Virtual Occupational Therapy (OT) Practice

My fascination with technology sparked my interest in the health care field and ultimately in occupational therapy. As a computer technician I felt how gratifying it was to help people adapt to their environment to accomplish their daily tasks. Seeing injury and exhaustion set in on my coworkers as they sat in their grey cubicles for hours, moved me to craft ergonomic workspaces, such as replacing their seats with yoga balls to improve their posture and spinal alignment, while providing others with ergonomic keyboards and mice that alleviated the numbing pain caused by their carpal tunnel syndrome. The support that I provided left the people around me healthy and happier, and gave me a sense of accomplishment that was unique and fulfilling. Occupational therapy provides me this rewarding feeling daily, as I help my patients rebuild the skills necessary to participate in the activities they love and depend on.

Occupational Therapy has played a role in helping those with Mental and physical disabilities in the United States since 1917. Before that time, Occupational Therapy was used solely in mental institutions to help people that were "more normal" and able to function in a social status. These patients enjoyed things like arts and crafts. It seemed that those who engaged in such activities where perceived as "more healthy". These findings lead Drs. to encourage patients to engage is such activity to improve there overall health. (http://quoccupationaltherapy.weebly.com/history-of-occupational-therapy.htmlhistory-of-occupational-therapy.html)

The fear of heights can sometimes leave people frozen in terror. There is large amount of evidence suggesting that virtual reality therapy has successfully helped alleviate conditions similar to PTSD. This is accomplished by slowly increasing the amount of stressors, as to not overload the patient with irrational fear. For example, with fear of heights, researchers can gradually increase the difficulty of the simulation, so that the height of the platform increases after every session. In a similar case study, 49 patients had volunteered to participate in a virtual reality treatment for their fear of flying. Results showed, “By the 6-month follow-up, 90% of treated participants had flown since completing treatment” (Anderson 2001). Effectiveness also hugely depends on plausibility and affordability. We need to consider if this treatment is convenient for

Occupational therapy is a profession that is currently growing faster than anyone would have expected. Because of the increase in demands for occupational therapy services, therapists are having larger caseloads, needing the help of more occupational therapists. Occupational therapy in the mental health setting is one environment that has grown in popularity over the last decade. Knowing the benefits of occupational therapy in this setting, and the expansion of clients needing occupational therapy services, more funding needs to be established in this setting.

I enjoy the simulation very much. I found it very educational as it put you in a situation to learn from actions. I felt so achieved when it finally said I won the game.and my office was fully expanded. So at the end I only missed three. One was about how often your password should be changed. I thought it was every thirty days and the answer was quarterly. The other two questions was about the USB and a firewall. I did not think about the patient’s USB containing a virus. As soon as I answered, I realized why my answer was wrong. Most of the answers are fairly obvious and it just requires the health care worker to be aware of what they say and do. I could see how the simulation could transfer to occupational therapy. Some therapist may be

According to the World Federation of Occupational Therapy, occupational therapy is a profession which is concerned with the promotion of well-being and health of individuals through engaging them in occupation. It is a holistic healthcare profession with an aim to promote health in individuals by enabling them to perform purposeful and meaningful activities across their lifespan. Occupational therapist by using different treatments help their patients with a mental, physical or developmental conditions to recover, develop or maintain daily work and life skills in themselves. OT is client-centered and see client as an integral part in the process of Occupational therapy. Therapist gives individualized attention and

I am fascinated by the “tool”, consequently ponder upon keeping ones “tool” in check. Resembling my practice focus on mainly treating the body. Through occupational therapy I hope to practice my ideas on dualism and aid my clients in keeping their bodies healthy. Additionally, help combat other bodily complications in which will affect their mind and soul in a negative way.

