Occupational Therapist in Oncology

Hi Readers:

Another area where an occupational therapist could work is oncology, or cancer units. Working in this area means that you would mainly work in a hospital, either general or children’s, or sometimes rehabilitation centers and hospice units. A general hospital means that you could have a variety of patients of all ages.

As an OT in this department, your role would be “to facilitate and enable an individual patient to achieve maximum functional performance, […] regardless of his or her life expectancy” (AOTA). This means that you would help a patient with everyday life activities, lifestyle management, help them maintain functional range of motion through exercises, cognitive skills and more. There are many different types of cancers and they, along with their treatments, can effect patients differently. This means that each patient will have unique needs for therapy and plans of action. Some patients struggle with the side effects of treatment such as fatigue, pain, and other illnesses. While other patients may have difficulties socializing as a result of their condition. An OT would “address these effects through intervention aimed at restoring function” (AOTA). Even once treatment is over and a patient is in remission, they still require OT services to transition back to normal living.

An occupational therapist can make a great impact on cancer patients both during and after treatment. Cancer is a disease that can drastically effect a person’s daily living and they need assistance on how to live as normally as they possibly can. Hopefully I provided you with adequate information on what an OT can do in an oncology unit and you enjoyed this week’s blog!

Thanks for reading!

Megan

References:

American Occupational Therapy Association. (2011). The role of occupational therapy in oncology. http://www.aota.org/~/media/Corporate/Files/AboutOT/Professionals/WhatIsOT/RDP/Facts/Oncology%20fact%20sheet.pdf