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Do occupational therapists work in outpatient settings and if so when should a survivor seek out outpatient occupational therapy?

This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.

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Occupational Therapist

Yes, we definitely do work in outpatient settings. If you have a loved one that is at home and is not getting any services at all, you need to reach out to your physician and then see if they're having issues with this. You might need to seek occupational therapy so you can talk to your physician and they can refer out to us to do an evaluation, but most of the time after inpatient rehab patients will transition to outpatient therapy as long as they have someone to take them or they have access to transportation. Sometimes they will do home health first to kind of get a little bit stronger and then they transition outpatient therapy. For outpatient therapy and that setting, occupational therapists really focus on helping if traumatic brain injury patients have coordination, strength, and visual deficits. We also specialize in driver rehab, return to work skills, you know work simplification to make that easier. Also some outpatient settings have day programs which are really great. In these day programs, you can go and do activities and integrate back in the community. You go out and you take the train and you go grocery shopping and make a list and kind of do those activities. It's a collaborative speech therapy and case management so it’s very cool.