So many children this day in age, are sat in front of a television or a tablet and expected to keep quiet. Children are built to explore, move, and learn from their experiences, and this cannot happen when a child is inside, being distracted by technology. No matter how busy parents are, they should find at least thirty minutes a day to go outside and play with their children. If the weather does not permit outside play, then playing games inside is always a great alternative. Parents should be encouraging their children to develop the motor skills that they are going to need in order to succeed in school and later in life. Many parents encourage the development of their children’s gross motor skills by involving them in sports, dance, or gymnastics. These programs are great for not only teaching children how to be good at something they love, but they also encourage children to develop their motor skills. If parents find that they cannot afford programs such as these, they can focus on providing multiple opportunities for play. For example, one day they could go to the park or they could go over the neighbor’s house to play. Ultimately, the best thing that parents can do to encourage the development of their children’s motor skills is to allow them to play as much as possible and to allow them to try new activities, even if they are

The aging process and/or osteoarthritis contribute to decreased hand function; hand function disability causes a decrease in one or more activities of daily living. Jar and bottle opening is one of the most difficult activities of daily living for the elderly population. Studies with elderly adults have been performed, but no studies have included the elderly with known hand limitations. Occupational therapists use mostly a biomedical and adaptive equipment approach in the elderly with hand osteoarthritis, which is not a balanced plan of care that is client-centered and occupation-based. Studies show the elderly populations do not always utilize the adaptive equipment over time. The desire is to use a “hands-on approach” in fabricating one’s own adaptive equipment in occupational therapy treatment; the belief is this would improve acceptance and compliance by the user, and also enhance the adaptive skills of the client with changing hand function. The

This approach can not correct the patient's behavior in general, but to mitigate some of the individual issues under the force of it. Psychosocial treatment with the use of emotional approach is to apply the therapy memories, "simulation of presence", sensory integration, validation therapy, supportive therapy. Therapy memories is to discuss them with patients experienced an event on an individual or group sessions with a therapist. Presence simulation is listening to a patient player with recorded voices of his relatives. Reduced cognitive deficits produced as a result of cognitive therapy. To the patient oriented in reality, it provides information about the current year, month, day, week, time. By stimulating methods include music therapy,

Hand-eye coordination is a skill many of us overlook. We use our hands to complete everyday tasks without the constant supervision of our eyes. Take this chapter for an example; I wrote most of it without my eyes constantly on the keyboard, because my hands already know what buttons to press. However, my keyboard skills didn't formulate at the moment of my birth; instead, I had to practice. How did I practice? Video games. Online video games to be exact. And I didn't learn how to type on my own; I was in school! My elementary school recognizes the importance of video games in the development of hand-eye coordination, well at least in the use of a keyboard. My younger cousin, Ana Joe, said she uses online games in school to practice

Most parts of the writing recommends that it was not up to this point be that as it may, that virtual restoration had been recognized as a genuinely viable strategy for treatment. This leap forward did not go the distance years of innovative work then again, however through late presentations of minimal effort computer game frameworks, for example, the Nintendo Wii. It was then that advisors observed computer games capacities to empower and divert patients, as well as to occupy them, enhancing agony administration, and inspire them to perform restorative errands

The first major reason that demonstrates that video games can help people in their lives is that video games help us medically. The game “surgery simulator” is a noticeable example that some people took the inspiration of to turn it into a project to help in a medical environment. A study that the Paris Descartes University worked on and used a video game concept. The work is done by Dr. Thomas Gregory , and he took similar concept to “surgery simulator” and tried something called “Oculus Rift” and it is virtual reality device at the concept of it is that the doctor will put a camera on his forehead and it will record at 360 degree while the doctor do the surgery. In the end they will put the video in the Oculus Rift and student or the doctor

Therapists all across America are using video games to help their patients that have had problems functioning their arms and legs properly. But some think that the traditional way is the key to functioning normally. But I know that video game therapy is the best way for patients.

For many of these studies, technology was utilized for reflection, stimulation, or record keeping. Previously, technology use was debatable for the field, but had been used prior to 2005. However, throughout the year, support and possibilities for technology use increased in a range of topics. Computers were brought to the therapy scene less than two decades before, but once the technology was introduced it continued to thrie througout the medical field. The Internet's ability to be used for communication gained popularity with clients, family caregivers, and occupational therapists. For example, Doris Pierce urged therapists and scientists to inquire how technology could benefit health professions and research through the use of video and visual data. As exciting as new technology was though, it came with notable areas of uncertainty. IN the past, some research had been limited because not all properties of the study could be suitably recorded or studied without technological assistance. Introducing technology to the research enabled it to be completed faster and more accurately in some cases,. In other cases, technology may not have benefited the research at all. The researcher must give discretion as to whether the value of the study will rise with the use of technology. The new use of computers, the Internet, new programs, videography, etc. all could enable a