Occupational Therapy and the Upper Limb Amputee

>> Joyce Tyler: What would happen if you had a teenager and gave them a very expensive piece of equipment, and did not give them any training?  With some training, we hope that they would be safe on the road.  What happens if you have a patient and you give them a prosthesis, which is a very expensive piece of equipment, and no training?  It ends up on the shelf somewhere or in the closet.  With occupational therapy, hopefully they can be a very skilled user.  My goal is to explain to you a little bit about working with the upper limb amputee.  When I have talked with prothetists, one of their greatest challenges is finding an occupational therapist who is interested in working with patients with upper limb loss.  They feel that part of the challenge is there are not as many patients with upper limb loss.  Because of this, therapists do not gain the experience in working with them, do not have the mentorship and do not feel comfortable working with patients with upper limb loss.  Prothetists are very interested in working with therapists.  They just have a hard time finding those therapists.  My hope is that you may feel more comfortable after my presentation in working with patients with upper limb loss.