OT in the ICU

After reading an article about OT in the ICU, I learned about what it is like having a job as an occupational therapist in the intensive care unit. The ICU has a wide variety of diagnoses such as severe sepsis, organ failure, myocardial infarction, major surgery, detoxing, or insulin drips. An ICU OT they types of interventions vary. I learned that the patient's condition and stability is a big factor in deciding what kind of intervention is done. For more alert/awake patients who are stable, working on mobility such as getting to a chair or walking to the toilet is a good choice. For patients that are less stable, a better choice might be to keep the intervention in the bed or in a chair. i also learned about the importance of family education. Keeping the patient's family informed and educated on what the rehab process will be like is important. It is about letting the patient have meaning in their life and keeping the family informed helps with this incase there are specific wishes the patient has. Sarah Stromsdorfer, OTR/L, the author of this article said she was very minimalistic when it came to using equipment in the ICU. Gait belts, cardiac chairs, bedside commodes, and walkers are some of the equipement Stromsdorfer uses within her intervention. Stromsdorfer mentions teaching the nurses how to build the plastic utensils up with tape to be adaptive for the patients. 

My main take-away from this article is to be considerate of the patient. The ICU is filled with so many different cases and you have to be able to adapt to that. As Stromsdorfer mentioned in her article, it is really important to be educated on medical floors, acute care, lab values, surgical procedure, precautions, tests, imaging, and pulmonary status. As an occupational therapist you have to find the type of intervention that is just right for your patients, and every patient will be different. In class we talk about the just right challenge and Stromsdorfer brings it up in her article by saying you have to know when you can push and when you have to dial it back. 

Sarah Stromsdorfer, O. T. R. L. (2021, January 20). Occupational therapy in the ICU: An interview with an ICU OT. myotspot.com. Retrieved March 27, 2023, from https://www.myotspot.com/occupational-therapy-icu/