Interprofessionalism Essay

741 Words2 Pages

The healthcare industry is made up many different branches of professionals that specialize in certain types of medicine. Many times, patients have a need to see multiple health care professionals at once. In order to provide optimal care, it is very important that all of the health care providers seeing the same patient, communicate and work together. When the providers come together and work as a team, it is known as interprofessional care. In interprofessional care, the providers not only work amongst themselves, but they also work together with the patients, their families, and the communities. Nowadays patients have complex medical needs that tend to require the attention of multiple healthcare professionals. When a patient is under …show more content…

This is extremely beneficial for students so that they can grasp the knowledge of interprofessionalism and learn about the importance of incorporating this into their own clinical experiences. An example of an activity that students can do during class may be a case study. Working in groups, they can discuss the case study and distinguish ways that the collaboration of work was beneficial to the patient’s needs. Also, they can discuss ways that the use of interprofessional care was lacking, and provide examples on changes that could have been made in order to provide better quality care for the patient. After research in different areas of practice such as occupational or speech therapy, the students can look at the case in the eyes of a professional in a different scope of practice. This may allow them see how the patient could benefit from other forms of therapy. Clinical experience is also a great way for students to gain interprofessional care experience. If able, it is important for physical therapist assistant students to observe different professions to distinguish the roles that they play in a patient’s …show more content…

An occupational therapist is one who helps people of all ages be able to perform all of the daily activities that they need and want to do. Some examples of cases that an occupational therapist would typically take on are helping elderly people adapt to the cognitive changes that their bodies experience, helping both children and adults with disabilities be able to participate in daily activities such as work and school, or helping patients who have suffered from an injury regain their skills as best as possible. Although the work of an occupational therapist may sound very similar to that of a physical therapist, the goals of their treatment are very different. With physical therapy, the therapist’s goal is to improve the actual impairment. A physical therapist attempts to strengthen muscles, increase mobility, and decrease pain as much as possible. On the other hand, an occupational therapist will help to teach the patient how to perform daily activities with their impairment. They deal more with modifications based on the patient’s environment and deal with long term

Open Document