Are you ready for the major changes in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) coming your way? As an occupational therapy community, it is essential that we fully understand the changes. AOTA is now offering all occupational therapy practitioners and students access to our August Member Appreciation PLUS webinar recording for free. You can even earn 1 CE contact hour if you view the entire webinar before December 31, 2018.

https://goto.webcasts.com/starthere.jsp?ei=1208113&tp_key=89e832cdbb

As OT's we have a significant part to play in the lives of dementia patients. Fifty million people worldwide currently live with dementia, a condition that causes significant psychological burden as well as social and financial distress to those living with it, their carers and families. A comprehensive, multisectoral public policy response aimed at addressing the needs of people with dementia, their carers and families is needed to improve quality of life, enhance equitable access to services and reduce stigma and social isolation. This guide assists WHO Member States in formulating this response, through a multiphased, stepwise approach. The guide is divided into five sections. Section 1 provides an overview of global trends in dementia, including projected prevalence and costs, as well as the international community’s response to date. Section 2 defines the term “dementia plan”, including what is meant by stand-alone versus integrated dementia plans, and highlights the rationale for developing a policy response to dementia. Section 3 summarizes the guide’s purpose, approach and primary target audience. Section 4 outlines the importance of political leadership, governance and multisectoral collaboration as well as stakeholder engagement. These elements are considered cross-cutting across all phases and steps involved in developing and implementing a dementia plan.

Learn.....Study.....Grow....OT Life!!

The International Institute of Therapeutic Intervention and Learning is a great resource for those utilizing brain entrainment and neurofeedback. Their soundscapes specifically target areas where a client may be having trouble. For those unfamiliar with Brain Entrainment, it refers to the capacity of the brain to naturally synchronize its brainwave frequencies with the rhythm of periodic external stimuli, most commonly auditory, visual, or tactile. The external stimuli elicit the brain’s ‘frequency following response’, encouraging the brainwaves to align to the frequency of a given medium. FFR can be useful because brainwaves are very much related to mental state. For example, a 10 Hz brainwave is associated with relaxation, so a 10 Hz sound pattern would help reproduce the relaxed state in your brain. I have successfully used it with varying conditions including; ADHD, ASD, PTSD, Anxiety, and Sensory Integration. However, one does not have to have a diagnosis to utilize brain entrainment. Positive research on brain entrainment continues to grow and expand.

OT News you need to know!!

Total hip replacement is a common procedure with statistics continuing to show large numbers of operations being conducted and, indeed, steadily increasing. Although the role of occupational therapy is well established and recognized there are rapid changes in the face of practice – not only in the timings of interventions but in the age and range of people needing rehabilitation. Occupational therapists are treating more people of working age who have had hip replacements as well as continuing to treat their more traditional caseload of older patients.  You can continue to learn more in this study guide. In this study/review guide you will find:

 Graphical review

1. Occupational Therapy for Adults Undergoing Total Hip Replacement – College of Occupational Therapists
2. UK survey of occupational therapist’s and physiotherapist’s experiences and attitudes towards hip replacement precautions and equipment - Smith and Sackley BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
3. Effect of occupational therapy on functional and emotional outcomes after hip fracture treatment: a randomized controlled trial – Clinical Rehabilitation
4. Effectiveness of Occupational Therapy Interventions for Lower-Extremity Musculoskeletal Disorders: A Systematic Review - The American Journal of Occupational Therapy
5. Total Hip Replacement Guide/Handout – Cappagh National Orthopaedic Hospital/Concord Hospital
6. Effectiveness of sensor monitoring in an occupational therapy rehabilitation program for older individuals after hip fracture, the SO-HIP trial: study protocol of a three-arm stepped wedge cluster randomized trial – BMC Health Services Research
7. Pre-Operative Occupational Therapy for Patients Having Total Hip Replacements - Journal of Community Medicine & Health Education

An OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST who establishes rapport with the taught, becomes one with them, learns more from them than he/she teaches them.

OT/COTA professionals!! Here are some free CEU webinars for September 2018! Access each of these wonderful freebies through the link in the video.