Occupational & Physical Therapy Levels of Assistance

Levels of Assistance Featured

Levels of Assistance Table

Note: The following are ‘traditional’ values for levels of assistance in percentages. This shouldn’t be a problem if you are say, working in acute care. However, in settings such as acute rehab (ARU), as the FIM was phased out and replaced by the CARE Tool/Section GG, the language and percentages were simplified to basically less than or more than half the effort (50%). See this article for a brief explanation and this article for detailed section GG definitions.

Term

Abbreviation

Effort OT Provides

Effort Patient Provides

Notes

Independent

“I”

0%

100%

Therapist does not need to be in the room.

Supervised

“S”

0%

100%

e.g. OT within the room of the client.

Standby Assist

“SBA”

0%

100%

Standing next to the client, but no client contact.

Contact Guard Assist

“CGA”

0%

100%

“Hover hands”, maintains contact

Minimal Assistance

“Min A”

1-25%

75-99%

Sometimes referred to as “partial assistance”

Moderate Assistance

“Mod A”

26-50%

50-74%

OT and client each put in about half of the effort

Maximal Assistance

“Max A”

51-75%

25-49%

Consider having a “spotter” standing by.

Total Assistance (Dependent)

“D” “Total A”

76-100%

0-24%

More risk for injury of OT due to high physical demand, consider additional assistance and not performing yourself.

2 Person Assistance 3 Person Assistance

“x2” “x3”

Varies

Varies

x2 means 2 assistants, x3 means 3 assistants.

Mechanical Lift

0%

0%

Therapists help to setup and operate the lift. Clients are dependent.

Jeff is a licensed occupational therapist and lead content creator for OT Dude. He covers all things occupational therapy as well as other topics including healthcare, wellness, mental health, technology, science, sociology, and philosophy. Buy me a Coffee on Venmo.