Occupational Therapy Dept.
Occupational Therapy (OT) is a health care profession that provides services to people whose ability to function in daily life has been disrupted. Purposeful activity, therapeutic exercise, special equipment, skills training and environmental modifications are used to maximize the person's ability to attain independence in everyday living (BOTA definition, 2010).
The staff members of the Occupational Therapy Department at CRP work across both academic and clinical services. Clinical Occupational Therapists (OTs) work in the following areas:
Outpatient Service
An outpatient OT service is provided at CRP that includes evaluation, treatment and education after an accident, illness or injury and diseases. The goal of OT is to enable an individual to carry out their activities of daily living include performed at home, workplace, school and in the community with their maximum level of independent. Following a thorough evaluation, which includes an assessment of physical, mental, social, cognitive-perceptual, functional, environmental and daily living skills, if appropriate, an OT will tailor a treatment plan dedicated to restoring a patient's maximum functional ability. Moreover OTs are also providing home based therapy services for patient with adult neurology.
Treatment Approach - A variety of treatment models and techniques are used by the OT, some of those are Person-Occupation-Environment, MOHO, COPM, A-ONE, Neurodevelopmental, Rehabilitation and Functional Performance.
The treatment program is designed based on the assessment and the specific goals of each patient. Which includes adjunctive modalities, adaptive equipment, self-care retraining, cognitive-perceptual retraining, therapeutic exercises, range of motion and strengthening, fine & gross motor activities, splinting, environmental modification, self-care training, home and community training, functional & purposeful activities.
Stroke Rehabilitation
Occupational Therapists are also working in the Stroke Rehabilitation Unit of CRP. It is specialized unit where rehabilitation team is working together with a common goal. Patient with stroke after medically stable they can access services from SRU as out-patient basis.
Different group therapy also available in OT department which includes
- Functional Hand Therapy Group
- ADL Training/ Dressing Group
- Cognitive retraining Group
- Psychosocial counseling group
- Caregiver education class
- Case conference
Ergonomic Consultancy Service
OT Department also providing ergonomic consultancy services for individuals and workplace setup for the client having chronic back and neck problems. For example desk setup for computer users. Moreover we are giving consultancy regarding occupational health and safety issues for corporate and RMG sectors.
OT in Mental Health
Restore Mental Health Project based in the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), Dhaka is running with the ain to promote the role of occupational therapy in the provision of mental health care. September 2014 Occupational Therapy service started at NIMH and in 18th November ’14 officially inaugurated the service by Dr. Valarie A. Taylor and Prof. Dr. Waziul Alam Chawdhury, Director of NIMH. Currently 1 COT and 2 OT Interns are working there and yearly average 430 patient received service from OT including 1150 individual session and 130 Group therapy sessions (5-8 patient per group) OTs are also working there for increasing awareness raising and advocacy.
Hand Therapy
The hand therapy outpatient unit was set up in 2008 with the help of Interplast Australia & NZ. Some common conditions seen are fractures, De-quervain's, tenosynovitis, Carpel tunnel syndrome, trigger finger, tennis elbow, nerve injuries, tendon injuries and burns. There are more traumatic injuries over progressive conditions like arthritis. The main assessments used are:
Muscle strength using the oxford muscle scale, range of movement with goniometry, grip strength using a dynamometer and pinch gauge, sensation using microfilaments and two point discrimination, functional assessments
After assessment, a problem list and a plan is formed. The Occupational Therapists at CRP make all of the splints. Due to shortage of materials, resting splints and cock-up splints are made out of a material called 'plastic-wood'. When there are donations of splinting materials (like thermo-plast and aquaplast) from overseas thumb-spica splints, MPC hyperextension blocker splints, finger splints and other splints can be made. We also customized dynamic and progressive static splints for our patients.
In-patient Service – Spinal cord injury
The Spinal Cord Injury Unit is in-patient only. It consists of 108 beds, with 12 wards (one post-operative ward, one female and ten male wards, this is due to the majority of spinal cord injuries occurring in young males). The majority of spinal cord injuries are cause via fall from height or tree, carrying heavy loads on head, diving into shallow water, heavy objects falling on their back, or road traffic accidents. Rehabilitation following a SCI consists of four phases:
Acute: OT interventions include positioning, splinting, hand therapy, psychological support, pain management, introducing leisure activities, and Carer education.
Active: OT interventions include functional bed mobility, transferring, wheelchair mobility, introducing functional activities, splinting, hand therapy, and participation in art & song classes.
Rehabilitation: OT interventions include retraining ADLs, advanced transferring, functional mobility, wheelchair assessment & advanced wheelchair skills training, prescribing assistive devices & modification, vocational assessment, education, and addressing spirituality.
Community Reintegration Program/Halfway Hostel
The halfway hostel is located on the CRP Campus and is designed to replicate the home environment on discharge. This is a place where patients with a spinal cord injury (SCI) who are being discharged from hospital stay for at least fourteen days to improve their coping and adjustment ability. The aim of the program is to facilitate independence and coping skills in a person with SCI in preparation for successful integration into the community.
The OT coordinates the patient's activities in the program, which include:
- Home exercise/therapy (group and individual), home and workplace modification classes. The OT will then conduct individual planning with patients to tailor the home/workplace modifications required for their specific environment.
- Psychosocial adjustment groups (including stress management, spiritual counseling, positive thinking education).
- Personal ADL (activities of daily living) practice (showering, dressing, eating, toileting), modification and equipment prescription. The OT will also do transfer practice to/from wheelchair to toilet, bed, chair etc.
For further information please contact:
Head of the OT Department
E-Mail: tauhidul.islam@crp-bangladesh.org
