REHABILITATION FEATURE
Working as an integrated staff member made me feel part of the team . My confidence to undertake more generic tasks built over time . I was able to bring the occupational therapy voice to ward rounds and team meetings as well as advocating for patients .
However , with the nature of the ward being to meet the acute needs of mental illness , the ward was fast paced , which meant a high turnover of patients and little time to complete occupational therapy duties and obligations . I felt I did not have time to build therapeutic relationships with service users .
After 11 months of working on an acute ward , I felt that my occupational therapy grounding and skillset were being compromised . Nursing / generic duties took priority over occupational therapy tasks , such as running groups , completing functional assessments and one-to-one meetings on the ward .
I decided to improve my knowledge and experience in occupational therapy practice and acquired a post in complex care mental health rehabilitation . I was glad that I could finally undertake solely occupational therapy duties .
In my current post I focus on enabling individuals to re-engage in meaningful occupations through a variety of skill sets , such as skills development , establishing positive habits and routines and setting therapy goals .
This has been a rewarding experience , as my focus has been based on how the individual is able to participate in occupations they need and want to do . This is quite a big change , as the acute pathway was more discharge-orientated , with little time to establish the deficits on occupational performance that were contributing to hospital admissions .
Working in rehabilitation and solely undertaking occupational therapy duties has enabled me to build therapeutic relationships with service users that have contributed to better engagement in structured group work and one-to-one intervention .
Due to the fast-paced nature of the acute ward , and it being nurse led , I had limited occupational therapy opportunities there . Working in rehabilitation has allowed me the opportunity to start establishing my grounding , as I now have more time to complete comprehensive assessments and interventions that are more person centred , rather than service delivery focused .
On reflection , there are some areas as healthcare professionals that we should accept we have to work harder on when working separately , such as making sure that we do work as a whole team , ensuring we all consistently work together with the service users to attain their goals .
In conclusion , the occupational therapy team at Options for Care all value that they can and are expected to practise the unique skills they were trained in with our service user group . They understand each service user ’ s occupational profile and share that knowledge during multidisciplinary team reviews and professional meetings .
Functional assessments are completed regularly and can be both proactive and reactive to the needs of the service user , with specialist interventions provided as routine .
We do accept the potential limitations of working in this manner , and therefore actively work on integrating ourselves into our teams , promoting a consistent team approach , and encouraging each discipline to add their professional opinion to gain a thorough understanding of each service user , and therefore achieving the best recovery outcomes .
Tapiwa Majoni , occupational therapist , and Esther Mallett , clinical lead occupational therapist , Options for Care . Email : Tapiwa . majoni @ optionsforcare . net or Esther . mallett @ optionsforcare . net
OTnews November 2021 47