Unity through community

Occupational Therapy Day initially started on October 27, 2010, and celebrated nationally and internationally. The main aim of the day is to promote occupational therapy and create awareness among people. This year, the theme for this day is "Unity through Community." Occupational therapists unite all community members to achieve a specific goal.

Occupational therapists work in different settings such as paediatrics, neurology, mental health, ergonomics, elderly care, musculoskeletal, and so on. During treatment, the occupational therapist maintains unity. They work on a multidisciplinary team (MDT). Team members include an occupational therapist, physiotherapist, speech and language therapist, physician, social worker, psychologist, nurse, and patient carer.

"Occupation in occupational therapy does not mean to do a job. It is a common term; it means to do any task of daily living.

An occupational therapist works in the following stages:

• Assessment

• Intervention

• Evaluation and outcome

Assessment: In an assessment session, the occupational therapist first assesses the client's medical and other history. Therapists take information from clients and their caregiver. Then the therapist identified the problems.

Intervention: The occupational therapist sets patients treatment goals by considering their physical, mental, and social wellbeing. Intervention means different treatment procedures, like range of motion exercises, strengthening exercises, fine motor exercises by using different types of activities, etc. Another common intervention is to provide assistive devices like wheelchairs and training about proper wheelchair propelling. Some patients need psychosocial counselling. However, interventions vary according to patients.

Evaluation and outcome: Occupational therapists are responsible for evaluating performance and also measuring the outcome.

In accordance with the evaluation and outcome, the occupational therapist provides further treatment.

Occupational therapy is available in Bangladesh. At present, there are 408 qualified occupational therapists. Recently, two medical institutes started to run a BSc in Occupational Therapy course.

Now the occupational therapy course is run by three medical institutes. These are:

• Bangladesh Health Professions Institute (BHPI)

• Saic College of Medical Science and Technology (SAIC)

• Mymensingh College of Physiotherapy and Health Sciences (MCPHS)

Most of the patients need occupational therapy. But there is limited posts outside of Dhaka. So, patients suffer the most. The government should be aware of occupational therapy services, especially for autism and stroke patients. Government hospital in each district needs to recruit a qualified occupational therapist.

The writer is an occupational therapist in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at the National Institute of Neurosciences and Hospitals (NINS&H).

E-mail: rabeya1988@gmail.co