Occupational Therapy: Current Trends and Leadership Roles

This article discusses the current trends in occupational therapy in Canada, including the increasing demand for occupational therapists in various work settings. It also explores the leadership roles of occupational therapists in health care teams and their contributions to patient care and support services. The article highlights the importance of occupational therapy in promoting independence and improving patient outcomes.

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Introduction
The occupational therapy involves a dynamic and progressive professional field
aimed to provide assistance to individuals with health disabilities, for example, behavioral,
emotional, developmental, mental, physical disabilities so that these individuals can enjoy an
improved living. Innovative practices, continued learning and education. Patient advocacy are
the central considerations under this progressive profession (Whalley Hammell 2013).
Occupational therapy as a method of treatment, helps the people to lead an independent and
satisfied life. This therapy treatment works in association with the suffering individuals so as
to help them improve their skills and provide compensational support in response to a loss of
function due to health disability. Occupational therapy has its core component ‘occupation’
which means that the therapists provide a practical support to people of all ages to enable
them to perform day to day work and even self-care (Rodger and Kennedy-Behr 2017). The
occupational therapists work in various settings to perform their role of providing support
services. Health care organisations, hospital settings, social organisations, home-based
involvement, voluntary organisations are the practice areas of occupational therapists. They
have a critical role in helping and empowering the people with health disabilities; they
facilitate in faster recovery of people from illnesses. Support services through occupational
therapy enhances people’s independence and satisfaction in different aspects of life.
Current trends in Occupational therapy in Canada
With the continuously changing health care requirements of people, the opportunities
of occupational therapy as practice treatment also change with changing health care system.
According to demographic survey, the population is aging and the demands for occupational
therapy continues to rise to support the people with health disabilities. Assessment and early
intervention programs to provide practical support services to people demands occupational

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therapists in various work settings (Rexe, Lammi and von Zweck 2013). The workforce in
occupational therapy has been deficient according to research; current high demands require
increased workforce. Recently, the dynamic profession of occupational therapy is undergoing
ramifications into various work settings to meet person-centred requirements.
Aging population demands for an increased health care services; this is at par with
increasing demand of occupational therapy as a practice treatment among elderly population.
Elderly population prefer to take residential care facilities and support services instead of
undergoing long-term care in hospital settings. This is where the occupational therapists
come into play and enable the old population to fulfil this desire. Older people face difficulty
in performing day to day activities due to physical mobility issues (Clegg et al. 2013). They
prefer occupational therapists to provide them physical support services. The occupational
therapists act as care givers and design a care plan based on individual needs to meet the
daily goals of health, safety and individual satisfaction (Best, Miller and Routhier 2015).
Occupational therapy provision works in assisting with architects to design the residential
settings for old people so as to allow more accessibility and minimize danger episodes for the
frail old people. The occupational therapists treat individuals with respect and dignity and
provide a holistic care support (Atwal and McIntyre 2013). They help to identify the hurdles
or risk factors in carrying out daily activities, thereby providing manual care approach to
older people. Physiotherapy support services are provided by occupational therapy in a way
addressing individual problems.They help the old people to develop independence and
confidence to perform daily activities like dressing, taking medications and provide beneficial
recommendations on improving health and comfort. The occupational therapy helps to build
emotional wellness among older people who are restricted due to physical immobility and fail
to perform necessary activities (Fossey et al. 2014). They regain a sense of self-reliance and
self-confidence through occupational therapy services. Elderly people are prone to fall

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episodes; occupational therapists provide help to avoid fall episodes. Occupational therapists
prove to be ideal professionals to address the older people with progressive mental decline;
they assess the behavioural and cognitive modifications to improve the problem (Enderby,
John and Petheram 2013). They enable the elderly individuals to simplify daily work through
sensory stimulation.
Occupational therapy involves knowledge skills to design and provide innovative care
plans and services on a holistic mode. This requires qualified education to gain and develop
such knowledge. Medical technology is advancing with newer challenges in health related
diseases; technological knowledge and qualifications are central to current health care
advancements (Cason 2014). Occupational therapists are at the frontline of technological
excellence and technological device advancements in health care industry. They are involved
in utilizing technology to design and devise robots who can independently perform daily
activities for older people who are physically incapable and face difficulties (Leland et al.
2015). Occupational therapy is included into primary care services due to their adaptability,
innovative approaches and skills. They are involved in identifying the obstacles in primary
care services like recognition and reimbursement. With respect to ever-changing growth and
opportunities in primary health care, the occupational therapy is incorporated as a part of
primary health care service provision. Primary health care includes alternative payment
models or APM, which paves an opportunity for occupational therapy profession to be
included in the primary care (Garvey et al. 2015). Alternative Payment Models are defined as
payment approaches which provide incentive payments to care practices that are aimed to
improve patient safety and patient outcome through identifying risk factors and risk
management. This aims for cost effective and quality care provision. Occupational therapists
have been included into developing and managing these innovative models (Donnelly et al.
2013). Occupational therapy involves continuous changing innovative ideas and interventions

