You are not alone, thousands of OTs can’t afford to go to the conference either because of the cost of the actual conference itself or the additional cost of travel and accommodation.

You may be a really experienced OT thinking you really should get a grip of some ‘theory’, but where to start…..?

The reality is that ‘the theory’ that you think you should know is woven into your every day practice without you even knowing it. You use it every day you are at work without thinking; yet are the first to say ‘Oh I am not very good with all that theory stuff I just do my job’.

OT’s say this to me all the time, and often cite it as a reason that they can’t have students, ‘It’s all that theoretical stuff I just don’t know anymore’.

Well let’s have a look at all that theoretical stuff you do know.

You are HCPC registered so that means you are providing evidence of the standards of practice that extensive research has identified as the core skills of all AHP’s. ✔️

You are working somewhere within the OT process and know what comes before and after the bit that you are doing if you focus on one aspect of it.✔️

You are breaking down tasks and activities everyday so people can have meaningful occupations, again lots of psychological theory and research that underpins all that.✔️

Where ever you are working there are N.I.CE. Guidelines. If you hadn’t seen them just Google NICE guidelines and which ever clinical area you are in or long term conditions there will be some. Just read the summary, if you are ticking all the boxes; great. If not have a closer look, you may find something useful to help you offer a quality service with Government support.✔️

You could go through your case notes with a check list of what should be in them and what is in them. An audit by any other name. Both of the above are part of Clinical Governance.✔️

That’s a lot of theory for someone who doesn’t know a lot about it..

If you still feel you are lacking confidence articulating the theory side, why don’t you add it to your supervision sessions? You should be having an hour once a month or two months.

Is it a productive session?

If not could you use the sessions to integrate ‘theory’ with your practice? This would increase your confidence, your ability to articulate more clearly the context of your role in the service, and the thing I use the theory all the time for is arguing for change. Nine times out of ten you will have a ‘feeling in your water’ that something is not right, you are an experienced professional after all, but having someone else, Government, researcher, academic also saying it gives you more authority to objectively argue for change.

Start today with adding one of the above to your next supervision agenda! ✔️

1. Identify if location is a priority for you then you can target or widen your search.

2. Be honest with yourself; do you want to specialise or do a rotation? Have you got to get any job immediately due to finance or can you afford to wait?

3. Once you have identified where you want to go and how quickly, do your homework, apply for a relevant job or wait for the right one.

4. Check your networking, have you been on placement, do you know anyone who knows anyone?

5. Arrange a visit with any of the above or the contact person. Also meet or ask permission from the person writing your reference.

6. Visit and make mental notes of conversations and everything you observe for future reference.

7. Review the person SPEC and write up with balanced quotes from your placement educator including comments from each section of your assessment booklet integrating the summary of your strengths.

8. Think about your development as an occupational therapy professional. Make a list/diagram/recording of the significant light bulb moments you have had from the day you heard you had place on the course. Go through old diaries, placement booklets and people you have met.

9. Post/ email and then take a deep breath and believe you have just the combination of knowledge, skills and personality they are looking for.

10. Arrive early for the interview and just be yourself, it’s not an audition, if you fit into the jigsaw they will have you, if not keep applying till you find the perfect fit.

Hi there, Margaret here.

Can I just ask a simple question;

Could you work more tidily?

Having three jobs, two messy teenagers, a husband, not to mention my dog and the chickens, you could be forgiven for thinking this is a personal question about my home life rather than work.

In fact it is another new acronym-I know it’s new as I came up with it up myself.

I have just returned from a weekend away in the Lakes with my husband. Whilst we were there I noticed there were a number of retirement apartments in the area.

I know my retirement is a long way off, but I was curious about what they had to offer and as I visit a number of care homes in a personal and professional capacity, how everything was laid out in terms of functionality and design.

I persuaded my long suffering husband to blag us a tour of one of the show apartments (I have always said he looks much older than me).

The apartments were delightful, modern and light with moving walls and outside spaces.

