Our unique focus as Occupational Therapists is on the clients “occupational” performance. The term occupation defines every day activities that we do to take care of ourselves and others. This includes self-care, work and leisure. As Occupational Therapists we are skilled in the use of standardised and non-standardised assessment tools to allow us to understand how an illness or disability can affect independent living skills. These living skills include cognition and perception, upper limb dysfunction, functional mobility,self-care and meal preparation.
Who we are
The Medicine for the Elderly Occupational Therapy service within St. James’s Hospital consists of 8 Occupational Therapists who are supported by 2 Occupational Therapy Assistants. We provide an inpatient service to the four wards in the Mercers Institute for Successful Aging (MISA) rehabilitation unit, , the acute admission and assessment ward Mary Mercers and to the residential units in Hollybrook. We also provide an outpatient service to the Robert Mayne Day Hospital.
Occupational Therapy intervention in MISA is rehabilitation focused and of the highest quality and evidence based standard. A patient-centred, holistic ethos is fostered and patient feedback and satisfaction is of paramount importance. As a teaching hospital we are committed to the continued learning and development of our therapists. We facilitate 6 month rotations for our staff grade therapists providing them with the necessary skills and competencies required to deliver the excellent level of assessment and intervention to the older adult population.
As a department we foster the development of our therapists though professional supervision. We support, challenge and strive for excellence in every staff member through engaging in our professional supervision structure. We encourage research and clinical audit as well as regular in-services to ensure that our interventions are evidenced based.
What we do
The Occupational Therapy team in MISA assesses the person’s ability to engage in activities of daily living such as washing, dressing, meal preparation, domestic and social activities. We identify deficits or environmental factors that impact on performance in these daily living tasks and complete tailored rehabilitation programmes with the aim of enabling the person to be as independent as possible.
Occupational therapy assessments include:
- Functional assessments including personal care and meal preparation
- Standardised cognitive assessments
- Standardised visual assessments
- Standardised perceptual assessments
- Seating assessments
- Upper limb assessments
Occupational therapy interventions include:
- Tailored rehabilitation programmes aimed at increasing independence with functional bed, chair and toilet transfers, personal care routines and meal preparation
- Cognitive rehabilitation
- Provision of adaptive equipment where appropriate
- Home assessments where appropriate
- Upper limb rehabilitation
- Provision of wheelchairs and seating systems where appropriate
- Group interventions with a functional and therapy focus
- Education and advice to patients and families / caregivers
- Fall prevention and education programmes
- Community outings for our residential care patients
Our Facilities
We complete our assessments and interventions both on the ward and also in our state of the art Occupational Therapy facilities. These facilities comprise of an activity of daily living suite that includes a fully equipped kitchen, bedroom, bathroom and a “car pod” to assess car transfers. This suite enables us to complete comprehensive assessments and treatment in a simulated home environment. We have a dedicated group therapy room to facilitate therapeutic groups including upper limb rehabilitation and fall prevention groups. We complete specialist assessment and treatment of the upper limb in our splinting room and seating assessments at our regular seating clinics held in our dedicated seating room in MISA.
Who can refer to us
We accept referrals from Doctors, Nursing staff and all other members of the Allied Health Professions within St. James’s Hospital.
Contact Details
8am – 4pm Mon to Fri
Phone: (01) 416 2305
Fax: (01) 410 3585
Email: occther@stjames.ie
Postal Address: Occupational Therapy Department
St. James’s Hospital
James’s Street
Dublin 8