Occupational Therapy in Primary Care: Positioned and Prepared to Be a Vital Part of the Team

Abstract

Abstract Reilly’s (1962) now deeply cherished statement that “man, through the use of his hands, as they are energized by mind and will, can influence the state of his own health” (p. 1) was followed a few years later with a question to current and future occupational therapy practitioners. In 1966, Reilly asked how the profession would respond to the challenges of an expanding knowledge base, accelerating health care costs, and escalating regulatory burden. Visionary Wilma West, a contemporary of Reilly’s, expanded on these themes by focusing on ways occupational therapy practitioners could leverage the breadth and depth of their practice to confront these challenges. These issues are now paramount in the primary care arena. An expanding body of literature, including the articles in a special section in this issue of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy, supports occupational therapy’s role as a vital part of the solution to contemporary health care challenges. Occupational therapy practitioners are educationally prepared and successfully poised through policy to engage in evidence-based practice in the primary care environment.