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News from Austria March 2007 The Association of the 7 allied health
professions in Austria is now called mtd-austria (www.mtd-austria.at). At the general meeting in
December 2006 a new president was elected: Gabriele Jaksch (physiotherapist).
Dominik Bischof (radiographer) was elected as vice-president. Marion
Stadler, the president of the Austrian National Association of
Occupational Therapists, is the treasurer. Due to the constitution of
mtd-austria, the constitution of the Austrian National Association of
Occupational Therapists has also been changed. Also the name of the
Association has been changed to “ergo Austria – Bundesverband der
ErgotherapeutInnen Österreichs”. mtd-austria is trying to become the registering body for all its member
professions. So far there is no professional registration for any of
these groups in Austria. But according to European guidelines members of
the allied health professions should be professionally registered in the
future. Two new regional groups of OTs have been established: in Upper Austria
and in Burgenland. Degree courses for OTs In June 2005 the Austrian Parliament passed a law that among others also
OT education should be changed from diploma to degree courses (bachelor).
Two of the existing 8 education programmes (Graz, Wr. Neustadt) already
started a degree course (Fachhochschule) in 2006, Salzburg and Vienna
will follow in September 2007. Two further education programmes
(Klagenfurt and Innsbruck) applied for accreditation of a degree course.
For general information about the national association in Austria please click here News from Belgium February 2007 2006
has been a very special year for the Belgian Occupational Therapists. We
have been celebrating many events:
The
collaboration between the schools and the national and regional
associations has been fruitful and a new leaflet on “Ergothérapie
today and tomorrow” is being printed in our two main languages French
and Dutch. This leaflet is aimed at the promotion of our profession
among the public: potential clients and doctors. Collaboration
between Belgium and the Netherlands or France: The links between the
Belgian Dutch-speaking OTs and the Netherlands are the milestone of the
collaboration of Belgian Dutch-speaking authors to the publication in
the Netherlands on new developments of Occupational Therapy coordinated
by Astrid Kinebanian and Mieke Legranse. Exchanges
between France and Belgium are also very productive for our members:
exchange of information, reduced fees for continuing education, support
for the “Premières Journées européennes et francophones d’Ergothérapie”
in Paris on June 4-5, 2007. Masters
in Occupational Therapy are being developed in cooperation with the
universities in both regions. More information will be available on the
web. A
job description for Occupational Therapists working in nursing homes has
been prepared by VE and approved by the inspection services in charge of
nursing homes. Other job descriptions are being in preparation. Websites
of both Regional Associations have been updated, adding links and names
of experts. Their design has been refreshed and there is a new logo for
AE. These are real tools of active communication with the members. The web sites have become common way of exchanges with our members and they are revised regularly. For the latest happenings, please consult: www.ergobel.be National Association FNBE-NBFE www.ergotherapie.be Regional Dutch speaking Association-VE www.ergo-ae.be Regional French speaking Association-AE For information about the national association in Belgium please click here News from Croatia November 2006 At the council meeting in Milan the Croatian association - Hrvatska udruga radnih terapeuta - became the 26th Member of COTEC For information about the national association in Croatia please click here
News from Cyprus
September 2005 The Cyprus Association is preparing to host the COTEC meeting in October 2005. This year the Association had the opportunity to brief representatives of parliament and the Director General of the Minister of Health about our profession and tried to convince them to introduce legislation concerning the Occupational Therapy in Cyprus. The members of Parliament showed a great interest at the beginning but at the moment they have not achieved anything yet. We did not get any results so far but we are still optimistic. Members of our Association here in Cyprus are working on a code of ethics in order to improve practice and protect the profession.For information about the national association in Cyprus please click here News from The Czech Republic September 2003 The Czech Association of Occupational Therapists is preparing for important meetings that will be in the Czech Republic this year. · 19. -20. September COTEC meeting in Prague · 31st October and 1st of November the IXth Annual ENOTHE Conference in Prague. Please have a look at http://www.enothe.hva.nl/ ·12. -13. December Annual conference of Czech Association of Occupational Therapists in Most. Some steps regarding the payment of OT services have been taken and we are waiting for January 2004 when finally it will be integrated into the Czech health insurance system. The Czech Association of Occupational Therapists has a website www.cae.ergoterapie.cz with some useful links and a new email address: cae@ergoterapie.cz For information about the national association in the Czech Republic please click here News from Denmark January 2005 Denmark is
in the middle of re-organising the regional structures of the country.
