During my Rehabilitation in the Home placement I have quickly come to realise how little we as physiotherapy students, know about what the other health professions have to offer. When a new referral is made to RITH- the staff at the hospital place a tick next to what profession they think the patient needs to be seen by (eg physio, OT, social work, speech). If physio is the only box that is ticked (which is often the case), it doesn't necessarily mean that physio will be the only treatment required. When visiting/assessing the patient for the first time, you are responsible for making further referrals if necessary. How are we supposed to refer a patient on to another health profession like OT, when we have never been taught what OTs have to offer?
I have learnt a lot about the different treatments and assistance OTs can offer (and to a lesser degree- social work and speech) during this placement, but I still feel there is so much I do not know. For example- I knew hardly anything about all the different pieces of equipment OTs can prescribe- shower benches, rails, leg lifters for getting into bed, devices for putting on shoes and socks, devices for picking up objects from the floor, tray-mobiles, etc, etc, as well as what else OTs can assist with- eg upper limb retraining, cooking, personal care, etc. I knew hardly anything about what social work actually involves- organising assistance with shopping, cleaning, showering, meal preparation, financial assistance, helping people apply for hostels, etc, etc. And I still know hardly anything about speech therapy- what to look for, what types of conditions speech therapists can help with, etc, etc.
I guess what I am saying is, I think this is a very important area that physios out in the workforce are required to have extensive knowledge about- but is extremely neglected in our course. During 3rd year sometime (before we begin clinics in 4th yr), I think it would be a wise idea to run a couple of lectures about the other allied health professions. Even just a 1 hour lecture about each of the following- speech, OT and social work- run by a qualified person in each area, would be of great use to graduating physios. A brief explanation of what types of services each profession can offer, as well as what we as physios need to look out for when considering a referral, will at least give us some idea, and will allow us to better serve our patients.
The whole allied health team at RITH work in very close communication with each other so if I ever have any questions or need help- there is always an OT/speech/social worker close by to ask. However in some of the hospitals, private practice, etc- these opportunities are harder to come by. I am concerned that had I not had this RITH placement, I may have graduated with very minimal knowledge in this area. I will be feeding this back to the School of Physio in eVALUate and I suggest that if any of you agree with me, do the same! They are more likely to take notice and do something about it if they are receiving similar feedback from several students.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
yes nic, you are right. we know too little about the scope of practice of different allied health professions because we have only been learning or infusing the thought of physiotherapy. however that is not global enough in terms of treating the 'whole' person. i think that physio is very good at breaking a complex movement into many tasks for patient to practice and then put those tasks together again. also we are very good at treating impairment.... OT, social worker seems more socially apporached....
Hey nic
i totally agree, i definetley do not always have a clear idea of what the other health proffesionals offer, Its excellent that you get to work, and find out about what services they have to offer on your current clinic as esp. in a hospital setting it is always a team approach and there are often things you can incorporate in your treatment that will help integrate some of their work. I would also suggest to other people to take the time to ask your supervisor if you can sit in on an OT or speech session on your clinic i am currently on NOPD and we are encouraged to organise this ourselves i found it quite useful as being in outpatients you dont really have alot of contact with other team members.
Nic
You have some strong ideas on this topic and your suggested actions are sound. Continue to maximise the clinical environment because there is so much to be learned on the job compared to reading or hearing about it. I think that learning about other health professionals continues for several years - my own experience involved learning surgical techniques and discharge rehab options for orthopaedic patients.
John
Post a Comment