Group Activities for Occupational Therapy

General:

What is our actual scope of practice or the expectations made on us by our profession? Is there a standard? Yes! Absolutely there is a standard! 

The OTPF says this, “Interventions provided to groups and populations are directed to all the members collectively rather than individualized to specific people within the group. Practitioners direct their interventions toward current or potentially disabling conditions with the goal of enhancing the health, well-being, and participation of all group members collectively.

Assessments to use in Evaluation and Progress Notes:

Important: You canNOT bill for group therapy if the intervention is not prompted by a medical diagnosis and substantiated by research-supported or evidence based practice.

Every patient being given a skilled medical services (occupational therapy) must have a reason they are on program and require the skill of a rehabilitation professional.

Group therapy IS NOT activities!! If your client require social participation for psychosocial support, your role is to create a schedule for them to be ensure they are apart of the facility activities program and to ensure they are given the just right level of activities. Your role is not to come up with activities and bill for it. If it’s not working to remediate, restore, maintain, or enhance current level of function based on the recorded diagnosis, you must refer to activities.

How should you approach group activities in Occupational Therapy? 

Explanation: If I was to come up with something at the top of my head for a group occupational therapy session for sub-acute patients going back into the community, I would break down the number of average weeks the SNF is planning to keep them. Yes, because of the changes all SNFs ‘ballpark’ the number of weeks a patient will be there because they should be planning for how much group therapy they should administer (if any). So, say roughly 6 weeks. 

Psychosocial support and community reintegration preparation

1. Falls Prevention
2. Balance exercises and dynamic balance training
3. Alternative pain management and the importance of managing the pain
4. Planning Adventures (1 adventure a month) Doing one new thing a month that you need to grow with
5. Who are you going to call? Teach them the different providers with handouts
6. Memory loss and action steps 

All of these areas case the most disfunction if not addressed. 

As for Long term Care Residents requiring group therapy, I would focus on exciting the brain and the body:

1. Stretching (ballistic stretching not static stretching) 
2. Sing along 
3. Anything with gross movement and neurodynamic activity (seated or standing)

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