Annual conference international students or recruits . Ask yourself : ‘ What matters to them ? Is it the learning experience ? Is it the cultural background ? Is it about bringing the whole self to work ? And then , how can you harness that ? How can you put that individual first ?’
Annual conference international students or recruits . Ask yourself : ‘ What matters to them ? Is it the learning experience ? Is it the cultural background ? Is it about bringing the whole self to work ? And then , how can you harness that ? How can you put that individual first ?’
She added : ‘ I wish at the time , my supervisor would have sat down with me and said , do you know what Venus , I found it very uncomfortable , but why don ’ t we talk about it and reflect together ?
‘ We need to be braver … let ’ s explore why we have these feelings and what actions we need to take together .’
Karin ’ s final question was around ‘ imposter syndrome ’ and she asked Venus how she manages self-doubt and what strategies or mindsets work for her .
Using her experience of working for Suzanne Rastrick , Chief Allied Health Professions Officer for England , she offered some advice to others , including first acknowledging and embracing negative feelings and questioning where they stem from .
‘ The second step is to think about if someone you love and care dearly about , or even if a patient came to you , to say they are not ready … what would you say to them ?’ She suggested people think about self-analysis tools and their strengths , while stressing that ‘ we shouldn ’ t really call it weakness , we should be calling it need ’.
She also said , we need to practise self-compassion : ‘ We ask our patients and carers to take time out and give yourself some “ me time ”. But how many of us really do that and put time aside to look after our own wellbeing to do something meaningful to us ?’
If I had the chance , I would love to have said , when life gives you lemons , make lemonade !”
Should we be reimagining the role of OTs in an acute setting ?
Occupational therapists have an essential role supporting people to recover and rehabilitate following acute hospital admissions , but our skills aren ’ t always put to best use in acute settings . In addition , community teams can struggle to keep pace with discharge rates .
Lauren Walker , RCOT Professional Adviser , set the scene , touching on some of the insights from RCOT ’ s recent workforce survey and summits , delving into some of the challenges OTs working in acute settings face , along with some of the opportunities for meaningful change for the OT role in hospital discharge .
RCOT ’ s workforce survey and the series of workforce summits told us that OTs are seeing increased demand and complexity and significant workforce shortages , she said . In addition , there is poor recognition out there of the unique occupational therapy role and a lack of OT and AHP leadership .
Lauren said RCOT is hearing that people feel undervalued in the acute setting , that their primary function has become discharge co-ordinators , they don ’ t feel they are able to ‘ do therapy ’, and they aren ’ t able to intervene with people in a way that ’ s rehabilitative and supportive to enable them to engage and participate in occupation .
This , she said , is leading to people leaving the acute setting and is a barrier to people working in that setting in the first place .
That said , ‘ there is an overwhelming sense of pride in what we do and what we can bring … that leaves me to strongly believe that it isn ’ t the profession that ’ s the problem , it ’ s the systems and the structures that we work within that are causing us to feel undervalued .’
So what needs to change , she asked ? ‘ The status quo isn ’ t sustainable or desirable ,’ Lauren exclaimed . She said that OTs need to : be positioned where they have the biggest impact ; be able to focus on occupation ; stop undertaking tasks that dilute our unique role – and are better competed by other multidisciplinary team members ; and confidently demonstrate the unique value of OT within current and development structures .
The lively panel discussion explored when , where and how OTs can make best use of their expertise and achieve the best outcomes for people leaving hospital .
Lauren ’ s first question the panel was : If we are saying the role of OTs in hospital isn ’ t working and needs to change , what ’ s our essential role in hospitals and what might we need to let go of ?
Louise Watson , Site Lead Inverclyde Royal Hospital and Chief AHP Clyde Sector / Occupational Therapy Professional Lead ( acute ) NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde , said an OT ’ s essential role is as a senior clinical decision maker .
Karin Orman
Jo Richardson
Louise Watson
Nikki George-Powell
Emma Ashton
Lauren Walker
July 2023 OTnews 23