More School Work

***It has been a busy couple of weeks, so I have been forced to use my writing assignments as updates. Hopefully I will be able to present some more interesting material soon.***

The Question: What can history teach us in dealing with the challenging, changing, and competitive healthcare market place of today?

My Answer: The healthcare system is an ever-changing entity. Costs are always rising; services are always changing, and so is the availability of those services to the public. Especially with the recent election of a new democratic president, we are sure to see some major changes in the near future of healthcare. From an economic standpoint, the healthcare field is in need of professionals that will be able to create and maintain useful members of society. Those individuals who cannot make their own living have contributed in part to the escalating cost of healthcare. They can’t get insurance because they are not employed, they can’t buy their own insurance because they don’t have an income; we can’t refuse to give them care and have to make up for costs they incurred when paying customers come in for services. While we cannot promise to restore all individuals to economic productivity, as a profession, we need to focus on proving that occupational therapy can provide services with this potential.

In the past, occupational therapy has been a part of this restorative process (Ambrozi & Schwartz 1995). In fact, the profession practically rooted itself in this concept. Injured veterans in particular were originally discarded and thought to never be able to become productive members of society again (Ambrozi & Schwartz 1995). The media pressed the issue of restoring these people to functional economic status, and recognized occupational therapy as being vital to this process. However, at the time, occupational therapy was focused on “internal concerns [and] may have missed an opportunity to promote occupational therapy to the general public by aligning itself with a theme that the media valued” (Ambrozi & Schwartz 1995).

In the future, the profession of occupational therapy needs to be aware of the public’s focus. We need to advocate for ourselves and advertise our services based on what the public is interested in, while maintaining integrity in our profession. We need to keep up with changes in politics and continue to prove to the general public, politicians, and other healthcare professionals that our services are a vital part of rehabilitation and could be a large contributor to our country's economy.

References:

Ambrosi, E., & Schwartz, K. (1995). The Profession's Image, 1917-1925, Part II:

Occupational Therapy as Represented by the Profession. American Journal of

Occupational Therapy, 49: 8, 828-831.