Breaking Down Barriers - (Prof. Lewis Appleby Interview (Transcript))
Well I'm not entirely sure what to make of the following - here are some musings and the the transcript for yourselves to ponder.
Last Friday I awoke to the Today programme on Radio 4 and hazily heard a fascinating interview with The National Clinical Director for Mental Health, Professor Louis Applepy. He spoke to the Today programme discussing the "Breaking down barriers - the clinical case for change" Document (although it was stated as "some ideas"). Above everything else what I find fascinating is the strong hinting of the word "occupational therapy" without actually saying it. Or, did I have my "wishful thinking" hat on and they are infact thinking of using doctors & nurses... hmmm. The document doesn't really state anything new in my opinion - its what OT's (and on occasion some other AHP's and to some extent nursing) have been saying for a while. I also agree that many Mental Health units - particularly those involved outreach work are doing what is outlined. So who is this for? I'm not entirely sure. What's nice is the strong undertones that we need to move towards a more social model of healthcare - but it will take more than a couple of documents from the mental health sector of healthcare to get us there.
For the record I am posting it here. You have until this Friday to listen again on the BBC's site.
Professor Lewis Appleby (LA): Yes the report is about the next phase of reform of mental health care. We have had several years of strengthening what community services do and the report is about breaking down barriers in the next stage of reform, so I'm talking about barriers that that get in the way of better patients experience of care. At the moment there is a barrier between what health services traditionally do, which is clinical care, improving peoples illness', abolishing their symptoms - but what patients often tell us they want is help with quality of life. They want opportunities for training, for jobs and decent housing and we have to take on that responsibility.
ES: so the sought of thing we would call more social work than health work?
LA: Well its rooted in social care certainly. The quality of life approach to healthcare has its origins there and I suppose traditionally we in clinical services have seen that as a secondary benefit so our main aim is to make sure people no longer have symptoms and we hope of course that there will be broader benefits to that, but now we are saying really those broader benefits should be the primary aim of what services are about.
ES: And do you think that's an argument that will fly, as its conceptually quite a big leap isn't it
LA: Well the good services are already doing it I think its fair to say. Erm, its certainly a step forward from what we have done in the past but you know if a young person has a first episode of psychotic illness and previously we would help them get well and then we would return them to their families and hope that they would prosper. Its much better to be saying we will now help you get back to college, find a training place and a job - we will support you and support any potential employer so that they are prepared to offer you a job
ES: It sounds expensive
LA: I don't think it is expensive - its one of these things that is more about changing aims and professional roles. Its really about how we as clinical staff see our main responsibility
ES: Its also about staff doing things that they haven't done before? That's bound to require more resources isnt it?
LA: Well not necessarily. We have had large increases in investment and very big increases in all the staff groups. And its our job now that to make best use of that money. And that means focusing on the things patients they want and in particular they tell us that they want to return to mainstream society. They don't want simply to turn up to outpatient clinics and get their regular treatment
ES: this whole area is something giving the government problems isn't it. I'm thinking of the mental health bill which is still trying to get through parliament. Do you think its the right moment to be talking about anther leap forward rather than consolidating what you have been trying to do already?
LA: Well the connection with the Mental Health Bill is that the aim of the bill is to keep people well and the main measure in the bill is community treatment border that will require some people to take their treatment
ES: But my point is that its politically proved very difficult indeed because not everyone agrees with the way the bill has been put forward
LA: Well lots of people are in support of the community treatment order although they may differ on the exactly what the criteria ought to be. But remember , if your life is one of repeated admissions to hospital and untreated mental illness you cant get a job you cant take advantage of decent housing, you cant form friendships and relationships in the way that other people can. And the bill is there to make sure that some high risk and vulnerable people get the treatment they need. "
Quite probably copyright the BBC, Radio 4, Today Programme.
The use of blogs by OT's
It was sometime ago last year that having been explosed to what a blog was, and what it could be, I went looking for blogs written by occupational therapists. I was surprised (or perhaps I wasn't really) to find that when I searched on the term occupational therapy using search tools such as technorati.com that there were blogs on occupational therapy but mostly written by people who had been the recipient of occupational therapy, or whose family members had been. Willwade's blog was the first one I found written by an occupational therapist. Inspired by the examples I saw being used by educators in other fields such as education, and Will's this year I started my first blog! Now not being a good journal or diary writer myself, this has been a challenge, but we're getting there... anyway - if you are visiting Will's blog, please check out mine as well - Occupational Therapy - Educational Issues There's a whole group of us developing blogs and you can get to these blogs through my links pages at the moment! More later...
Please help!
The assessment & outcome measure database is now live!
Click here for the big hairy list! Assessment & Outcome measure database
It is by no means finished however!
As the image to the left states "We need your help!"
If you fancy getting your feet wet and helping out then take a read of this or alternatively mail me directly
Problem Based Learning - My experiences of being a student OT
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending [London South Bank University's](http://www.lsbu.ac.uk) Learning & Teaching Conference. I was asked to speak about my experiences of the learning process and in particular how I found the teaching of research within the [2-year Post-Graduate Course](/node/247). I wasn't entirely sure how to tackle this subject but in the end I think it worked out OK, even though it turned into a discussion of Problem Based Learning & its Pro's and Con's rather than research per se. The following may be useful to those struggling to come to terms with the whole PBL concept as well as those who attended the conference.
Find attached the original slideshow as a PDF and below a text version of the talk (with some extra content which I can add with hindsight). Hope its useful! [Read on for the full article..](/PBL-research-experiences)
Where's Will? - a preview of the OT Assessment Database
Well the site has been a little bit quiet for some time. Many excuses - mainly that I have got a new job and secondly because what I have been doing has been behind the scenes. Well, like Apple, Inc I figured that instead of unleashing a half-made half-useful product I would give you all a sneak preview of whats being going on prior to its release. Its not ready at the moment, mainly because I'm not comfortable with the design and usability aspects but we are nearly there..
In short what I have been working on, is a whopping great big OT Assessment and Outcome Measure database. All searchable and in a nice sortable list much like the OT Courses list. It already has some rather natty features like rss feeds for research articles relating to each and every assessment which can be added to by you, the public! These references are also exportable at a click to BibTeX which can then be used in EndNote and the like. As well as this every item will be comment-able and (I hope) editable by yourselves. The inital list has been compiled with the kind help of Cheryl Boop (Assessment list in Willard & Spackman fame) but I hope to have a list that will be far more current and useful.
Not entirely sure when it will be live - its taking some time to do quite a lot of data entering. If you wish to speed up the process then drop me a line. Would love the help! For now take a look at some of the screengrabs below. Click for a bigger view.
The list view and individual assessment view - minus comments
OT google search
Google have lots of tools to do fancy things. One of the newest is the ability to create your own specialised search engine. I have quickly attempted to roll one from a few OT specific sites - It does however need some further refinement since OT is often wrapped up with other mediums. Ill refine it as I play with it. Feel free to contribute to it as well (click on the volunteer link on the homepage).
The link to the homepage - or use the box below.
UPDATE: This has been somewhat improved since this was first released - actually works quite nicely now!
