OTnews August 2020 | Page 42

FEATURE SERVICE DEVELOPMENT
#ThinkActivity
Fiona Black and Margot Russell discuss the
development and introduction of an activity programme
in a GP community hospital, and how the initiative is
encouraging a reduction in patients’ sedentary behaviour
Kello Hospital is a 17-bed facility in rural
Clydesdale, in South Lanarkshire,
providing GP medical care, rehabilitation
and end of life care to a wide range of
people, mainly elderly.
In 2017, social media was awash with statistics
stating that ‘10 days in a hospital bed leads to 10
years’ worth of lost muscle mass’ (British Geriatrics
Society 2018; Dolan 2017).
The occupational therapy service in NHS
Lanarkshire was influenced to find a means of
improving patient activity levels on wards and
improve outcomes for patients, and so a project was
developed in collaboration with Lianne McInally, an
occupational therapist on secondment to Healthcare
Improvement Scotland (HIS), Glasgow Caledonian
University (GCU) and Fiona Black, a specialist
occupational therapist.
The improvement programme #ThinkActivity
aimed to increase patient activity and mitigate hospital
deconditioning by reducing sedentary behaviour.
The improvement programme
HIS established the relationship between the
occupational therapy staff, GCU and other researchers
who had an interest in improving sedentary behaviour
of hospitalised patients.
The university provided training in the use of an
electronic logger (activePAL™ technology) to collect
quantitative data. The activePAL™ was attached to
the patient, measuring patient movement, giving totals
for time spent lying, sitting, standing and stepping.
Consent was gained from patients who were willing
to participate and an initial four-week period identified
baseline information.
Since the occupational therapy team was
responsible for collating the baseline data, initially
activity was seen as the role of the occupational
therapist.
Activity champions were identified from across the
multidisciplinary team to lead #ThinkActivity work, who
then co-produced a meaningful definition of activity
for the team. Consequently it was important that the
42 OTnews August 2020
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