Part I: Article Summary
The article by Berger et al. (2014) report on a primary study that was undertaken on patients who had recovered from a major stroke. The article reports on how different professionals assisted the patients contemporaneously. The collaboration from the different professionals had positive outcomes on the wellbeing of the patients. The contributions of the occupational therapist assisted with managing day to day chores, while the physical therapist assisted in resuming some strength in their limbs. Contemporaneously, the nutritionist assisted the patients on how to mitigate his weight problems. The primary focus of the outcome is the combined positive outcome for the patient, which comes about when all the efforts of the various professionals are applied at the same time, through a coordinated approach, as opposed to being applied severally. By the end of the combined therapy, Mr. Johnson could get himself out of the bus while Mr. Lydecker could take out a boat by himself. The outcomes, thus rise beyond curative and rehabilitation outcomes to the resumption of the confidence and abilities that the patients had before their respective strokes.
Conversely, the article Karmali (2018) relates to how inter-professional collaboration in therapy can enable the professionals to help one another while undertaking rehabilitation on the same patient. The article focuses on leadership theories such as the path-goal theory and theory U. The path goals theory engenders the concept that professionals perform better when they are motivated by their work. Theory U, on the other hand, relates to changing leadership goals in order to adapt to the leadership environment. In the primary study, Karmali (2018) present evidence of positive outcomes when different practitioners collaborate while treating a patient. Among the positive outcomes include the ability to communicate positively with all the therapist due to the contributions of the speech therapist. Further, the efforts of the physical therapist enabled the patient to have stronger limbs, which in turn supplemented the efforts of the occupational therapist. The combination of different techniques from the different professionals worked together for the benefit of the patient.
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Part II: Examples
Example I:
Speech-language Pathologist (SLP) helps the patient to pronounce and appreciate the nouns and verbs relating to day to day activities while the OT (Occupational therapist) assists the patient to learn how to perform each of the activities mentioned. The patient thus learns mundane day to day activities both by name and activity. At the same time, the PT (Physical therapist) takes note of the areas where the patient is unable to follow the instructions of the OT due to physical limitations and performs exercises with the patient in order to improve these capabilities (Irish Heart Foundation, n.d). Eventually, the patient can mention and carry out day to day activities due to the combined and contemporaneous efforts of the three practitioners.
Example II
The OT (Occupational therapist) is teaching the patient how to dress without any secondary assistance. Several movements of the hands and legs are a major challenge to the patient, thus hampering the dressing exercise so the PT (Physical therapist) works with the patient to learn these respective movements . The PT combines exercises to strengthen the limbs and also those that ease movement at the joint. Communication between the patient and the OT and PT is a bit limited due to the limited vocal abilities of the patient, thus the Speech-language Pathologist (SLP) intervenes to assist in the tripartite communication (Irish Heart Foundation, n.d). The patient learns how to dress, strengthens limbs, and improves language contemporaneously.
Example III
The PT (Physical therapist) is working on the ability to seat up and hold the upper body erect while the occupational therapy is working on dressing and undressing on the lower extremities. The Speech-language Pathologist (SLP) is assisting the patient to learn how to make common requests necessary in a social setting and also notice and adapt to social cues. Contemporaneously the OT is helping the patient write down the words in the common requests to help the patient practice how to write again (Irish Heart Foundation, n.d). The PT is working on the other hand to mimic gestures that align with the requests, such as an open palm held up when requesting something.
References
Berger, S., Aravich, D., Dastur, N., Friedman, C., & Son, A. (2014). Changing the trajectory of stroke recovery through interprofessional care. OT Practice 19 (21), 7–12.
Irish Heart Foundation (n.d). Stroke Rehabilitation. Retrieved from http://irishheart.ie/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Stroke-Rehabilitation-DL-2013.pdf
Karmali, S. (2018). Using leadership theories to improve interprofessional communication and patient outcomes. SIS Quarterly Practice Connections , 3 (1), 18–20
