How Much have we Changed?..........

A Happy New Year to all our readers and followers. Here's to 2012 and to a year when occupational therapy continues to develop and progress and occupational therapists continue to link together across the world. There are a number of ways to link and promote what you do as an OT - see Karen Jacobs' Global Day of Service and of course OT4OT who will hopefully begin to plan what we are doing for World OT Day this year (watch this space!)  Don't forget to find us on Facebook also (Occupational Therapy at the University of Salford UK)

Now, it goes without saying that one of my (many) new year resolutions is to be a better blogger! My intention is to be more active as a commenter on other's blogs and write more posts for this one - we'll see how we get on. However, over the last couple of years more OTs than ever are blogging about their role and their experience - see our OT Network link at the top of the page for a list of some of these - more will continue to be added soon.

Whilst I am in a reflective mood - and whilst promoting OT may be big on the agenda this year (I think I am right in thinking that the BAOT/COT will be 80 years old this year - I wonder if there will be any celebrations?) I have decided to share with you some of the discussions that were around in 1932/33 about 'occupation therapy' taken from a "Board of Control Memorandum on Occupation Therapy for Mental Patients" HMSO Ref: 37051.


It is clear that terminology has changed - but so has much more- hopefully! It may be good to see where we have come from in the last 80 years........

"Definition: Occupation Therapy is the treatment, under medical direction, of physical or mental disorders by the application of occupation and recreation with the object of promoting recovery, of creating new habits and of preventing deterioration"

"Purpose: Rest may be essential in acute states, but, if unduly prolonged, it is attended with no less undesirable results in cases of mental disorder than in physical disorders. At the earliest possible moment, therefore, the use of the mind should be promoted by the mildest measures of occupation or by encouraging the patient to take interest in things external to himself."

"Occupation therapy provides at least a means whereby he may escape from the boredom of inactivity, and from depression"


" Monotony is the bane of institutional life; occupation is a form of treatment especially calculated to counteract it"
 
The memo then goes on, in summary, to  suggest that women should be employed in the kitchens and laundry of the hospital and men on the farm or garden and in maintenance of the building.
Recommendations for "handicrafts" include poultry keeping and hat making for women and french polishing and brush making for men.

It states that one 'occupation therapist' should be employed for each side of a hospital of 1000 beds on a pay scale of £200-£300 per annum. Occupation Therapists can be trained at Dorset House under the direction of Dr Elizabeth Casson. "The course extends over 2 years; if the student  has already a thorough knowledge of crafts the course may be completed in one year."

The Board of Control (1933) then sets out what training it expects of an occupation therapist over two years to include:
a) Nine months to one year devoted to the learning of crafts in an approved school
b) A series of lectures on basic subjects, with clinical demonstrations of cases suffering from physical and mental illness
c) A period of training in a mental hospital - six months would be sufficient
d) A short course in a large colony for defectives
e) three months training in recreational activities including indoor and outdoor games, dancing, drill, music, dramatics etc

Here at Salford we will begin the process of revalidation for our UG programme this year - maybe we should consider some of this :-)??. How much has changed do you think??
Looking forward to more blogging through the year - please feel free to comment on this or any of our posts (past and future).

 

NHS campaigns on the “funny side” of incorrect usage of A&E

 

Spreading the Choose Well message

7^th November marks the beginning of National Ask Your Pharmacy Week. On that date, NHS North West will be launching a series of humourous viral videos featuring real-world examples of some of the most frivolous reasons why people visit A&E departments.

Focussing on patients in the waiting rooms, the viewer is unsure until the end of the films whether they’re in a vet’s surgery, X-factor audition, beauty salon – or a hospital.

Although these films are funny, there is a serious message behind them. We need people to make sure that they choose the right NHS services if they need treatment this winter, so that they can be seen quickly and efficiently, and so that A&E and 999 teams across the country are free to deal with life-threatening and serious conditions, such as heart attacks, strokes, serious accidents and breathing problems.

We want as many people as possible to watch these films and absorb their message, and we need your help.

If every member of NHS staff posts a link to these films to their social media profiles, they will reach an audience of tens of millions of people within just a few days, raising awareness nationwide of the impact of unnecessary A&E attendances, and highlighting the abilities of local pharmacists to provide advice and treatment for minor complaints.

In the last 12 months, unnecessary visits to A&E cost the NHS in the North West £21 million. Let’s make this winter different.

So please do your bit and post these videos to your professional and personal social media pages – we might just start a real NHS revolution, resulting in your A&E teams never again having to hold an emergency consultation for a broken nail!

Actors from stage and screen gave up their time free of charge to appear alongside NHS staff as characters including women waiting for treatment for hair-dye disasters and botched false nails, a pushy mum desperate for her son to be seen by senior doctors for his diarrhoea, and even a man hoping A&E staff will turn their hands to helping out his poorly dog!

The more serious message is that cases such as these put added pressure on already busy A&E and 999 teams. In the North West alone, more than 400,000 people who could have been treated and advised by their local pharmacist or GP, or could have looked after themselves at home, went to A&E departments in the last 12 months. 

