DETERMINING THE CURRENT ROLES OF PHYSICAL AND OCCUPATIONAL THERAPISTSIN BURN CARE

The team approach has enjoyed great success in the care of patients wi th burns, and it has been shown to decrease morbidity and mortality in these cases. Although the concept of the team approach is well-define d, the delineation of roles within this approach remains unclear. This study was designed to better explain the roles of physical therapists (PTs) and occupational therapists (OTs) in burn care. With the use of a questionnaire, PT and OT responsibilities were reviewed. The result s showed that OTs perform the majority of activities of daily living t raining, PTs perform the majority of functional mobility training, bot h professions are involved in scar management, and neither profession has significant responsibility for care of the burn wound itself. Role delineation occurs to help avoid role confusion and the duplication o f services. The title burn therapist offers an example of unclear role definition when a physical therapy assistant uses that title to ident ify himself or herself. Communication is critical to define these role s within individual burn centers.