Course 3 of the annual Physiopedia MOOC made me think more about the structures and teams I am part of.
Course 3 of the MOOC focused on the rehabilitation infrastructure and rehabilitation team examining in detail the different types of rehabilitation services and how they work. During the entire course of study, I reflected on my own workplace and the infrastructures that influence my work. I am a pediatric physical therapist in primary care and work in two primary care locations. When I think about it, I realize that I am working in an environment that encompasses all of the professions identified in the course.
Communication makes us a strong, effective team
At first I work in a physiotherapy team, which is usually my most important support in my daily work. They give me the opportunity to talk about difficult cases, and to discuss findings and treatment options. I am fortunate to be able to learn from other passionate physiotherapists who are happy to pass on their knowledge and experience during my work week.
In pediatrics, I also work very closely with many other members of the rehabilitation team, including public health nurses, speech therapy, occupational therapy, psychology, and dietetics. Attitudes change day by day between clinics and individuals, but the multidisciplinary team remains consistent. Everyone plays their part of the MDT with the child in the center. This is our primary team structure.
The structure of the team is adaptable and reacts to changes if necessary. We have long waiting lists of resource challenges resulting in a limited amount of time to work more closely together. However, we know that sometimes we need to spend more time on a case when it comes to meeting needs, and we all adjust as a unit to improve the care we can provide. It would only take one person or a change of resource for the team not to adapt in this way, which makes it clear to me how fragile systems and highly functioning teams can be.
Most of our team communications take the form of our pediatric team meetings in primary care. During this meeting, we identify individuals who we believe a closer, more collective team is needed to better support their rehabilitation needs and seek to set broader, more functional goals as a team, rather than as individual clinicians. This is the kind of team structure that I really enjoy being part of, it gives me the opportunity to learn from other rehabilitation professionals outside of physical therapy. It also enables me to develop a basic knowledge in other areas outside of physical therapy that I can use to support the people I work with while they wait for other professionals.
It doesn't matter what the environment looks like, teamwork is necessary to ensure rehabilitation
This course has also given me an opportunity to learn about the wide range of settings in which I have worked, from my current role in primary pediatric care to volunteer work that I do with other physical therapists with limited resources I have completed to reflect on settings in Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana and also with parasports with athletes with disabilities from participation at the local level to Paralympic games.
Both presentations by Cornelia Barth and Calier O’Reilly really showed me that rehabilitation is just as important in each of these contexts, although the results or the interventions used are different. Functional optimization means different things for different people, and as a rehabilitation professional I need to recognize this and be able to adapt my actions to these different needs.
I look forward to the final course of the MOOC which
examines the implementation of rehabilitation interventions and what we should consider in order to effectively select the appropriate rehabilitation interventions for the people we work with. We have some great speakers for you next week, including Dr. Martin Heine, researcher at Stellenbosch University and Rithy Yoeung from Humanity and Inclusion, who share their expertise on various rehabilitation interventions.
This post was written by Naomi O'Reilly, the MOOC manager at Phyisopedia.
