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Are you taking your patients on home visits without a clear plan, or wondering if you really need to use a standardised home assessment tool? Discover how to conduct efficient, safe, and goal-oriented home assessments, whether you are facilitating a hospital discharge or doing a community review.

Episode Summary: In this episode of the How to Be a Better OT podcast, host Clare Batkin breaks down exactly what goes into an occupational therapy home assessment. Clare explains the different formats a visit can take, from taking a patient home from the hospital, to conducting access-only visits, and even using telehealth. She walks you through a step-by-step process covering crucial pre-assessment risk planning, prioritising your room-by-room observations, and formulating practical recommendations that actually align with your client's long-term goals.

Key Takeaways:

• Choosing the Right Format: Learn how to decide between an in-person visit with the client, an access visit without the client, or a telehealth assessment using photos or video walkthroughs.
• Safety First: Discover why you must complete a home visit risk assessment before every visit, establish clear boundaries with your workplace, and always "park like a getaway driver".
• Room-by-Room Priorities: A breakdown of exactly what to look for at the access points, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, and living room, keeping your client's energy levels and specific functional goals in mind.
• Standardised Assessments: The pros and cons of using structured tools, and a look at the differences between the Westmead Home Safety Assessment and the HOME FAST screening tool.
• Making Recommendations: Why you must consider funding resources, prognosis, and long-term housing plans, and work collaboratively when making your recommendations.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Freebie: Watch the short video on home visit risk assessments and download the prompt sheet to create your own checklist in the Free Learning Library.
• Tool: Access the long and short versions of the Westmead Home Safety Assessment 
• Tool: Access the HOME FAST (Home Falls and Accident Screening Tool) for client self-assessment or the clinician version.
• Deep Dive: Get the full home assessment recorded webinar, downloadable worksheets, and a tutorial on when and why to do a home visit by joining the Connector Membership.
• Advanced Learning: Join the Alliance Membership for further advanced clinical content, resources, and on-demand webinars.

If you found this step-by-step guide to home assessments helpful, please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a fellow OT! Be sure to tune in next time when we will be switching from assessment to intervention and covering our next core skill: how to prescribe assistive technology.

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• Check out my FREE Learning Library full of resources and courses
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• Book a time for a chat to see how I can help
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