OT Potential Podcast | Occupational Therapy CEUs

Here’s a question I can’t stop thinking about: 

Is “sense of purpose” the true secret ingredient that makes occupational therapy unique and effective? 

I ran a survey of my OT peers earlier this year, and I was shocked that 17% of respondents selected “sense of purpose” as the main treatment area they address—second only to “daily activities,” which is what I traditionally think of as our bread and butter. 

This tells me that, on the ...

You know that sinking feeling you get before walking into a patient room, when you suddenly think: 

“Wait.. what exactly am I going to do with this patient?” 

Creating a treatment plan entails a complex synthesis of the patient’s needs, the available evidence, and your expertise. It’s no wonder it can be hard to pull all this information together on the spot. 

So, it’s easy to see why therapists are starting to utilize AI tools as a b...

Far too often, people are not referred to occupational therapy until their disease course has progressed to a level of high complexity.

But, what if we could start seeing our clients sooner? 

Ideally, we receive the referral at the first sign of trouble. In some cases, we could prevent the full expression of a condition. In other cases, we could work with the client so their condition presents in a less severe way. These services are...

Stroke rehab is an area where we have some of the most abundant research to draw on as occupational therapists. 

But, this can also make it feel difficult to synthesize it all into the right actions steps for your clients. 

In this Ask Me Anything style episode, we will be answering your questions on chronic stroke assessment, goal-setting and treatment. We’ll have a full clinical decision support for you reference during the episode...

Between 20-30% of typically developing children experience sleep difficulty in childhood. The percentage of neurodiverse children  with considerable sleep problems is even more staggering at 40-80%.  

On one hand, it is sobering to consider the impacts of sleep difficulties on children and adolescents. As you’ll hear in this week's article review: 

Sleep difficulties are linked with everything from poorer health, education outco...

While many OTs work in a fee for service model, the reality is that we are undergoing a seismic shift towards value based care. 

In fact it's estimated that 238.8 million Americans receive healthcare in a value-based care model. These already large numbers are expected to grow significantly in the coming years.

OTs has tremendous potential in value-based care models. 

But, the reality is we are missing the boat.  

That’s because b...

Nearly one third of people experience sleep disturbances. 

And, about 23% of adults experience mental health illness. 

These high percentages mean that both sleep and mental health are global, public health challenges in their own right. 

However, emerging research suggests we should not think of these challenges separately. They are more intertwined than we realize. Sleep difficulties aren’t just a sign of mental health challenges, s...

Starting a side hustle private practice is one of the best ways to safeguard your career, pursue a niche interest, and meet some of the many unmet needs in your community. 

But, let’s be honest: the process of getting going can be daunting. 

In this Ask Me Anything (AMA), we are welcoming Carline Reaume, OTD, OTR/L, DipACLM, PMH-C, PCES back to the podcast. Carlin has steadily grown her private practice over the course of several yea...

Carpal Tunnel Syndrome affects quality of life in 1-5% of people. 

The first step in treatment of carpal tunnel should be non-surgical treatment, which includes education, often a steroid injection, and therapy. 

But what should that therapy look like? 

In this live webinar, we will discuss carpal tunnel education, assessment and treatment with Rachel Egan, OTR/L, MS, CHT, COMT-UE.  Rachel is a Certified Hand Therapist, a Certified Or...

Childhood feeding problems are one of the most common complaints raised during primary care visits.

Which is not surprising, given that the prevalence of pediatric feeding disorder is around 1 in 37 children under age 5. Feeding disorders overall  are common in the pediatric population, with a prevalence of 25% of children in the general population and of up to 80% of children with developmental disabilities. 

Unfortunatel...

However you think about group strength it probably is not broadly enough. 

Grip strength is NOT just about hand strength. 

It is NOT just an indicator of upper body strength. 

It is NOT just about overall strength. 

Grip strength is associated with: 

• mortality
• psychological health
• functional disabilities
• hospitalization
• morbidity

The article we are reviewing today, is seeking to convince you that grip strength should be considered a...

We’ve all known for a while that the current fee-for-service models that most occupational therapists operate under are bad for patients and bad for healthcare. 

Why? 

Because it incentives volume of services over quality of services. 

If you’re like me, you may feel like you’ve been waiting for years for value based care to really take hold in the United States. But, this new future has felt like a distant reality. 

Our guest today, D...

Through OT Potential, we’ve released over 94 episodes all exploring new influential OT research. As we enter 2025, it’s time to reflect on the research and ask: 

What trends are we seeing in OT? How is new research enriching how we think about our practice? 

In this 1 hour-episode, we’ll talk about new trends, with a particular focus on what commonalities we see leaders in our field doing in their occupational therapy process. We’ll ...

Artificial intelligence is ushering a new era of healthcare tools. These range from ambient listening to streamlined practice management. But, the AI-supported that I believe will truly transform occupational therapy is: 

Clinical Decision Support. 

To be honest, it often feels like we have more clinical decision barriers than we have support. Our EMRs currently give us a set number of checkboxes, which massively pigeonhole our servi...

The Epley maneuver is a 💎 rare gem 💎 in the OT toolkit.

A patient can walk into our treatment room, and they can walk out cured.
They can walk out with instant relief.

(Yes, there is nuance to this. Sometimes the maneuver needs to be repeated. Sometimes it simply doesn’t work. There are important contraindications.) But, the other thing that makes this a GEM is that more so than any other condition we treat there are clear clin...

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of non-traumatic disability in people aged 18-65 years. 

As rehab professionals, we know that exercise is one of the mainstays of treatment for these clients. 

Though not definitively established, exercise has the most potential promise to be disease modifying if started early in the course of disease. But, alongside exercise there are other important interventions to consider like fat...

As occupational therapists, many of us have witnessed the wonder of motor learning in neuro rehab. 

Yet despite years of research attempting to identify the most effective post-stroke interventions, the reality is that our understanding of how to improve recovery of function remains incomplete. 

The article we are reviewing today serves as an update on the state of the science in how new theories of motor control and learning can be ...

Unfortunately, research on the lived-experience for those with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome shows us that we as a profession need to be doing a better job.

People with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome report:

• A lack of reliable information for themselves
• Social stigma from peers.
• Lack of awareness of EDS in the healthcare community

As occupational therapy professionals, there is much we can contribute to supporting this population. And, today ...

In 50 years, you will look back on your occupational therapy practice and see a clear line in the sand between pre-AI augmented documentation and today. 

Ambient AI augmented documentation is going to: 

✅Make documenting QUICKER
✅Make your notes HIGHER QUALITY
✅And, transform how you interact with clients 

And, if we harness this technology correctly, it will improve👏 client  👏outcomes. 👏

Today, we’ll look at an example of t...