@RCOT_work will host this weeks #Otalk

Occupational Therapists facilitate an individual’s journey to meet the goals meaningful to them. Meaning is defined by the individual, as is the meaning of work which could also mean different things to different people across their life course. This is a particularly pertinent topic with recent changes in the benefits systems, the introduction of the Government’s Work and Health Agenda, changes in the Access to Work funding opportunities, the Royal College of Occupational Therapists (RCOT) OT champions and response to the Work and Health Agenda and 

Engagement in work includes engagement in learning, training and education, voluntary work, paid work, part time work, flexible working and crucially it is not an exclusive goal, as for many this may also involve the balance of personal lives, commitments and enduring health conditions. Occupational Therapists are well placed to facilitate the goal of returning to work, but also the maintenance of work. The purpose of this OTalk is to discuss about what is known about using work as a goal within practice, for Occupational Therapists who work exclusively in Vocational Rehabilitation to share their knowledge and give advice about resources to use in practice, and to ask questions to the wider OT community to find out what you want to know about how OT’s can engage with the work question, what would you like to learn from research in this area.

Questions that will lead the discussion are: 

1. What does work as an outcome mean within the OT journey?
2. Have you used work as a goal within practice, and if so in which setting do you work in? 
3. What would be helpful for you to incorporate work (as an outcome) into your client/patient journey?
4. Are there particular research questions that would help you frame your practice? 
5. Final thoughts, any additional resources you would like to share. 

The RCOT Specialist Section for work will facilitate this OTalk and we hope that information shared within this discussion allows participants to ask the work question, and also for us to gain understanding as to what the wider OT community wish to know about work. 

POST CHAT

Hosting Chat @RCOT_work

#Otalk admin team was Caroline @colourful_ot

Online Transcript

#OTalk Healthcare Social Media Transcript May 15th 2018

The Numbers

511.333K Impressions
214 Tweets
34 Participants
171 Avg Tweets/Hour
6 Avg Tweets/Participant

#OTalk Participants

 

 

May’s #OTalk Research topic will be exploring industry based research hosted by Professor Suzanne Martin @DrSuzanneMartin , Ulster University and supported by Nikki Daniels @NikkiDanielsOT from the #OTalk Research Team.

There are many symbiotic relationships with industry required to design and deliver occupational therapy services.  This ranges from the production of assistive technologies that we prescribe to the collaboration with commissioned care provides as just a few examples. Within the United Kingdom, politically, there has been a shift from a dependency on solely the public provision of services to a more partnership based approach involving commercial vendors. Occupational Therapy research should be
orientated to have impact on providing the evidence for what we currently do and creating the emergence of novel approaches to occupational therapy interventions.

With this in mind,  and cognisant of how our services and some interventions are sourced from industry partners it is realistic and both reasonable to consider opportunities for research that is in collaboration with industry. In addition, opportunities for funding outside traditional research councils exist that enable us to promote innovation within industry partners – developing our knowledge base within the profession whilst enhancing the competitiveness and knowledge base of organisations we work with.

In our talk tonight we aim to explore where the opportunities might exist for occupational therapy research with industry.  We hope to reflect on both the opportunities and challenges of this type of research and consider what would be helpful to our profession to enable more therapists to engage in partnership work.

Here are some questions to consider as we discuss this topic.

1. Does anyone have experience of industry collaborations or can share examples of
positive contributions from such research collaborations?

2. What contribution or impact do you think research with industry partners could have for our profession?

3. Do you think this has been a gap that requires greater focus?

4. What do you think the challenges could be for our profession or what challenges have
you experienced?

5. What would encourage or discourage you form initiating or forming collaborations with industry?

6. What would we be helpful to enable more people to engage in research that is based in
industry?

Post Chat

Hosting the chat Professor Suzanne Martin @DrSuzanneMartin , Ulster University

Support on the @OTalk_ account Nikki Daniels @NikkiDanielsOT from the #OTalk Research Team.

Online Transcript

#OTalk Healthcare Social Media Transcript May 1st 2018

The Numbers

529.556K Impressions
151 Tweets
17 Participants
121 Avg Tweets/Hour
9 Avg Tweets/Participant
#OTalk Participants

 

Would you like to be part of the #OTalk Blog Squad for RCOT 2018 annual conference?

For the second year the #OTalk and #OTalk Research team are forming a blog squad to provide a stimulating, engaging, personal insight into conference. Last years the blogs were very well received and reached a global audience and we are using the learning to inform what we do this year.

To make this happen we are recruiting a small team of writers who feel able to, and are excited by, the prospect of writing short engaging posts. Last year people from all stages of their career (students to profs) and a wide range of clinical backgrounds made up the squad.

How does a blog squad work?

Members of the squad will be asked to agree before conference which sessions they will cover and commit to writing and delivering a maximum of 2 short posts about the sessions. There are key sessions that we need to cover as well as some choice. It is important to understand that these are written and posted during the conference and so you do need to be willing to commit some of your conference time to writing the posts.

You will be asked to respect professional codes of conduct in what you write but the posts are very much yours to write in your style, using your words and any media you think will convey your experience. You can check out what people wrote last year here #COT2017.

What kind of writing experience do I need?

You need to feel confident in your writing as the posts will not be heavily edited and corrected by us. You also need to feel happy writing a short article to a tight deadline. This isn’t something you can take away and complete after conference. We will provide some guidance as well as an opportunity to connect with each other before conference begins to answer any questions you may have.

How do I get involved?

Firstly you need to have registered for conference.

Once you have done this complete the expression of interest form available here https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/MVL7H8L  and we will be in touch.

Deadline for completion Friday 4^th May

 

 

 

 

This weeks #Otalk is on the topic of “volunteering” and will be hosted by Orla Hughes (@Orlatheot).

At the RCOT 2018 conference in June, I will be presenting a personal reflection on how I used my occupational therapy skills when volunteering last year. The aim of the presentation is to encourage others (especially students) to develop their professional skills by taking up volunteering roles at home or abroad. I hope this Twitter chat can help us recognise and reflect on the value we bring to our volunteer roles.

Here are the questions we will be discussing:

1. Hello! Please introduce yourself and answer Q.1 which is ‘Have you ever volunteered, or do you currently volunteer with an organisation? Tell us about it.’
2. What barriers stop you from volunteering?
3. What do you enjoy about volunteering? Does it benefit you?
4. What occupational therapy skills have you used in a volunteer role? Tell us about how you used them. What do occupational therapists bring that others do not?
5. Do you think it is useful to volunteer abroad or is it better to volunteer locally where you are ‘culturally relevant’?
6. Do you record your volunteer experience as CPD evidence? If so, how?
7. Can you identity new roles for occupational therapy in the organisations that you have or still volunteered with?
8. Finally, sharing is caring! Please share any opportunities where organisations are looking for volunteers. Do you know any organisations that provide funding for volunteer projects? Or even any literature on the topic of volunteering?

POST CHAT

Leading the chat Orla Hughes (@Orlatheot) 

On the @OTalk_ account Carolina Cordero @colourful_ot  

Online Transcript

#OTalk Healthcare Social Media Transcript April 24th 2018

1.337M Impressions
329 Tweets
32 Participants
263 Avg Tweets/Hour
10 Avg Tweets/Participant

#OTalk Participants