Opportunities for Occupational Therapy on a Primary Care Team

Area of Science:

• Health Services Research
• Occupational Therapy
• Primary Care

Background:

• Occupational therapy (OT) is increasingly recognized for its potential role in primary care.
• However, the specific occupational needs of patients within primary care settings remain largely unexplored.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the occupational needs of patients in a team-based primary care clinic.
• To explore the potential role of occupational therapy in addressing these identified needs.

Main Methods:

• A qualitative descriptive study was conducted.
• Data were gathered through observations of 10 clinician team meetings and 23 semi-structured interviews (13 patients, 10 clinicians) at an urban academic medical center's complex care clinic.
• A general immersion-crystallization approach was used for data coding and theme identification.

Main Results:

• Four key domains of patient need were consistently identified by both patients and clinicians: complex medical management, limited patient resources, mental health concerns, and challenges with daily occupations.
• Clinicians also noted cognitive-behavioral factors, such as patient engagement and problem-solving difficulties, impacting care.
• Despite the clinic's multidisciplinary approach, occupational limitations and cognitive-behavioral challenges were not fully addressed.

Conclusions:

• Primary care teams aim to address medical, socioeconomic, and mental health needs, but often overlook patients' occupational functioning and related cognitive-behavioral aspects.
• Patients in primary care settings experience unmet occupational needs that align with the expertise of occupational therapy practitioners.
• Integrating occupational therapy into primary care can enhance patient care by addressing these critical, yet often overlooked, needs.