RN Nursing · The Interprofessional Team · Practice question
A nurse is attending an interprofessional team conference for a client who experienced a stroke. For which of the following findings should the team request a prescription for a referral to the occupational therapist?
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The client has extreme difficulty swallowing.
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The client has four new medications.
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The client is experiencing dysarthria.
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✓
The client enjoys helping to prepare meals.
Answer & explanation
Correct: The client enjoys helping to prepare meals.
Occupational therapists (OTs) specialize in helping clients regain the ability to perform activities of daily living (ADLs) and meaningful functional tasks. The finding that the client enjoys helping to prepare meals is directly relevant to occupational therapy because meal preparation is an instrumental activity of daily living (IADL). After a stroke, a client may have motor, cognitive, or perceptual deficits that impair their ability to perform such tasks safely, and an OT can assess and develop a plan to maximize independent functioning in this meaningful activity. Extreme difficulty swallowing would prompt a referral to a speech-language pathologist (SLP), who specializes in dysphagia management. Four new medications would prompt a referral to a pharmacist or clinical pharmacist for medication reconciliation and education. Dysarthria — slurred or impaired speech — also falls under the scope of the speech-language pathologist rather than the occupational therapist. Understanding each discipline's distinct scope of practice is essential for appropriate referral decision-making in an interprofessional team setting.
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