating the best current
practice for stroke rehabilitation
Jenny Merchant reflects on using Constraint Induced Movement Therapy in
the community stroke setting and explores how it is her changing practice
I
am an occupational therapist working for the
community stroke team, which provides early
supported discharge (ESD) to patients for
Worcestershire Health and Care NHS Trust.
We are a multidisciplinary team of occupational
therapists, physiotherapists, nurses and speech and
language therapists, who provide rehabilitation at
home for six weeks after a patient is discharged from
hospital.
We are supported during the process by our
rehabilitation assistants, who can help implement a
treatment plan set by the therapist.
42 OTnews November 2019
Exploring a home-based CIMT programme
The Health and Care Professions Council and
Royal College of Occupational Therapists expect a
lifelong learning approach, therefore I am conscious
that part of my role within the stroke team is to try
and provide the best current practice for stroke
rehabilitation.
Recently I became more aware of the Constraint
Induced Movement Therapy (CIMT) treatment tool
for upper limb, not widely used by Worcestershire
Health and Care NHS Trust before this project
started.