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Hello, I am a student in an MSOT program, and I’m taking an advocacy class and would like some help from the community with an assignment regarding integrated healthcare. My group and I have done some research and noticed that our local government has an integrated health strategy, however it doesn’t have much momentum in our state as not many primary care offices have OTS in our area. We understand that as an OT, we can provide services to educate patients, work on symptom reduction strategies by helping manage various I/ADLs, work, leisure, sleep, and med management skills. These skilled OT services can help prevent/manage many chronic conditions, promote health, and increase independence for many people. Despite the potential benefits, we have not seen many ( or any) PCP offices that focus on integrated healthcare that include OT services in our area.
We would love to gather the perspectives of OTs who are practicing (and aspiring to practice) in a PCP office to learn more about the pros/cons of integrated healthcare, the demand for integrated healthcare in your state, your experiences in the field, and what can be done to increase awareness to incorporate OTs in the integrated healthcare model
Hi Monica, I work in a community mental health team in Hereford (UK), and have an aspiring role in relation to integrative healthcare. The newest part of my role involves working in collaboration with primary care (GP surgeries) to support with earlier mental health access. My role is specifically mental health but as an OT, I feel we are better suited to offer holistic in rervention to clients with a range of physical and mental needs. A lot of the work focuses on basic ADL's, sleep, health promotion and community integration (voluntary support sector). I think that more research is needed in practice to evidence our role (for further funding/posts) and support integrative healthcare. Happy for further conversations. Abigail