Collaborative care: a programmatic proposal to improve occupational therapy in acute care

• Main Author: Glenn, Meryl Abbey
• Other Authors: Warnken, Elizabeth A.
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2021
• Subjects: Occupational therapy
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/2144/42571

The problem is the current challenge of the acute care environment itself, which includes significant intra-professional challenges for occupational therapists. The evidence reviewed revealed that occupational therapists have difficulty maintaining a holistic approach with a lack of standardization in how they deliver care and an ever decreasing length of stay in which to provide said care (Atwal & Caldwell, 2003; Britton et al., 2015; Crennan & MacRae, 2010). Collaborative Care is a program proposing to increase client-centeredness and client collaboration through the consistent use of subjective and objective assessments. These assessments are complementary to one another yet serve to deepen and broaden the occupational therapist’s understanding of each client as an individual. They aim to allow the therapist to capture essential, yet holistic, information about each client’s occupations for an optimal discharge and functional independence post-discharge. While many acute care settings are incorporating the use of one or more of these strategies, there is no evidence to show that all are being used as a cohesive, programmatic manner for increased standardization and quality of care (Crennan & MacRae, 2010; Griffin & McConnell, 2001).