Skilled Nursing Facilities

I'm done with working the school year and have begun my summer work in the skilled nursing setting. I realize that not everyone knows what that means so I'll take a minute to explain. When someone goes to the hospital for some reason (such as getting hip or knee replacement, amputation, stroke, bone fracture, etc.) that person stays in the hospital for a few days in what is called acute care in the hospital. They have access to doctors and nurses 24/7, they will also receive some rehab. That person may not be ready to go straight home, so they get sent to a skilled facility (SNF), also described as post-acute care. Once there, they receive rehabilitation treatment of PT and OT (and sometimes Speech) so that they can get strong enough to go home. Most of these patients are older adults, 65+. This is where I work.

In this setting, occupational therapy does a lot of training in activities of daily living (ADLs), learning how to do all the things you normally do for yourself everyday such as taking a shower, getting dressed, brushing your teeth, etc. OT helps the person readjust to their routine after a hospital stay, and uses ADLs as a way to get stronger. Also, OT does strength training rehab (therapeutic exercise) needed to be independent to perform everyday life activities.

Today I got to spend some of my treatment sessions just trying to make my patients feel better. That felt good. I had 3 patients today that did not want to move for treatment so instead I worked it to both of our advantage. I was educating them on what I'll be doing with them and why it's important, getting them ice, massaging them, ranging their joints, propping them up with pillows and letting them tell me what hurts. It's called building rapport with your patients :) Which later, maybe tomorrow, they will bend over backwards to make gains in therapy.


I will continue to work in SNF for the rest of the summer through a registry, it's like a temp agency for medical professionals. This week I was in Concord. Then, for the next 7 weeks, I'll be in San Pablo at another skilled nursing facility. It feels more like work work, and less play as with the kiddos, but it has it perks too. I don't have any reports to prepare and when I'm done at 5, I'm done.