The Fort Lauderdale OTA Musculoskeletal class participated in a car transfer competency. Car transfers are one aspect of transfer training and functional mobility training. Ms. Diamond the faculty , took the students to the campus parking and demonstrated  how to  get in and out of a car depending on the condition. Patients that have sustained hip fractures, hemiplegia, spinal cord injuries and others, need to learn how to safely access their car. Driver Rehabilitation is a specialty certification for Occupational Therapy. Driver Rehabilitation also includes assessing whether elder drivers can continue to drive safely in the community.

The students were also learning overall mobility techniques when using adaptive equipment in the community. Negotiating a wheelchair, a walker, a cane can be cumbersome and a challenging aspect of the rehabilitation process.  These transfer and community mobility skills are very important if the patient is to remain functional and participatory in their Activities of daily living, which if the focus of Occupational Therapy.

OTA car transfer April 2015 (1)