However, I did notice some interesting things. A settee which would have been more at home in a teenagers den; it was so low to the ground, a great walk in shower but no seat, lovely rails by the shower but no discrete handle next to the toilet.

At this point I had to admit my profession and ask if an OT had been involved in the design or was available to discuss any adaptations that could be made in the future, but sadly, as is all too common, the person had never heard of OT and had no idea that anyone was around to offer that kind of advice.

It really brought it home to me again that we have to get better at our PR. For some OTs and I am hoping to include you in this, doing it tidily may be an easy way to remember to promote and develop a wider knowledge and understanding of the profession.

TIDY

T – Tweet relevant experiences to increase education about occupational therapy
I – Inform the profession share ideas locally, nationally and internationally regularly
D – Discuss and debate in relation to current policies
Y -Your reflections on what you have done clearly demonstrating how you have met HPCP standards
Or the more advanced model

Tidily

T – Tweet relevant experiences to increase education about occupational therapy
I – Inform the profession share ideas locally, nationally and internationally regularly
D – Discuss and debate in relation to current policies
I – Inform the profession share ideas locally, nationally and internationally regularly
L- Link and network
Y -Your reflections on what you have done demonstrating how you have met HPCP standards

All these things link and circle round continuously and dare I say it, tidily. It helps me to think about the small picture and the large picture simultaneously.

I know there are so many of these acronyms about and they can irritate me as well, I often can remember the acronym but not what it stands for.

We must find them useful or we would not continue to use them.

I am sure you are very familiar with SMART and SMARTER well why not TIDY and TIDILY, it feels much more what can I say tidier….

T – Tweet relevant experiences to increase education about occupational therapy
I – Inform the profession share ideas locally, nationally and internationally regularly
D – Discuss and debate in relation to current policies
I – Inform, keep sharing ideas locally, nationally and internationally regularly
E – Energetic exploration of the evidence base
R – Reflections on what you have done demonstrating how you have met HPCP standards

Ok I am getting carried away now but you can hopefully see where I am coming from?

Wonder if it will catch on, let me know what you think or if you have some ideas of your own.

I would love to hear from you,
Margaret.

What are the 10 qualities of a real OT?

Why did you come into OT – any answer that doesn’t immediately convey personal passion about people and the profession and begins with my Mum/ Dad / Aunty Noreen thought I would be good gets big a minus.

Any answer that begins with ‘well I realised I really want to be a florist/doctor/physio/psychologist/ mathematician/work in a zoo etc, but well I am here now’, doesn’t bode well. All things I have heard students say over the years.

Over the past twenty two years I have visited 1000’s of educators and students. I have learnt a lot.

1. Real OT’s like people

2. Real OT’s are passionate about the people they work with

3. Real OT’s are people who want to improve lives

4. Real OT’s are advocates.

5. Real OT’s are people who use activity in a way that is meaningful for the people they work with.

6. Real OT’s people who are genuinely interested in their clients story.

7. Real OT’s are people who are determined to find a beginning.

8 Real OT’s work with people to identify a place to start another journey.

9. Real OT’s believe what they are doing makes a difference, because it does make a difference.

10. Real OT’s ( difficult as it is to define challenging as it is to articulate) love Occupational Therapy.

They never yearn to be anything else.

I know after over thirty years of being, doing and becoming an Occupational Therapist that my ot coat which has always been a very comfortable and natural fit is now my second skin.

I hope you feel the same?

Normally people have very positive experience when working with occupational therapists. However this is not always the case; earlier this year my mother had a really bad fall and was admitted through A & E into critical care and then onto a ward.

The rehab she received was appalling, and resulted in me putting in a formal complaint (no mean feat) about the occupational therapist who treated her.

I have been an OT for over 30 years and have been lecturing students for well over 20. As such a passionate advocate of occupational therapy, and in the light of the Francis report, I was horrified that someone, especially an occupational therapist, could treat someone with such lack of compassion, dignity and respect.

