SERVICE EVALUATION FEATURE
This could be explained by the fact that nursing staff work alongside the occupational therapy team on a day-to-day basis and therefore have the opportunity to gain more awareness .
In addition , nursing staff have more exposure to the diversity of occupational therapy , since they experience different placement settings as part of their training .
It is worth mentioning that the sample size was small and focused around a CAMHS inpatient setting , which makes it more difficult to generalise the findings . However , it is still an interesting discussion , which highlights some existing attitudes toward the role of occupational therapy and the potential gap in understanding .
This is something that the occupational therapy team can begin to address on a local level ( AOTA 2020 ).
Occupational therapy helps you to improve your wellbeing ...
Lessons learned Current methods and future plans on how to improve the understanding of the occupational therapy role were discussed and the following actions were created : use trust websites to promote the work within the unit ; get involved in World Occupational Therapy Day and Occupational Therapy Week and promote this within the unit ; increase involvement in new staff induction process ; more involvement with occupational therapy students , as well as other disciplines ; increase our occupational therapy network within the local area ; promote the occupational therapy role to the young people ; work with the young people to create a ward booklet that includes an explanation of our role ; encourage team members to ask questions and openly discuss our role and interventions ; regularly share and exhibit work completed with young people , for example our end of summer exhibition ; run in-house training sessions on the scope of occupational therapy ; and promote joint working
References :
American Occupational Therapy Association ( 2020 ) Ways to promote occupational therapy . Available online at : https :// bit . ly / 3vF9Uu6 [ accessed 12 November 2020 ]
AQA ( 2020 ) EPQ . Available online at : www . aqa . org . uk / subjects / projects / project-qualifications / EPQ-7993 / why-choose [ accessed 12 November 2020 ]
Royal College of Occupational Therapists ( 2019 ) What is occupational therapy ? Available online at : www . rcot . co . uk / about-occupational-therapy / what-is-occupational-therapy [ accessed 12 November 2020 ]
Written by the occupational therapy team at Kent and Medway Adolescent Hospital : Niki Vasileiadou , occupational therapy assistant ( OTA ), Sarah Parrish , occupational therapist , Lisa Greenhead , occupational therapist , Beth Harwood , OTA , Rebecca Warrilow , OTA , and Sophie Appelt , OTA
Having a wide range of occupational therapy activities supports young people to develop individual interests and skills , which supports recovery and wellbeing post-discharge
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