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Occupational therapist — tasks, one by one
The unit of analysis is the task, not the job title. Each one below carries its direction, whether the judgement rests on evidence or on platform inference, the reasoning, and what it does not establish.
Every task on this page#
Assessing daily function and the home
Being augmented✓ Evidence-backedObserving how a person manages self-care, cooking and moving around, and checking whether their home is safe before discharge.
Home assessments can move to video with the therapist still doing them: in a Western Australian hospital service, video home visits took a median of 40 minutes of therapist time against 160 in person, with no difference in falls or other adverse events, but 20.6% of patients still needed an in-person visit, mostly for carer education and equipment.
One service's retrospective comparison run by its own therapists; patients were not randomised.
Planning and delivering therapy
Still human-led✓ Evidence-backedSetting goals with the person and running therapy that rebuilds arm use, everyday skills and thinking after illness or injury.
Robots have been tested against therapists and not kept: in the RATULS trial of 770 stroke patients, robot-assisted arm training did not improve arm function compared with usual care, and England's stroke guideline says not to offer it, as the committee was not convinced its benefits outweighed therapy of similar intensity.
One trial and one guideline, both about arm rehabilitation after stroke; they do not cover other therapy or newer devices.
Equipment and home adaptations
Being augmented≈ Platform inferenceRecommending and fitting equipment such as rails, seats and splints, and planning adaptations to the home.
Simple equipment is moving to self-service while complex cases stay with therapists: a Northern Irish health trust is piloting an online self-assessment that lets people buy simple equipment without waiting for an occupational therapist, and refers more complex needs for a formal assessment.
One pilot of a rule-based tool with no outcome data; it does not show how much assessment work has moved.
Records and discharge planning
Being augmented✓ Evidence-backedWriting assessments and reports, and coordinating with families, social care and other professionals for a safe discharge.
Inferred: no record found shows AI writing occupational therapy records in practice; the video home-visit service still needed therapists to arrange in-person follow-up for carers and equipment.
Inferred without a record on documentation; it does not measure record-keeping time.