Watch the videos now at http://bit.ly/rGJxLw

"Who am I anyway? Am I my resume? " (A Chorus Line)

I was reminded of this line in the title from A Chorus Line whilst reading a really useful article by Kimberley Ramirez (2011) on ePortfolios, and it got me thinking!

Sarah and I are about to start a series of Masterclass sessions with a small group of our undergraduate students to facilitate their use of online social media for professional development. Our intention is to help them create and maintain high diversity, low density networks for their own professional journey.

I have a long held belief, backed by my own experience of both lecturing and performing in amateur dramatic productions, that teaching and presenting is a performance in the theatrical sense. You have an audience that you interact with, you present a version of yourself that is carefully constructed and rehearsed as maybe professional/expert/mentor/peer dependent upon the context. Usually in the more traditional arena you know your audience and you have "real time" interaction with them.

Dixon (2007) identifies "digital performances" of everyday life and recognises that in the online world we have many forums where we perform - blogs, chatrooms, discussion forums, facebook and similar. He talks about honing a persona in these arenas through reflection, rehearsal and presentation of self. (In fact this blog post was "rehearsed" a number of time before it reflected what I wanted to give of myself to the wider audience).


So, in readiness for our masterclass I set myself some homework and  I decided that I would look at my own online presence, what were my digital performances? How have I constructed a professional persona on line (and is it successful?). Who is my intended and actual audience and how do I engage with them?

The first thing I realise is that I have multiple roles and potential audiences on line, so I googled myself! "Angela Hook" found me pretty quickly (in amongst the wire artist from Canada - hmm maybe she has a more interesting online identity than me?). On the first page were links to my Seek and LinkedIn profiles and my twitter and facebook places and one photo which wasn't too old and had been used as a professional image for a time (thank goodness).

"Angela Hook occupational therapist" gave a bit more. In addition to above it also identified groups and events such as OT4OT and the 24 hour virtual exchange (2010 and 2011), wikiflash, and the MSc Advanced OT programme launch. In this search this blog was there and also a link to a blog that I started and haven't returned to for some time so is pretty static, a number of articles I have co-authored and links to presentations at conferences and on slideshare. What was of some concern is that my full profile is on a site that I know I haven't joined and seems to have been automatically converted my LinkedIn profile to a french site - need to do some more checking of that!!
Finally, on page 3 of this search was a link to my eportfolio.

All  have been developed and crafted with the intention of demonstrating a person with a professional (but human) image. My intention is to show that I :
a) am continually developing and learning
b) have some knowledge and expertise in my chosen field of occupational therapy
c) have some knowledge and expertise in my professional interests including the use of online technology for professional development
d) am open to discussion and debate
e) am interested in the work of others
f) that I am a team player and a collaborator
g) that I don't always have to take myself too seriously!


I attempt to do this.......

On LinkedIn and Twitter I  talk about events that are happening in my professional life. Here on the blog I attempt to show a more human side occasionally offering reflections (such as this) and even a "Fairy Story" that I have written.

My facebook page is only open to "friends" - these may be "real world" or "virtual space" friends who have something in common with me (eg professional, hobbies, etc). My personal blog is available to the wider public but is rarely found (can you find it??) in which I share exploits of my life, my thoughts and aspirations on a more personal basis from time to time. I also have a personal website for one of my hobbies that I undertake.

And so we come to my eportfolio which I developed to demonstrate my own learning and development over time.  It is rather static and has not really engaged with people to date.


All this means that I have an intended audience for my work, my thoughts and my ideas. What once was kept between a few select friends and colleagues is now out there for anyone to read and engage with. Everything that I personally upload or that I know will be uploaded is intended to be read which means that not only do I consider what others may see and believe of me - but I also must connect to my sense of self. If I fragment too much then I would find it very hard to maintain multiple personas and I may not be a "believable" online presence. But I am not sure if my intended audience is being reached in all arenas. Facebook is pretty much instantaneous with comment and feedback fro selected friends. Occasional requests to add links on LinkedIn, comments on the blog and twitter followers demonstrate that some are finding me and may even be reading.


 The challenge for me and for our small group of students is to:
1) integrate folio thinking into the learning experience
2) find ways of engaging the intended audience so that we can have a living, multi-centric arena for development

But I am still unsure about whether my intended outcome is successful. I guess all this remains a learning curve but I would very much welcome your views on how you present yourself on line and how you can gauge your success -  (and yes I invite comment on how you think I present online too please).

Thanks for reading.

 "If nothing is deposited or created then the stage is empty" (Ramirez 2011)

24 hour Virtual Exchange for World OT Day 2011

Just a very quick reminder that we will be hosting the 2nd 24hour Virtual Exchange for World OT Day from  Salford. There will be much more detail to follow helping you to be involved and engage with any session you want - all for free. You can see these emerging by going to the OT4OT website 
You might be interested in a blog post we have written about last year by clicking the link here.

More details to follow - watch this space......