While often overlooked, occupational therapy professionals can play an important role in helping their patients manage their medications.
Occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants facilitate independence in everyday life in the home and community by helping patients participate in meaningful daily occupations and functional activities.
In an inpatient rehabilitation setting, occupational therapy practitioners deliver skilled therapeutic interventions to help patients regain their highest level of independence as they recover from injuries, illnesses or surgical procedures.
An important — but sometimes overlooked — activity OTs in this setting can impact is medication management.
According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), occupational therapy practitioners can “contribute to improving medication adherence by addressing medication management” to support health management and participation in other activities.
The importance of medication management
Not taking medications as prescribed can have serious consequences including:
- Medical complications
- Increased risk of hospitalization
- Death
Approximately 70 percent of medication non-adherence is unintentional. The individual, especially if older, may forget to take their medications or they simply have run out of them. Skipping medications or altering doses to either make them last longer or to meet self-perceived needs are also common reasons individuals don’t take their medications properly.
Occupational therapy practitioners can address some of the factors that contribute to medication non-adherence, which include limited health literacy and impairments in fine motor coordination skills, strength, sensation and vision, as well as cognitive impairments including confusion, memory difficulties and decreased problem solving.
Medication management is an important aspect of health management and includes activities such as:
- Communicating with prescribers about medications
- Timely filling and refilling of prescriptions at the pharmacy
- Interpreting dosage and frequency instructions
- Taking medications routinely and correctly
How OTs can support medication management
Occupational therapy practitioners utilize a variety of approaches to help their patients with medication management. Some of those approaches include providing education about medication effects in collaboration with the interdisciplinary care team, empowering patients and their caregivers to advocate for their needs, developing and modifying strategies for medication routines and maintaining independence to prevent future medication errors.
Occupational therapists should recommend timing and location for taking medications within the home environment, for example, taking medications stored by the coffee maker at breakfast time.
Patients may also benefit from social support and equipment to assist in maintaining daily and weekly medication management routines.
Some options to consider for assisting your patients with medication management include:
- Create routine-based systems like pill sorters or alarms
- Assist them in improving fine motor skills, so they can open containers
- Teach them to organize and understand their medications
- Help them adapt their environment by recommending electronic pill dispenser with alarms or large labels for medications
- Modify their environment by adjusting lighting or providing adaptive aides for opening containers
- Teach organizational strategies such as using a pill sorter or planner and scheduling reminders
- Introduce new technologies and applications that can help patients and families track and maintain safe medication administration
Occupational therapy assessments and interventions
Occupational therapy practitioners may complete performance-based assessments addressing cognition, health literacy, vision and dexterity. These can help predict potential challenges a patient may have with medication management and other instrumental activities of daily living.
Occupational therapy practitioners can deliver patient-centered individual and group interventions that are focused on identified areas of deficits and can provide education to patients and their caregivers about adaptive aids and medication management strategies for after discharge.
In collaboration with medical colleagues including prescribers, nurses, pharmacists and related technicians and assistants, occupational therapy practitioners can promote successful medication management routines.
References
- American Occupational Therapy Association. (2017). Occupational therapy’s role in medication management. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71(Suppl. 2), 7112410025.
- American Occupational Therapy Association. (2020). Occupational therapy practice framework: Domain and process (4th ed.). American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74(Suppl. 2), 7412410010.
- Brennan, J., Potvin., M.-C., & Chabot, M. (2020, 23 July). Addressing medication adherence in older adults living at home: the role of occupational therapy. OT Practice. https://www.aota.org/publications/ot-practice/ot-practice-issues/2020/medication-adherence
- Sanders, M. J., & Van Oss, T. (2013). Using daily routines to promote medication adherence in older adults. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 67, 91-99. https://doi.org/10.5014/ajot.2013.005033