#OTalk 31st May 2016 – Hearing Loss Awareness for Occupational Therapists – How can wecommunicate better?

11 million people in the UK have some form of hearing loss meaning

Occupational Therapists need to consider hearing communication needs

for 1 in 6 people they work with. This affects professionals working

in all settings as hearing loss is affecting increasingly younger

adults due to rising environmental noise and earphone use.

Research has suggested even mild hearing loss doubles the risk of

developing dementia, depression and anxiety. Hearing loss has also

been linked with heart disease, diabetes and falls. Yet an estimated 9

million people are currently in a period of transition, lasting on

average ten years, between first experiencing hearing loss and seeking

professional help.

The impact of acquired hearing loss during this transition period can

lead to social withdrawal, activity avoidance and reduced

participation. This can affect employment, engagement in meaningful

activities and access to health and social care services.

As Occupational Therapists we have a professional responsibility to

ensure our service users’ are properly informed and communication is

client-centred and meets individual needs. However there is currently

a limited evidence base for how best to meet the needs of those with

hearing loss and awareness of hearing loss amongst health

professionals remains low.

We feel Occupational Therapists have the skill set to address the

impact of hearing loss on daily life. An OTalk will be held on 31st

May to start the discussion on what Occupational Therapy can offer

people with hearing loss across all settings. We are hosting this OTalk

to raise awareness of hearing loss in the community but also to hear

your feedback, experiences and suggestions relating to this important

issue.

Susan Windeatt & Helen Duncan

@mooartdotcom / @EarChoice / @H1H2H0

Post Chat Updates:

Online Transcript from Healthcare Hashtag Project

PDF of Transcript: #OTalk 31 May 2016

The Numbers

1,377,025 Impressions
602 Tweets
60 Participants

#OTalk Participants

#OTalk 24th May 2016 – Peer support, mentoring and buddy schemes: sharing and exploring the options

Supporting each other in our continuing professional development can take many forms including supervision, annual appraisals, performance management, preceptorship, coaching, peer-learning and mentoring (COT 2015).

Traditional mentoring schemes, where a senior person with expertise is paired with a mentee, often prove unsustainable. This has been the case at COT, where the demand for a mentor outweighed significantly those able to offer mentoring. The scheme was closed to new applicants in March 2016 with a view to scoping alternatives.

One such alternative is modern mentoring: http://www.riversoftware.com/resources/ModernMentoring_TJ_April15.pdf

The basic assumption with modern mentoring is that everyone has something to teach and everyone has something to learn. It is a form of open, social and collaborative learning. People meet in large groups to learn from and share insights with one another. There are no experts.

As the Lead for CPD@COT, and new in post since February, I’d like us to chat broadly and creatively on the topic of supporting each other to develop and grow. I’m particularly interested in thinking about what we currently do that works well, if there are specific points in our career where we feel additional support is best targeted, how we might overcome practical challenges to supporting each other and opinions on the potential role for COT in this process.

I look forward to chatting on Tuesday 24^th May 8pm-9pm

Stephanie @setG75

Reference:

The College of Occupational Therapists (2015) Supervision: guidance for occupational therapists and their managers. COT: London https://www.cot.co.uk/publication/z-listing/supervision (accessed 29th April 2016)

Hosted by:

Dr Stephanie Tempest @setG75

Education Manager for Professional Development

The College of Occupational Therapists

Post Chat Updates:

Online Transcript from Healthcare Hashtags.

PDF of Transcript: #OTalk 24 May 2016

The Numbers

2,230,415 Impressions
733 Tweets
65 Participants

#OTalk Participants

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#OTalk 17th May 2016 – Media Club: Nicky Seymour’s TEDx Talk from TEDxTableMountain

By: Bill Wong, OTD, OTR/L (@BillWongOT)

As a past TEDx Talker who is also an occupational therapist, I thought it will be a good idea to do some media club sessions with other TED or TEDx talks by other OT students or practitioners. So, this will be the first of this series I will try to facilitate.

When I was in my late teens (that was way before I ever decided to become an occupational therapist, by the way), I participated in three mission trips to a Native American reservation in South Dakota of USA called RedShirt. It was with a group with 1-2 dozen adolescents from California with supervision from a few clergies accompanying us. For each of these experiences, the campers were responsible to collaboratively work on a community project with each other and members of the RedShirt community during our 10-day stays. For example, we helped build a powwow arbor for the village so that they can use it to generate income for their community. Another year, we helped build a skate park where local and nearby children and youth can have a fun recreational space.