The
existing 14 counties (Amt) will merge into 5 regions, and the number of
city
councils (Kommuner) is expected to go down to 1/3 of the current
approximately
300. The regions
will still be responsible for hospitals and specialized health care
services,
whereas the city councils will be responsible for rehabilitation and
social
services. The reform will come into force as from January 2007, and at
the
moment huge work is being undertaken in the Parliament and in all the
administrative systems. The
Ergoterapeutforeningen
is focusing on the effects that the reform will have for our main
target
groups, and also on the major influence it is going to have on the
working
conditions of many OTs. We find it
very promising that Primary Health Care and Rehabilitation has now been
closely
linked up to the city councils, close to the daily lives of the
citizens. 2005 is the
year of new Labour Market Negotiations. The Ergoterapeutforeningen is a
member
of the Danish Health Care Confederation (Sundhedskartellet) together
with 10
other professional associations. We are working on a new pay scale
model for
all the health professionals, and have made up long-term goals for
better
levels of salaries in the health care and social sectors. These are the
first
negotiations after the introduction of Professional Bachelors Degrees
and the
3½ years educational programme in 2001. The
Ergoterapeutforeningen
is also going to change our own regional structure, as from the summer
of 2005.
We are now approximately 6000 members, and at the moment we are
organized in a
Central Secretariat in Copenhagen together with six regional offices.
These
regional units have been quite small and expensive to maintain, so the
General
Assembly decided in November 2004 to merge the six regions into 3. The
goal is
to be able to run effective and offer high quality member services all
over
Denmark. The General Assembly also decided to stay at the same
membership fee, which
is close to 6000 DKr per year. (800 Euros). The web page www.etf.dk has been fundamentally revised, and we invite you all to have a fresh look. Despite language limitations, we are sure you will find some interesting information and links to relevant sites. For information about the national association in Denmark please click here Health
care professionals made it into the headlines of
Finnish media in autumn 2007. The general wage negotiations
and the demographic changes in the labour market were the main topics. The last round of negotiations saw a moderately good rise of salaries in
fields where females represent a majority. Occupational therapists are
counted among these in Finland. Coming
events TOI’s
Annual General Meeting will be held April 26, 2008. In addition to the
statutory AGM items TOI’s
Educational Policy program for 2008-2012 will be adapted at the meeting.
Also the OT of the year and the receivers of this year’s awards will
be announced. The
Association’s new visual image and new webpages will be launched the
same day.
News from France February 2006 ANFE is involved in many
actions as usual. Here are some of them:
ANFE Project for 2005-2006: 1. Review of the organisation of
medical careers (with other professional associations). 2.
Editorial Board The Editorial Board defined its aims short term - distribution of books in
French by the ANFE,
- contact of potential
contributors,
- complete the collection of
«Advice books»,
- develop the topic of
rehabilitation. long term - translation of English books
into French
- launch of an Internet page
- promote the writing of
articles.
3.
Evaluation of professional practice As part of the accreditation process ANFE is writing the second book on the Evaluation of
Professional Practice.
4.
“Department House for Disabled People” The 97 Departments in
France are each founding Houses for Disabled People during the first
months of the year. It is a very challenging project for OTs because 500
jobs should be created for our profession. (There are 5000 OTs working
in France nowadays)
Goals :
- define the life project
- design a compensation plan
- give and follow up the
compensation defined, which depends on the needs expressed by the person
or his/her legal representative. (technical, human help, house or
car’s modification…..)
The aim is to have a
multi-dimensional assessment of all aspects of life for disabled people,
according to ICF, then to collect and organize all the information for
each person. These multidisciplinary teams evaluate the patient’s
needs by visiting them at their home. It includes at least a social
workert, a doctor, an OT, a psychologist, a technician,... For information about the national association in France please click here EUROPEAN CONGRESS 2008‘ Investing for progress’ The
preparations for the COTEC Congress (www.cotec2008.dve.info)
are now into the intensive stage and the number of registrations is
growing. The ‘early bird’
price ends at the end of March so interested OTs are advised to register
without delay. We look
forward to welcoming you there! Politics The
developments on the political front keep the association busy.
