OK I'm back. After a massive lack of time to commit to meta-ot my day job is settling back down again and I am attempting to get back in the swing of all things interweb. First things first though and some site maintenance - the traffic on this site is Huuuge! As a result I'm trimming all the front page stories back to a preview posting. I haven't done anything to the full content of posts just made it so the front page shows the first 100-200 words. To see the full posting simply click on the heading. To demonstrate see my beautifully created image. More soon!

1. Introduction:
During my short career in health and social care, I have seen people rushed into hospital by ambulance, treated with major surgery and kept alive against great odds in intensive care. I have seen people rehabilitated by physiotherapists and speech and language therapists and cared for by nursing staff. I have seen social workers speaking to patients to ensure their care needs are met in the community. What is it all for? Why do we work so hard to keep people alive? The answer to this question must lie in the meaning of life. What is the meaning of life? This blog entry briefly explores the meaning of life and extrapolates from it reasons why occupational therapy is an essential component of quality care. It reflects on evidence that occupational therapy is currently undervalued and suggests a radically different professional image for the future.

1. Introduction: As a member of the British Association of Occupational Therapists I refer to the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct [1] and Core Standards [2] specified by the College of Occupational Therapists. I also refer to National Service Frameworks[3] produced by the Department of Health and guidelines produced by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence[4]. Working within the National Health Service I rarely feel empowered to follow these standards or guidelines. This mismatch between professional ideals and working reality seems to be a never-ending source of conflict and emotional turmoil. To manage this conflict I refer to Hindu/Buddhist scriptures on the practice of yoga. Some essence of these has been summarised in a journal article titled ‘The Ayurvedic Model of Human Occupation’[5] in the Asian Journal of Occupational Therapy. This blog entry describes how I apply these scriptures to my working life, to manage my own well-being (that is threatened five days a week). It may make little sense to anybody that does not practise yoga. I would therefore encourage anybody that is interested to refer to the journal article.

These days the emphasis is on Multidisciplinary/ Transdisciplinary/ Interprofessional team working in healthcare. As rehabilitation is a complex process hence more is the emphasis. In wards the OTs work with doctors/physios/ Social Worker/ Speech and Language Therapist/Healthcare assistants/ Nurses/Prosthetist & Orthotists etc..

Jackson & Davies (1995) discussed Trans-disciplinary working yet expressed uncertainty of the extent of its use. Kevin R & Feaver S (2006) reports in healthcare there is an increasing emphasis on interprofessional working- this has become a priority and is now extending to the development of interprofessional education for healthcare professionals at every level, both pre and post qualification.

The point though that I fail to understand is:
When formulating the undergraduate curriculum, does this kind of multidisciplinary teamwork happen at any level?

1. Introduction:
As a basic grade occupational therapist, I frequently encounter people for whom exercise tolerance is the limiting factor of occupational performance. Usually, this is due to physical de-conditioning secondary to inactivity, but occasionally it is due to pathology. This can often be obvious in people with pulmonary or cardiovascular impairments, but less obvious for those with neurological or renal pathology. Reflecting on my undergraduate occupational therapy training, it has not informed me of how best to manage these people as patients. If I knew no better, I might be hesitant to stress people with cardio-pulmonary pathology for fear of straining their already compromised organs. I might just issue loads of equipment and re-organise tasks to reduce occupational stress. Luckily, from previous experience I know that peripheral physiological adaptations contribute grately to increased performance capacity, and can therefore reduce the overall daily load placed on a compromised heart or lungs. When cleaning out my hard-drive this weekend I found a piece of work I did 9 years ago that has influenced my own physical training and the way I have viewed people with reduced exercise tolerance since. I thought I might as well share it here before deleting it along with the rest of my junk.

The molecular basis of exercise and its impact for maintaining neural function and plasticity has been found, the effect of BDNF (Brain Derieved Neutrophic Factor). BDNF seen to promote neuronal repair, learning and memory. Exercise helps to augment synaptic plasticity, promote behavioural rehabilitation and counteract deletrious effect of aging. Central nervous system has the regeneration potential. The effect of exercise go beyond simply increasing regional blood supply/ motor- sensory regions of the brain. Mailoo VJ (2006) even explored correlation of immune system and mind in Psychoneuroimmunolgical studies for different disease conditions.