What is OTPF?

Occupational Therapy Practice Framework is an AOTA document widely used in the education and profession of occupational therapy. This is a very important document that guides the practice of occupational therapy. The OTPF is a reference that provides common language and communication for practitioners and students. This framework highly focuses on the use of occupations to promote health and wellness.  The two big areas of the OTPF are domains and process. The domains are what the occupational therapist does with the client, where the process is how the occupational therapist does it, therefore, this document can be very helpful during evaluation and intervention.

Era Presentations

Being able to participate in the the era project, as well as listen in on others, was a very fun & unique way to learn about the history of Occupational Therapy. It is amazing to see all the transformations this profession has made over the decades.  There were many important names mentioned throughout the presentations that have impacted the field of OT, but Dr. Gary Keilhofner (1980s) stood out to me the most.  Keilhefner developed the Model of Human Occupation, which helps OT practitioners to better address the important issues concerning their clients.  He provided the profession with evidence supporting occupation-based practice and different assessments.  When a client is unable to perform an occupational role, it is then OTs role to identify the cause to overcome the problem.  These assessments become very beneficial when evaluating the clients to help solve the problem and form goals.  Dr. Gary Keilhofner's creativity and passion has shaped the profession of Occupational Therapy and also been beneficial to both practitioners and clients.

Client vs. Patient

Before I started this new journey in occupational therapy school, I thought I had a decent understanding of the profession, but I am quickly finding out that there was so much more to learn.  One thing that has stood out to me since day one was using the term “client” rather than “patient”.  Being that I worked in an outpatient clinic as a technician for the last year and used the term “patient”, it has been a difficult transition.  A patient refers to someone who receives medical care whereas a client is someone that seeks assistance of a therapist. Moving away from the “medical model” was one of the best decisions because one simple word can make or break someone.  “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me” is  one old tale that is far from being true. The words we choose to use as individuals play a huge role on how the world looks at us.  This connects to person-first language, which is also something new that I have recently learned.  In today’s society we heavily use a medical diagnosis to label a person, which can be very powerful and hurtful.  The proper way to address a client is put them first and their diagnosis second.  People with disabilities or illnesses are mothers, fathers, uncles, and sisters. They are humans too and they do not deserve to be treated differently.  We as practitioners have to be very careful and keep these things in mind before labeling a person and potentially doing more harm than good.