2011 Nevada Revised Statutes
Chapter 640A - Occupational Therapists
NRS 640A.050 - Occupational therapy defined.

Occupational therapy means the application of purposeful activity in the evaluation, teaching and treatment, in groups or on an individual basis, of patients who are handicapped by age, physical injury or illness, psychosocial dysfunction, developmental or learning disability, poverty or aspects of culture, to increase their independence, alleviate their disability and maintain their health. The term includes:

1. Teaching patients skills for daily living;

2. Assisting patients in the development of cognitive and perceptual motor skills, and in the integration of sensory functions;

3. Assisting patients in learning to play and to use their leisure time constructively;

4. Assisting patients in developing functional skills necessary to be considered for employment;

5. Assessing the need for, designing, constructing and training patients in the use and application of selected orthotic devices and adaptive equipment;

6. Assessing the need for prosthetic devices for the upper body and training patients in the functional use of prosthetic devices;

7. Teaching patients crafts and exercises designed to enhance their ability to function normally;

8. Administering to patients manual tests of their muscles and range of motion, and interpreting the results of those tests;

9. Incorporating into the treatment of patients the safe and appropriate use of physical therapeutic modalities and techniques which have been acquired through an appropriate program of education approved by the Board pursuant to subsection 2 of NRS 640A.120, or through a program of continuing education or higher education; and

10. Adapting the environment of patients to reduce the effects of handicaps.

(Added to NRS by 1991, 986)