Occupational Therapy

Occupational Therapy focuses on helping people gain skills necessary to perform routine activities of daily living (ADL's) with as much independence as possible. At UNMH, Occupational Therapists also specialize in treating upper extremity injuries through exercise programs and custom splinting.

Occupational Therapy should be ordered when the reason for the patient's admission to the hospital or outpatient visit has caused a change in the patient's ability to perform ADL's. A written prescription from a physician is needed for referral to Occupational Therapy.

Examples of when OT is appropriate:

• A person is unable to perform basic self-care tasks such as dressing, grooming or feeding due to illness or injury
• A person has become disoriented to person, place or time
• A person can walk and perform simple self-care tasks, but due to recent changes in cognitive function cannot sequence more complex tasks, such as cooking a meal, grocery shopping or balancing a check book
• An inpatient in the hospital requires adaptive equipment such as a bath bench or reacher to safely perform self-care tasks for an impending discharge to home.
• A person cannot move one or both of his upper extremities.
• A person has sustained an injury to her upper extremity and would benefit from a custom splint or an exercise program to improve upper extremity function.

Examples of diagnoses that typically would benefit from OT:

• Open or closed head injuries
• CVA or stroke
• Spinal cord injuries
• Hand injuries
• Total hip replacements
• Rheumatoid arthritis

• University of New Mexico Occupational Therapy Master's Degree Program
  
• American Occupational Therapy Association