Together with other health professions the association is working
for changes in the law covering occupational therapy.
From experience it is know that this requires a great deal of
work and time. A
difference in the administration of out-patient treatment is leading to
an electronic method of referral which it is hoped with provide greater
transparency for all concerned. Publicity OT
Journal – Ergotherapie und Rehabilitation has been published in a new
design with full colour as from February 2008.
Working
together with a press agency seems to be having a positive effect and OT
is being mentioned more often in the media. The
association is updating many of the leaflets, which are published to
provide information especially for service users.
The website is being redesigned and updated, it will be going
online soon. This
year the annual general meeting will be held on a Saturday in Berlin and
not in conjunction with the congress.
There will be a lecture and possibility of visiting various OT
practices. This will be an
interesting experience for the association. For information about the national association in Germany please click here At
the beginning of February 2008 the Hellenic Association of Occupational
Therapists held the National elections (every 2 years).
The results are: President:
Kyriaki Keramiotou Vice-President:
Maria Kouloumpi General Secretary:
Soula Zacharaki Special Secretary:
Sarah Kantartzis Treasurer:
Fotini Zografou Members:
Mary Karambetsou & Christos Sarantopoulos During
the last year great emphasis has been given to the preparation and
implementation of our 4th National Conference, as well as to
the continuation and support of our Special Interests Groups. -
Hellenic Association of Ergotherapists organized the 4th National Conference of Ergotherapy on the 2nd
and 3rd February 2008. The
conference was a major event that attracted the interest of almost over
300 occupational therapists and occupational therapy students.
The program included pre-congress workshops on pediatrics,
ergonomics and neurological OT. The
main program had several sessions such as mental health, elderly,
neurological OT, splint making, pediatrics, politics, education.
Next conference is planned for 2010. -
The International Affairs
Group has implemented the Standing Orders of the group.
This
will be presented for acceptance at the next General Assembly in May
2008. -
The Evaluation Tools Group
has managed to prepare and distribute a questionnaire to members in
order to find out how often OTs in Greece use assessment instruments in
their practice and what kind of tools they consider most useful.
Their experience was presented at the 4th National Conference of
occupational therapists in Athens. -
The Neurological OT Group
has managed to create special guidelines for OTs working in neurology.
This was a big project which took up a great deal of time and hard work.
This will be published and distributed to our members in the near future.
More members are interested in joining this special interest
group. -
A new group focusing
on CPD for new practitioners is under development.
This new group will be formed at the next general Assembly and is
expected to implement a special educational course for the year 2009.
The
attempt to unify the three different OT Associations in Greece will be
again in the new agenda of the Associaton.
This is a central aim for the new Board for 2008-9, as there is
an urge to be more involved in political matters and promote a
respectable profile between other disciplines. For more information about Hellenic Association of Ergotherapists visit www.ergotherapists.grFor information about the national association in Greece please click here
