Data literacy – what difference does it make to occupational therapy practice ?
Hot on the heels of RCOT ’ s newlypublished Data and Innovation Strategy , Suzy England looks at what data literacy means for you .
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hen I qualified as an occupational therapist in 2003 , data for me was numerical , sat in tables and was often related to research activities . During my first few years of practice , I didn ’ t see the link between what I was recording in a patient health and care record and the potential insights I could obtain from this information .
In 2022 , we can all identify examples of where data is used to understand things , for example how our online purchases lead to personal recommendations of other products we might be interested in .
Thinking about heath and care provision , I am not suggesting that data provides us with the full story , rather , how does data lead to further enquiry ? For example , we have an increased need for post-traumatic stress disorder interventions because of the pandemic , but do we have the skills in the existing workforce ?
Despite electronic systems being around for some time now , little is known about how confident occupational therapists feel working with systems and different types of data throughout their career and in different roles and contexts .
For the next two years , RCOT is going to lead on a programme of activity that seeks to support occupational therapists ’ data literacy skills .
Published in December 2021 , the new RCOT Data and Innovation Strategy ( 2021-2023 ) has a vision that : ‘ Every occupational therapist is confident in engaging in a range of activities
30 OTnews January 2022