John Margetis, OTD, OTR/L, is Associate Professor of Clinical Occupational Therapy, Chan Division of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles.
Jamie Wilcox, OTD, OTR/L, is Assistant Professor of Clinical Occupational Therapy, Chan Division of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles;
Am J Occup Ther. 2021 Mar-Apr;75(2):7502170010p1-7502170010p5. doi: 10.5014/ajot.2021.048827.
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic reshaped the health care landscape, leading to the reassignment of essential health care workers to critical areas and widespread furloughs of providers deemed nonessential, including occupational therapy practitioners. Although multidisciplinary critical care teams often include occupational therapy practitioners, efforts to define, measure, and disseminate occupational therapy's unique contributions to critical care outcomes have been overlooked. This editorial provides recommendations to improve the occupational therapy profession's readiness to meet society's current and future pandemic needs. We propose a three-pronged strategy to strengthen occupational therapy clinical practice, education, and advocacy to illuminate the distinct value of occupational therapy in critical care.
2019 年冠状病毒病（COVID-19）大流行改变了医疗保健格局，导致将基本医疗保健工作者重新分配到关键领域，并广泛解雇被认为非必要的提供者，包括职业治疗师。尽管多学科重症监护团队通常包括职业治疗师，但努力定义、衡量和传播职业治疗对重症监护结果的独特贡献一直被忽视。本社论提供了一些建议，以提高职业治疗专业满足当前和未来大流行社会需求的准备程度。我们提出了一个三管齐下的策略，以加强职业治疗临床实践、教育和宣传，突显职业治疗在重症监护中的独特价值。
