The Occupational Therapy Department provides a high standard of rehabilitation services to people with disabilities and injuries in the following specialty areas:
Services
Hand And Upper Limb Rehabilitation
This unit provides therapy for people who have injuries or congenital abnormalities of their upper limbs. The goal in hand and upper limb rehabilitation is to help the individuals achieve optimal function of their upper limbs so as to regain independence in their daily activities and return to work.
The treatment modalities include splinting, heat application, fluidotherapy, therapeutic laser, muscle stimulation, and mobilization and exercises to specific joints of the hand and upper limbs.
Burns and Plastic Rehabilitation
This unit provides services to people who have burn injuries or have undergone reconstructive or aesthetic surgery. Services include:
• Positioning and Splinting
• Mobilisation and Exercises
• Scar Management using customised pressure garment and silicone gel treatment
• Self-Care Training
Orthopaedic Rehabilitation
Services available for people who had musculo-skeletal disorders include:
• Designing and fabricating splints
• Exercises, Mobilisation and Activities
• Training in Activities of Daily Living
• Wheelchair Assessment and Training
• Prescription of Assistive Devices
• Home Assessment and Modification
• Educational programmes on Joint Protection and Energy Conservation for conditions such as
Arthritis and Repetitive Stress Injuries
Neurological Rehabilitation
The unit provides rehabilitation for people with neurological disorders such as Stroke and Parkinson’s disease. Services include:
• Training in activities of daily living such as dressing, feeding and grooming
• Designing and fabricating splints to prevent contractures or to aid in functions
• Exercises, mobilisation and activities
• Prescription of assistive devices and adaptive equipment
• Home assessment and modification
• Cognitive and perceptual retraining
• Patients and carers education
Oncology and Lymphoedema Rehabilitation
Services provided for people with cancer may include the following:
• Exercises, mobilisation and activities
• Stress and pain management
• Training in activities of daily living
• Prescription of assistive devices and adaptive equipment
• Home Assessment and modification
• Patient and carers education
Vascular Rehabilitation
Therapists in this unit see people with vascular diseases that result in limb amputation. Therapy may include assessment and training in self-care activities, wheelchair training and transfer practice. Therapists also provide caregiver training, recommendation of assistive devices and home modification. For patients with venous insufficiency or have undergone vascular surgical procedures, therapist may provide compression stockings.
Home Assessment
Our occupational therapists carry out home assessment to advise clients on safety and accessibility in the home environment.
Occupational Health and Ergonomics
The ergonomics consultancy services aim to help organisation maintain the highest quality of working life for their employees by reducing the potential for on-job-injuries and encouraging an awareness of safe work practices in the workplace; and promoting health awareness
The services offered by our department’s certified ergonomics specialist includes:
• Worksite / Office Assessment
We visit companies to assess the individual workstations of employees, perform job analysis and
provide cost-effective recommendations on preventing and alleviating occupational overuse
syndromes and other common injuries like neck and back strains.
• Ergonomics Talks and Workshop
We conduct customised talks and workshops for the employees both at our department and at the
companies’ premises. The content of the talks and workshops are tailored to the companies’ needs.
Behavioural Medicine
Therapists use therapeutic activities in both inpatient and outpatient settings, with the individual and / or with groups. Occupational Therapists aim to help patients with general psychiatric and psychological conditions such as mood and anxiety disorders, obsessive compulsive disorder, somatoform disorders and eating disorder to manage their daily living and to cope with acute symptoms.
Paediatric Rehabilitation
Occupational therapy aims to restore, enhance or adapt the child’s abilities and functioning in the family, at school, with everyday activities and during play. Children who would benefit from our service are those who are having difficulties in self-care, social skills, fine and gross motor skills, cognition and perception.
Services offered are:
• Assessment
• Reviews
• Individual sessions
• Focused therapy playgroup (in collaboration with speech therapy)
• Development of home programs
Service is offered to children with developmental delay, autistic spectrum disorders, attention deficit disorders, behavioural problems and cerebral palsy.
Stress management and headaches
Occupational Therapists in this unit assist patients with tension headaches and physical complaints attributable to stress. To help patients manage their symptoms, treatment can include myofascial trigger point release and teaching of coping and relaxation strategies to the individual.
Training
Our Occupational Therapists receive ongoing professional development and continuing education through:
• local and overseas conferences, workshops and seminars
• overseas clinical placements at world-renowned hospitals / institutions for speciality training
• updates by invited experts
• regular journal updates, in-house training and tutorials
Teaching
Our Occupational Therapists are also actively involved in:
• providing clinical fieldwork placement for overseas and local Occupational Therapy students
• providing training in speciality areas for local and overseas Occupational Therapists
• collaborating with institutions to give lectures on ergonomics and speciality areas in occupational
therapy
• providing orientation to advanced nursing and medical students
Research
The department conducts regular tutorials to train staff in research methodologies pertaining to evidence based practice. The current interest areas include gerontology, orthopedics, hand therapy and rehabilitation for patients with burn injuries. These researches are carried out within the department as well as in collaboration with the medical team e.g. NMRC grant and local academic institution.