The reason why the organizers chose this area was because it was one of the poorest regions in the United States at the time. There was neither flushing toilet nor constant hot water for showers at where we were staying. Organizers would have to perform a laundry run at Rapid City, the nearest city that is a 45 minute drive from where we were staying. All in all, the intent of the organizers was to not only have us experience Native American culture (which was way different than how American History textbooks portray such individuals), but also hopefully had us realize how fortunate we were comparing to these individuals.

Now transitioning back into the TEDx presentation, I thought about these certain points.

Sometimes we might take what we can do in our daily lives for granted. It might be what we own. It might be ways available to us to perform certain occupations. It might be our abilities to access services in the community. When I was staying in Croatia in summer 2015, it was fascinating to learn the differences in the types of assistive technology available there versus in the United States. In Croatia, assistive technology available are generally low tech and affordable. If I were to suggest some of the assistive technology devices that might be more effective and/or technologically advanced from the United States to families in Croatia, I would most likely get rejected due to the fact that they most likely won’t be able to afford such. Hence, it was a good wake up call.
Occupational deprivation is a common issue for individuals with disability. If you add poverty and/or living in rural areas to the equation, it will be magnified even more. The question for us is- how can we assist those who are less fortunate than us, even if it’s for a short period of time?
Sometimes the simplest occupations bring joy to people. Skate parks are relatively common in where I live in Los Angeles. Hence, it is an occupation that many people live around Los Angeles and love skateboarding can enjoy. However, in Redshirt village before 2004, it was an occupation that children and teens living there desired, but they had to rely on their families driving a long distance to access a skate park. Hence, completion of the skate park not only created a meaningful community and social space for them to perform skateboarding, but also a space where nearby children and teens can come to enjoy, too.

Video for Nicky Seymour’s TEDx Talk can be found here – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OZ5fu2YKCM

Discussion Questions

Do you have any experiences working or living in disadvantaged communities? If so, please share your experiences.
In what ways poverty might affect people who live in disadvantaged communities, including those with disabilities?
If you answer yes to #1, how does that experience contribute to your worldview in OT practice?

Post Chat Updates:

Online Transcript

PDF of Transcript: #OTalk – 17th May 2016

The Numbers

1,007,875 Impressions
324 Tweets
47 Participants

#OTalk Participants

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#OTalk 10th May 2016 – What does it mean to engage with research within practice?

Discussions about the role of research in clinical settings can get bogged down very quickly in the barriers and challenges to doing research. Whilst the ‘doing’ of research is important principle 3 of the NHS constitution sets out a much broader vision of engagement with research via its commitment to:

the promotion, conduct and use of research to improve the current and future health and care of the population.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-nhs-constitution-for-england/the-nhs-constitution-for-england

This weeks OTalk is designed to encourage and challenge us to take a step back from the well trodden path of barriers and focusing on the conduct of research and to think more broadly about different ways in which we can engage with research. As a starting point here are some questions to think about

What do we really mean by developing a culture of research in a clinical setting? What is it that we aspire to achieve, what would therapists be doing and talking about in such a culture?
How much do you know about the research community in your organisation and local area?
What is the OTs role in promoting opportunities to participate in research to service users? How do you go about doing this?
How do you work to ensure that your practice is evidence informed?
If you are interested in conducting research what can you do/have you done to develop your skills and expertise?

@lynnegoodacre

Post Chat Updates:

HealthCare Transcript

PDF of transcript: #OTalk 10th May 2016

The Numbers

1,357,018 Impressions
643 Tweets
74 Participants

#OTalk Participants

1 Comment Leave a comment

#OTalk 3rd May 2016. Social Media- HCPC Guidance

The HCPC are running a workshop for you to have a say in their social media Guidance. on the 1oth May 2016 you can sign up to participate here https://hcpc.clevertogether.com/en/login

The #OTalk community is a shiny example of the potential that using social media can hold – so we’d like you to share what you think the HCPC guidance should cover.

Q1) Should there be fixed do’s and don’ts? if so what should they be?

Q2) How would/does HCPC guidance influence the use of social media?

Q3) Would there be any differences in how different professions use social media?

Q4) Would overly restrictive rules hinder professional use of social media? if so, how?

Q5) What topics do you feel should be included?

Following the chat I will send a copy of the transcript to the HCPC.