The department was so obviously process/time driven, and the rush to return people to home was palpable.

My mother, who had a C2 fracture, a neck brace on, had 7 fractured ribs, has a hip replacement and was recovering from the removal of a kidney due to cancer three months previously, was assessed as FULLY independent in dressing while all her clothes were at home in the wardrobe.

She explained clearly with full capacity that she was not independent and stated she felt bullied by the OTs who said she was safe to go home, live on her own and go home in a taxi. Luckily I arrived as she did not even have a key, clothes, shoes or a coat. It was a freezing cold rainy January day, shocking I know…

I started to think about where our boundaries are, where are the edges to our professional responsibilities, what does practising ethically mean?

There are always things as OTs we discover from patients during assessments, on home visits with clients or during group work with service users. What do you do with that information whilst watching the clock ticking or knowing the party line of the MDT or the hospital. Regardless of these pressures, it is your duty to follow not only ethical practice, but also the code of conduct which gives clear guidance on these situations.

A consultation document has recently been circulated by COT relating to our Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct as part of its five year revision process. I would advise you to be very familiar with that document.

If a formal complaint is made against you, the HCPC will examine your behaviour against those standards in order to make an informed decision about whether you have breached your code of ethics. Should this be the case, you face the very real prospect of being removed from the register making you unable to practice as an Occupational Therapist.

As a supervisor, I never move without my Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct booklet and HCPC guidelines are my bibles. I refer constantly to them. When did you last cast your eyes over them?

Remember a couple of weeks ago we talked about evidence for your HCPC audit in 2015? Maybe in the next couple of weeks you can audit your practice against those standards and review your policies and procedures in light of this.

Your practice and the code of conduct should all be in sync, and if not you have clear reason to change them to ensure you are following them to the letter, working ethically within your Professional code of conduct. If not, your name on the HCPC register and therefore your job may be in jeopardy.

As a post script my mum has made a fully recovery but is still traumatised by the experience. As for the OT, I will leave you to draw your own conclusions about the appropriateness of her actions once you have read the Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct.

Models in Action Person-Environment-Occupation Model (Christiansen, Baum and Bass 2011)

This week I needed to change the environment we were working in.

Why?Read More

How would you go about Marketing Occupational Therapy?

‘How would contestants on The Apprentice sell OT?’

I am passionate about occupational therapy and have been a therapist for almost 30 years. I work in charities, and non statutory services. In the last couple of weeks I have just developed 10 new placements for occupational therapy students in organisations that don’t have OTs.

The staff who work with children, people with learning disabilities, and long term mental health problems, people who are homeless etc, have said to me, very nicely and with warmth, Read More

OT, its just common sense….

In this months blog I would like to make a plea to all those OT’s who say, ‘OT it’s just common sense.’, and ‘OT its obvious.’ etc. We are all slightly guilty of this at some point I am sure. If you have never said or thought any of the above statements, well done you. You can stop reading here. For the rest of us, firstly it’s obviously not true and secondly if it’s just common sense why did you need to take three years, and gain a degree, diploma or a Masters? Did you waste your time and money? I thought not, so don’t let anyone else think you did.Read More

As Summer turns into Autumn there seems to be a subtle shift in the rhythm of the day. In this blog I have tried to explore the issue of time management and how it problematic if we do not know what is involved in a task.

Children go back to school after the Summer, Universities and Colleges resume. This often increases the amount of time it takes us to get to and from work. The amount of day light is less and sometimes we can feel that suddenly we can have less time in the day. Instead of a Spring clean maybe its time or a pre Winter review before all the additional extras begin to pile up.Read More

In this blog we will think about your previous years work and the evidence you selected. We will review the main problems that people can make when sending in their evidence to the HCPC, and check you have not made the same mistakes. We will also be reflecting and planning for the following year. Hopefully you are almost there with clear and comprehensive evidence of how you have met the first 4 HCPC standards? Fantastic achievement and still another year to go!Read More