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based on individual person. This progressive therapy treatment is included in primary care to
promote and expand health management, individual wellness and prevention through
innovative interventions. The occupational therapy is extended to community health services;
community health initiatives are introduced by health care industry where occupational
therapy is included to promote patient education. This progressive therapy promotes
education among patients as part of community health services; educating the patients help
them to understand the illness and the management of the illnesses to prevent any recurrent
episodes (Hildenbrand and Lamb 2013). Chronic illnesses and related patient survival now
require occupational therapy as central treatment therapy to lead productive, comfortable and
independent life.
Leadership roles of Occupational Therapists in health care teams
The occupational therapy practice involves occupational therapist and therapy
assistants, who are scientifically and technologically skilled to provide support to patients
suffering from illnesses or to enable them perform daily activities with comfort. The
occupational therapist have qualities that enable them to take up leadership roles in health
care teams. They perform in administrative, clinical, academic and home-based settings and
develop strategic ways to meet individual needs in eliminating illnesses. They make
occupation or activities more visible and supportive in community. The occupational
therapists have integral to them the beliefs, patient values, interpersonal skills and
knowledge; these qualities are used to educate and demonstrate the breadth of occupation or
activities (Case-Smith 2013). The complexity in health care services make it difficult for
people to understand and thus get confused even with the assistance of health care personnels
and nursing officials. The occupational therapists bridge this gap in understanding complex
health care support services by their enhanced knowledge and interpersonal skills. Utilizing
these skills, occupational therapists contribute to status evaluation and changes that promote

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long term success. Patient or client focus is central to occupational therapists; they are active
and patient listeners to patients and perform clarification of every health care specific role
that the patient needs to understand. The occupational therapists play integral roles in
collaborative efforts and sharing of information among interdisciplinary health care team
members. They promote supportive activities to health care staffs which allow smooth flow
of the health care process. To perform leadership roles in health care, achieving goals with
positive patient outcome requires multiple skills. The occupational therapists have
adaptability and flexibility; they have a visionary planning of any care plan intended to meet
person-centred health improvement. They are involved in social interactions and designing
technological models with a clear prior visionary planning approach. The quality of
flexibility is an important characteristic during crisis situations; the occupational therapists
play an important role in assigning roles among the health care team members so that the
most important and needy situations are attended on a priority basis. A characteristic feature
of occupational therapists is their emotional intelligence, which helps to understand the
emotional states of the patients and develop a strong relational bonding with the patients.
Patience in listening to patient problems and the act of powerful communication are integral
among occupational therapists. The occupational therapist are highly qualified in terms of
education and technology; they provide technological improvements through innovative
operational skills and aim to improve decision-making through technological improvements
(Adam, Peters and Chipchase 2013). They provide for advocacy of technological innovations
and work for streamlining of technological advancements and ensure efficient technological
management. The adaptive abilities of occupational therapists lie in that they perform
evaluation of care problems and undergo critical analysis to identify the issues and relate
them to bring about improved care delivery. They apply different perspectives in addressing
the rising issues and provide the most efficient way of solving that issue. The proper and

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efficient planning about carrying out an operation to improve patient health and the visionary
approach are critical qualities possessed by occupational therapists which make them
efficient in health care team management. They have a clear vision about how changes would
bring about success in patient care and support services; they engage with the health care
team members, prepare a planning strategy and set goals to implement that plan (Clark et al.
2014). They have a vision for what challenges would come with implementing new plans.
They are even prepared on how to face the challenges. They are capable of communicating
and educating the team members about reaching goals in less time and with efficacy.
Conclusion
The progressive and dynamic profession of occupational therapy is aimed to provide
beneficial support services to individuals to enable them to carry out regular activities with
ease and comfort. This profession is different from that of physical therapy given to patients.
The occupational therapy supports the patients and other individuals incapable of performing
daily activities with manual care services. These services are not fixed as compared to
physical therapy; occupational therapy attends to individuals and identifies the root problems
and risk factors and thereby develops a strategic care plan specific to an individual’s needs.
The demand of occupational therapists are increasing with changing health care system and
patient’s demands. The recent workforce for occupational therapy is less; the increasing
aging population and their demands necessitated an increase in occupational therapy
workforce and that their inclusion in different health care departments is now becoming an
essential requirement to improve patient health care.

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References
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