As an occupational therapist, one of the most important parts of my job is writing care plans. Whenever I get a new patient, the first thing I do is observe and evaluate the patient, interview the patient and the family, learn what they can and cannot do, learn what is important to the patient and family, and ask them what their personal goals are. I then get to work creating a care plan. The care plan is a therapist’s guide to treatment. We take all of the information from the evaluation, everything the patient and family shares with us, and we put together a plan to support the patient and ensure that they meet the goals that are important to them. Sometimes I spend hours on a care plan. Then in the following weeks, I constantly re-evaluate it, tweak it, revise it, and assess our progress. Our goals are painfully measurable, right down to the details. If a child is developing their fine motor skills and the goal is to color in the lines, my goal might look something like this:
Child will hold a crayon with a three-finger-grasp to color within a 3″ by 3″ area with less than four 1/4″ deviations from the lines 80% of the time.
It is very specific and very measurable so that I can assess the child’s progress every week and take note of improvements.
This made me think, what if new moms and dads were to invest this much time and energy into care plans for themselves? After all, new parents have just had a monumental change in their life and if anyone needs a lot of care, it is them.
Writing down goals is a great way to achieve them. Your goals may simply be to get rest while your baby rests or remember to eat a balanced meal at least once a day. Maybe you have a sore back from holding your baby all day and you would benefit from a few stretches in the morning. Putting these things in writing can really help you stick to a plan of care for you!
Try to write down a few goals, then re-evaluate them every week. Are you able to work on your goals and make some progress?