User Comments: What are people saying about the AMPS?
The AMPS course has helped me to better define my role [as an occupational therapist]. I have been trying to practice with the top–down approach for a long time now. This is definitely an essential tool. Your passion and pride in the profession was just what I needed right now… so again thank you.
-Melanie
The AMPS course has probably been the most useful course that I have taken in my OT career. It has really been transformative in my assessment and treatment of patients on my caseload!
-Carmen
[A man I evaluated] was performing his tasks in an extremely challenging environment – he is a wheelchair user in a kitchen that has not been adapted except for one tiny piece of work surface. I felt that the level of difficulty he experienced was mainly due to this … I feel sure that there would be a big improvement in his [performance] in a more enabling environment.
-Amanda
I value the AMPS assessment process and think of it as the gold standard tool.
-Amanda
The AMPS course has completely changed the way I practice occupational therapy. I am so happy using my new set of eyes. Anne [Fisher] should know how many occupational therapists she has influenced, and has changed their way of practicing. I look forward to using the AMPS for many, many years to come.
-Heather
It’s amazing how little carry over there is when simulating PADL [e.g., showering] as opposed to actually doing it. I was surprised to see that the majority of my orthopedic patients failed to initiate washing their lower body. In addition to this, many of my clients did not know how to use the adaptive equipment that was shown to them in multiple OT treatment sessions, within the context of the “real” bathing task. Other clients who I thought needed devices (such as shower chairs) did just fine without them (which saved them money). It was an eye opening experience.
-Lou
I want to again thank you and your indomitable team for putting together a course that worked on multiple levels including the theoretical and the practical. While it was humbling to see how much my “trained eye” continues to miss, the reaffirmation of the role of an occupational therapist was priceless – the challenge for excellence so well modeled by the entire team–collaboration, problem solving, reasoning, and above all, solid content rich and meaningful the more I read. Like a fine novel that resonates long after the reading and demands another look, a great piece of music revealing new surprises. Kind of odd to wax poetic about a testing manual, but this one is just so excellent.
-Chris
As a result of taking the OTIPM course, I have made some changes in the course that I am teaching to our second year master’s students. It will take some time to integrate this material – but it is the first material I have seen in a long time that has tempted me to return to the clinic! A master’s student who was in the class told me that the course has made her think very differently about her fieldwork (which was largely modalities) and is looking forward to using part of this semester with me to begin to rethink that experience and the practice of hand therapy to make it more occupationally focused. Now there is a challenge.
-Betty
I want to share a story with you about how I used the new AMPS report to appeal an insurance company’s decision re: discharging a client of mine too early. The patient was admitted to inpatient rehabilitation 2° to a history of multiple falls in her home. The insurance company felt that since the patient was performing her basic self-care activities with supervision (as assessed using [a different test]), she no longer needed therapy. The new feature in the narrative report helped me to capture the safety issues. I was able to document the instability that she experienced, during the tasks, in the “specific skills that most impacted performance” section. After faxing the assessment to her case manager, they agreed to extend the patient for another week. They also requested an AMPS re-evaluation upon discharge if we recommend homecare services.
-Lou
I AM JUST LOVING AMPS!!!!
I’m really enjoying the assessment and finding that clients (on the whole) have been really positive about it. It fits in really nicely with my OT practice and also the OT philosophy that my practice is based upon.
-Karen
Dear Dr. Fisher,
The sign of an excellent conference is that, upon returning to one’s work, everything has changed. The old paradigms no longer work in the face of powerful new knowledge. Such is the experience I have had today as I recommenced my day-to-day work as a school-based OT. While I know it will take time to more fully digest and synthesize the richness of the OTIPM model, to find that I can bring this sharpened perspective immediately to bear feels immensely rewarding. I found the days to be challenging and provocative, pressing me to think and be honest about my current practice. Finally, I found your presentation inspirational at the most profound level, reinforcing and reaffirming my sense of awe at the potential power of occupational therapy to transform lives, my own included.
My thanks, Sincerely, Christine
I am a new grad this year working in an acute care setting and absolutely having a blast! However, the most important thing that I have noticed is my clinical reasoning and problem solving skills are so much better since I have become confident with using the AMPS. I am the only one in my workplace that is trained and I have been educating other workmates on the benefits of using the AMPS with a wide range of clients. It allows me to come up with much more effective interventions for my clients and makes my work more efficient. So thank you for the opportunity and I will certainly continue to be a keen advocate for the AMPS course and am planning to travel in the next few years so hopefully I can spread the word!!!!
-Susanne
… the AMPS was always a great help to estimate the clients ability to live independent.
-Susi
The AMPS is clearly the best tool that I have to evaluate whether a child needs school-based services or not. What could tell me more about the child’s performance than watching the child perform activities?
-Leon
The AMPS has provided me with a sound basis for my first year as a practicing occupational therapist and allowed me to consolidate my problem solving and clinical reasoning skills. Thank you very much.
-Susanne
I finally purchased the new AMPS 2005 software last week and I love it! You and your team did a great job putting it together. The narrative, enhanced graphic and raw score reports are excellent features. The doctors that I work with are impressed with it as well. As a matter of fact, they decided to hire an AMPS certified OT (a colleague of mine) to work in their private practice. It took them 2 years to recognize occupational therapy’s role in the out-patient setting. I used the AMPS to finally hook them.
-Lou
I have just been hired to work on a new restorative care unit and we are hoping to use the AMPS as one of our main outcome measures. All clients admitted to the unit will be assessed with the AMPS on admission and on discharge. The staff are excited to see how it shows the outcome of our unit. I have been an OT for 20 years and this assessment is by far the best OT assessment there is. I am so pleased I took the course at a colleague’s recommendation.
-Michelle
I just want you to know as an experienced therapist who thought she had pretty good observation skills, this assessment has really enhanced and expanded my skills as an OT in the school. As much as this was difficult to accomplish with a crazy schedule this school year, I wanted you to know how much this course has impacted me and I want to thank you for the experience this course provided. I am looking forward to meeting with this group of therapists to figure how best to use this wonderful tool and impact our intervention. I also look forward to the support you offer when we get into trouble. You will be our best friends, I am sure of it. Several of us have also used your powerpoint presentation and shared our experience with other therapists in the school and to students at UNM. Word is getting around, and you may all have to come back to Albuquerque soon.
-Mary