Canadian journal of occupational therapy. Revue canadienne d'ergothérapie
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Parkinson's disease is a common neurodegenerative disorder, affecting over 100,000 Canadians. With advances in medical and surgical treatments, clients are living longer and fuller lives. ⋯ This article addresses this void by describing these deficits and current measurement tools that can be used to evaluate the impact on people living with Parkinson's disease. Although several tools are cited, three tools are recommended for an occupational therapy evaluation of individuals with Parkinson's disease: the Canadian Occupational Performance Measure, the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and the Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire.
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The health care system is responding to a paradigm shift from the industrial era to the knowledge society. The rapidly changing administrative structures of some hospitals and increasing numbers of proposals for new models of care are disconcerting for therapists who are used to working in traditional organizational structures and models of care. However, with a broader understanding of the shift that is occurring, it becomes apparent that this paradigm shift is pushing the system toward care practices that are more consistent with occupational therapy practices than those of the traditional medical model. This paper describes the factors influencing the direction of the paradigm shift, the major emerging models of care and organizational structures associated with the paradigm shift, and then discusses the issue of whether the paradigm shift presents a threat or a challenge to occupational therapists.
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Occupational therapy has tremendous, unfulfilled potential. The lecture critically analyzes that potential in light of occupational therapy's social vision. ⋯ However, analysis also shows that occupational therapy's social vision is narrowed to comply with dominant community, managerial and medical approaches to disability and aging. Given therapists' good intentions, critical analysis is unnerving, but it provides a guide for transforming practice and developing occupational therapy's potential.