Respiratory patients often need oxygen therapy to prevent excessive physical exertion from leading to oxygen desaturation (which drops below 90% saturation levels). Occupational Therapists (OTs) can teach these patients how to conserve energy through educational handouts and self-care tips that may include oxygen delivery systems or respirators masks.
Teach patients how to utilize pursed lip breathing as an energy conservation technique during IADLs. Encourage them to sit while bathing and use assistive devices such as tub benches/shower chairs, reachers and socks aids, long-handled reachers/sock aides and electric kitchen tools.
1. Pace Yourself
People living with illness need to learn how to pace themselves in order to avoid becoming exhausted. Occupational Therapists (OTs) employ various strategies and techniques to teach patients this. OTs work with a wide range of disabilities, ages, diagnoses and disorders – you might find them working in hospitals teaching parents how to hold their babies when they become too weak for standing, or helping a patient complete daily tasks such as eating, bathing and dressing in their home environment.
Pacing involves planning and organizing your day to include activities you value most while not exceeding your tolerance levels. To avoid fatigue and burnout, the key to successful pacing is gradually building activity before taking breaks between activities – this way avoiding an endless cycle of success followed by exhaustion.
Finding your personal tolerances may require experimentation over time; just remember not to push beyond what your body can handle as this will only leave you exhausted and feeling sick and tired for days afterwards.
Setting goals that matter can also be an excellent way to learn to pace yourself. Setting these goals will keep you on the right path, showing that life doesn’t revolve solely around symptoms. Over time, you might find you can accomplish things you thought impossible before, such as washing your hair or shopping – once you understand how to pace yourself.
2. Take Rest Breaks
Occupational Therapists teach patients to pace themselves and take breaks throughout the day, as well as plan tasks and activities around their energy level. This may include activities designed to meet mobility and endurance levels as well as home and community outings. When planning these outings, an OT takes into consideration factors like frequency and length of each activity as well as which ones they can attend with family, friends or hired caregivers.
Breaks during tasks are one of the best ways to combat fatigue. Consider all of the times that pushing through an activity just to finish it led to fatigue and an eventual end result of needing a long period of rest or missing other events due to lack of energy later on in the week. Instead of forcing through longer activities unbroken by breaks, consider breaking them up into more manageable chunks for maximum efficiency and success.
Studies demonstrate the power of rest breaks to increase energy levels during mentally taxing tasks. A recent RCT compared the effects of nonbreak condition, unstructured break, physical activity or relaxation exercises and nonbreak condition on fatigue levels during a 4-hour academic lecture; results revealed that only nonbreak condition increased feelings of fatigue while both exercise and relaxation breaks decreased fatigue levels significantly.
Limiting activity to short, frequent breaks can be challenging for some individuals. If this is you, take a look at these brain break ideas or movement break activities on The OT Toolbox as simple solutions for adding more movement into your work day!
3. Plan Your Day
OTs often have their work cut out for them; their days begin by reviewing patient charts and crossing off tasks on their to-do lists for the week ahead. Some therapists opt for online systems to manage assignments while others rely on physical folders or binders – either way, keeping records organized is key for a successful therapy career.
Therapy professionals spend much of their time standing while treating patients, which can put undue strain on the body. Therefore, occupational therapists use foot supports or orthotics at work and wear supportive footwear in order to maximize comfort during patient encounters.
As occupational therapy can be an exhausting profession, particularly for traveling agencies, it’s essential to prioritize self-care. Make a point of taking 5-10 minute breaks during the day for stretching and breathing deeply, or incorporate yoga, meditation or a quick walk into your routine to recharge and improve concentration.
As an occupational therapist (OT), you may work with patients diagnosed with cerebral palsy or other long-term chronic disabilities that may never fully recover; therefore, ongoing assistance with daily tasks may be required from you and adaptive equipment like leg braces, wheelchairs and eating aids can be taught to these individuals to aid them in daily tasks.
Provide your patients with energy conservation strategies they can implement at home, such as pacing their activity levels and taking breaks when fatigued. Furthermore, encourage them to simplify difficult tasks by using helpful tools or delegating them to family, friends, or hired caregivers; advise them to prepare ahead for activities like shopping trips by booking transportation services in advance and packing groceries into a cart.
4. Simplify Difficult Tasks
Occupational Therapists work closely with those living with chronic conditions that increase fatigue and pain levels, such as arthritis, COVID-19, fibromyalgia and ALS. Patients may come to their OT with precautions from their primary physician such as lifting restrictions or pacing during activity to decrease symptoms flare ups.
Occupational therapy practitioners can assist their clients in managing their energy by providing education and visual handouts on energy management topics. Furthermore, occupational therapists (OTs) can facilitate reviewing, revising, or delegating tasks to caregivers – for instance if someone with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (ALS) is in later stages they may need to outsource many daily tasks as this will increase symptoms further.
This Occupational Energy Conservation Pack is a simple and straightforward way to help maximize client functional outcomes, improve quality of life, and assist them as they manage the effects of their condition. Use the educational materials included within this kit to inform patients on pacing their day in an organized fashion; simplify difficult tasks where necessary and delegate as required; as well as pace/plan/prioritize accordingly and prioritizing tasks during daily planning meetings or delegating when appropriate. Also included is a short video overview, PDF printouts of educational material plus handout on pursed lip breathing techniques – ideal for providing your patients!
5. Delegate Tasks
Delegating tasks can be an effective tool in aiding patient recovery, but professionals must first be certain that the person to whom they delegated possesses all of the qualifications for doing the task, including training, knowledge and expertise in that area of practice. Delegating tasks to unlicensed practitioners could cause resistance from them as well as barriers in adopting the new role – this could include perceived role boundary threats as well as insecurity about whether their delegate has all necessary skills.
Delegated assistants can be invaluable resources for therapists who cannot complete most of their clinical work in clinic settings, providing support with client management and scheduling duties as well as home modification projects, occupational therapy evaluations and assessments, among other duties.
This study sought to determine the most efficient means of implementing an occupational therapist’s scope of practice with an assistant workforce. It was incited by an inquiry from an OT regarding whether and how they could delegate tasks to their assistant due to increased service demand and the need to streamline administrative processes.
This study involved analysing time-motion data collected from four publically funded health organisations in Victoria, Australia. Time was broken into categories and recorded accordingly; logistic mixed models were then employed to examine the influence of various factors on occupational therapists (OTs) and assistants’ time spent performing specific tasks; findings indicate a high volume of non-patient related activities being completed by delegated assistants which warrants further exploration.
