Occupational therapy and engineering

There is a Latin phrase, semper ad meliora, which means ‘‘always toward better things.’’ It is the notion that we must always strive to be and do better. At the core of our professions, occupational therapists and engineers share this goal. We have the same mission—to do our best in helping people do what they want and need to do. It is our contention that when engineers and occupational therapists work together to help people do what they want and need to do, we do it better. The field of assistive technology (AT) provides a particularly useful forum for collaboration between our professions. Here the two professions have a history of frequent collaboration around the provision of technology to support function of persons with disabilities; engineers bring their expertise in technology and product development, and occupational therapists theirs in client-centred practice and occupational performance and engagement. However, the specifics of where and how occupational therapists and engineers work together in the area of AT are under debate, and issues are evolving. Traditionally, occupational therapists played a key role in helping clients to identify the best technological options to replace or augment function and enable occupational engagement. Engineers, on the other hand, worked much more upstream from the client, focusing on the design and development of these technologies. However, as the AT field has expanded its scope, addressing greater complexity in the needs of our clients and the types of technologies available, this distinction between the roles of these two professions has started to blur—as it should. As such, dialogue and strategies about how these two professions should work together in this field become an imperative if we are to move ad meliora. Technology is an increasingly common option that occupational therapists use to support their clients’ occupational performance. Occupational therapists have considerable expertise in service delivery of traditional AT, such as wheelchairs or assistive and augmentative communication devices, and the use of more mainstream technologies, such as tablets or smartphones, or environmental changes, like grab bars. However, increasingly we are seeing the need for more customized solutions and ever-more-advanced technological options. For example, there is a significant increase in the use of technologies such as robotics in the field of stroke rehabilitation and recovery. Many of these solutions can be quite complex. It is expected that the pervasiveness of these types of technologies will continue to increase as the AT field evolves and as these advanced technologies become less expensive and more widely available. This rapid pace of technological growth makes it more difficult for professionals, such as occupational therapists, to keep current with available options. Keeping up with new trends in technology and maintaining an ongoing in-depth understanding of such solutions are, however, the ‘‘bread and butter’’ of engineers. Working in collaboration, engineers can provide the technical expertise and assume responsibility to inform and educate occupational therapists about these advances and their possibilities to support occupation in an accessible and digestible format. Occupational therapists, in turn, can then apply this Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy 2016, Vol. 83(2) 68-71 DOI: 10.1177/0008417416638842