Skip to main content

Healthcare Goals

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Triple Aim has, as the name implies, three main goals: improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita cost of health care. Unfortunately, the United States doesn't score very well in the health care area, so I believe that these goals are worth the time and effort necessary to see them through to reality. Occupational Therapy certainly plays a role in each of these goals. One of OT's overarching themes is that it is client-centered, thus touching on the goal of improving patient experience. OTs also work in health promotion, or the use of discipline-specific techniques to assist people in achieving their health-related goals. OT's discipline-specific techniques would be occupations, or meaningful daily activities. OTs use client-centered occupations (what each individual wants/needs to be able to do in their daily routine), as well as adaptations to maximize the pursuit of health and quality of life for individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations. In relation to the last goal, a recent study found that increased spending on OT led to lower readmission rates for clients. This points to the cost-effectiveness of OT, and the unique perspective and benefit that OT brings to the table among all other healthcare disciplines.

Released by the  U.S. Department of Health and Human Services each decade, Healthy People 2020's vision is a society in which all people live long, healthy lives. Their mission is to identify health improvement priorities, such as increasing public awareness and understanding of determinants of health, disease, and disability, and to provide measurable objectives and goals. Healthy People 2020's website (healthypeople.org), provides specific, measurable objectives for varying aspects of health/health care, as well as tools and resources to help people make good more informed decisions regrading their health. These topics range from Diabetes, Cancer, Vision, Sleep Health, to Heart Disease and Stroke. OT also plays a role in the goals of Healthy People 2020, as we focus on a wide variety of health issues- including all of those listed above. The wide scope of practice that OT holds has significant potential to reach a vast array of clients, families, communities, and populations, which makes me so grateful to become a part of this profession.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why Universal Design?

In his TED talk, Michael Nesmith explains, via a translator, why we need universal design. The term "universal design" was coined by Ron Mace, and is defined as "the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design." Clearly, as a man with hearing issues, Michael has a unique perspective on the topic of universal design. A helpful illustration given during his talk has to do with a doorknob. Maybe you haven't ever given doorknobs much thought (I sure hadn't before this TED talk), but that's usually how it goes for people who have no issues using a one on a daily basis. What about people using wheelchairs, or a mother pushing a stroller? Doorknobs become a bigger issue to those who do not have complete accessibility to them. However, a simple solution was created to fix this issue: the automatic sliding door. Michael explains, "This is such a univer...
3 comments
Read more

Mock Interview Reflection

To prepare for this mock interview, I read through a few common OT-related interview questions and thought through my answers. I was originally planning to type out my answers, but I decided instead to only list bullet points to reflect on so that I did not come across as too scripted/rehearsed. I recently interviewed for a level II fieldwork rotation at St. Jude, and I went more in depth to prepare for that than I did for this interview in particular. Because of this, I felt like I had a good foundation going into this interview. Overall, I felt like the interview went well. I was able to answer all the questions without too much hesitation, and I felt like I answered them sufficiently, although I could have gone more in depth in some answers. Something that went differently than I expected was that I talked faster than I normally do. I learned that it is okay to take a pause and think through my answer before speaking in order to provide a more in-depth and full ans...
Post a Comment
Read more

Level II Fieldwork

As I am starting to prepare for my level II fieldwork rotations, the biggest thing I am trying to keep in mind is that I am not expected to come into these new settings/situations as an expert. As a student, I am not going to be expected to be perfect, as I am still learning and growing. While it is important to prepare and do my best, I know that my fieldwork educators are going to teach me and push me along during my three months in each setting. One quality that fieldwork educators like to see in their students is confidence. While I might not be confident in all of my skills yet, I should be confident in my ability to learn and improve. Another positive quality in a fieldwork student is being responsible and taking advantage of your own learning. This includes being on time, being alert, and doing work at home (researching diagnoses, interventions, familiarizing yourself with assessments/precautions, etc). I think that the ideal fieldwork student is motivated, ask...
Post a Comment
Read more