The role of occupational therapy in stroke is two-fold.  We can treat people as a rehab candidate as an inpatient, and also have a big role in the discharge planning process. 

We treat people by looking at their abilities to complete their desired activities, whether that’s self-care, occupation and leisure. 

As an inpatient in rehab, OT's breakdown activities into smaller parts to ensure that a person can perform affectively in their desired tasks. 

The sub-components are;
How the patient moves (so that’s their motor area) and we concentrate specifically on the person’s upper limb as this has most to do with their function in every day life. 

We also assess sensation, which is their awareness of their body. 

We also assess their vision, which is obviously their eyesight and to make sure that they don’t have any visual field deficits. 

Also perception, how people make sense of their incoming information. 

We also assess and treat cognition, which is how the person plans to react to that incoming information. 

We can also look at the person’s mood and behaviour, as potentially, after stroke, people have a lot of adjustment problems. 

We assess these components and treat these areas incorporating them in function so to ensure as well that the patient can actually achieve the desired outcome. 

The main problem for Mr. Tanner, we would envisage, is first of all positioning.  We would need to liaise with the nursing staff and physiotherapists to ensure that Mr Tanner has correct positioning in both bed and chair, as this may compromise his rehab. 

We would also expect him to have reduced sensation and movement in his side contra-lateral to his lesion. 

We also suspect that he may have an apraxia, which is a motor planning problem or it’s the idea that he has lost the concept of particular activities. 

Lastly, we play a major role in discharge planning.  So we need to assess whether the patients environment at home is suitable for him to return to.  We would need to take him on a home visit and check for rails and equipment, and we would supply those prior to discharge.