Occupational Therapy Interventions for Patients with Disorders of Consciousness (DOC)

There is a strong need to increase occupational therapists' (OTs) knowledge on Disorders of Consciousness (DOC) and for OTs to understand how to implement effective treatments for this population to increase their overall awareness and improve functional outcomes. There is also a need for more OTs to be involved in DOC research. My capstone project focused on attainment of research skills and specialized clinical practice skills evaluating and treating patients with DOC and brain injuries in the neurological inpatient rehabilitation setting. A case study was also developed following a patient with DOC on our caseload who sustained an anoxic brain injury. The focus area of the case study was spasticity management and its impact on functional outcomes and overall awareness in patients with DOC.