The Hungarian Association of Occupational Therapists
– the METE which
is the acronym of the Hungarian name of the Association: „Magyar
Ergoterapeuták Egyesülete” - is an independent, non-political
and non-denominational association of Occupational Therapists. The METE,
which is a professional organisation (not a labour union), handles
professional and training issues and questions related to development
and opinion generation. The Association was founded in 2001 by the first
24 OTs who received their degrees at the high level postgraduate school.
Aim of the Association: to unify scientific and practical healthcare professionals working in this area (whatever degree they have) in order to promote, support and help the local development of OT by: - developing the education of OT in Hungary on a higher level -
integrating the knowledge of
professionals (who are trained and working in different fields of
rehabilitation) -
obtaining official recognition of
OT by government authorities (and public opinion. Next chance will be a
separate OT-section at REHA-Hungary Congress in May 2005) -
introducing
OT methods in evereyday clinical practice -
maintaining and strenghtening
professional connections with other Hungarian healthcare organisations
and institutes (eg. physiotherapists, social workers, rehabilitation
professionals) -
monitoring the educational
programmes and courses for OTs -
applying the COTEC Code of Ethics
by Hungarian OTs -
establishing cooperation with other
members of COTEC -
linking to ENOTHE and WFOT, to join
international scientific and educational projects (a lot of foreign
experts and OT-students have visited the National Institute of
Rehabilitation recently) Membership
of the Association: members can be full members or
contributing members. Everyone who is working in the area of
rehabilitation and agrees with the aims can be member of the association
irrespective of his training (eg. OT-students, OT-assistants, or
physician as the Association’s alternate delegate in COTEC is
cardiologist). Contributing members can help the work of METE with
financial support. The President of the Association attended an OT-teacher’s
training course („An Introduction to Occupational Therapy for Health
and Social Professionals”) and has practical experience in this field
for a long time. The Council, which is the METE's highest decision-making body,
meets every year. Between Council meetings, the Executive Board is
responsible for managing the running of the Association. The Board consists of the Association president, vice-president
and one other member. The programme for the meetings consists of
scientific news, published papers and lectures (held by the members of
the METE) and dissemination of news, eg. information regarding new
methods or asssitive devices. The Association can help train the OTs in
the use of these devices. Financial resources of the Association are very limited due to the low membership fees and some support from contributors (individuals or institutes). The annual meetings are funded by OORI (National Institute of Rehabilitation). The METE aimed to collect funding and support from government, social institutes and foundations and to apply to EU sources. Education: The METE is in correspondence with the institutes of OT-education in Hungary. The first WFOT-standardized OT-education will be started soon at University of Pécs, Faculty of Health Sciences, Educational Center at Zalaegerszeg. Two of the latter teachers are attending the OT-education course organized by ENOTHE in Romania as the part of Joint Action Programme. Occupational Therapists in Hungary make a great effort to improve their patients' ability to make a meaningful and purposeful life in accordance with their everyday needs and wishes. To reach this goal METE gives the members all of the information and professional knowledge possible for them to be able to work as successfully as possible. This pioneering work is accepted and appreciated more and more by people so occupational therapy has been included to the minimum standards of rehabilitation. For information about the national association in Hungary please click here News from Iceland February 2006 Since
the spring of 2005 the association has a new President, Lilja
Ingvarsson 2006
is the 30th anniversary year of the Icelandic association, a
programme will be available in the near future. For
further information see the website: www.sigl.is
As
a response to WFOT´s call to the member associations for renewed
definitions of occupational therapy, the Icelandic OT Association issued
a revised definition of occupational therapy in context with the
Icelandic society. The following text has been sent to WFOT: Occupational
therapy is a health profession. Occupational therapists provide health
and social services in a broad context within Icelandic society. The
emphasis is on occupation, which includes everything people do to care
for themselves and their families, contribute to their communities,
play, and enjoy life. Occupational therapists enable performance and
participation in people's daily occupations. They prevent occupational
problems, and promote health by adapting occupations and the environment,
and by providing training, education, and consultation. Furthermore,
occupational therapists contribute to health care, social, educational,
and vocational policies to promote environments and occupational
opportunities necessary for human health and well-being. For further information see website: www.unak.is For information about the national association in Iceland please click here News
from Ireland September 2006
EDUCATION: A National Implementation Group (NIG) on
Clinical Placements has been set up. AOTI have been represented at this
forum by AOTI’s Education Officer, Odhran Allen, Higher Education
Institutes (HEI) Representative Dr. Elizabeth McKay, University of
Limerick, and the National Occupational Therapy Manager’s Group
Representatives Nuala Tierney and Deirdre Rowe. The NIG has been meeting
since June 2005. In that time significant funds have been made available.
In December 2005 our Health Services Executive awarded funding to
support three professions, including OT, to develop and build up
increasing numbers of quality placements for students. Additional posts
were created which will be advertised soon. An Education Forum
established by Yvonne Finn-Orde, AOTI Chairperson, has supported this
process. In addition, funding was also allocated to fund a 1 year
Project Manager post.
Odhran Allen has completed his
Education Officer position and has taken up a new post. We thank him for
his excellent contribution to this work with AOTI and wish him every
success for his future plans. HEALTH
AND SOCIAL CARE PROFESSIONALS BILL: State
registration will soon be mandatory. This Bill will require all
Occupational Therapists who wish to work in Ireland to be State
Registered. It will ensure protection for both the profession and the
public. OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPY ASSISTANTS: There has been
a lot of activity lately on this area of development. The tender for the
provision of training for support staff in the health services has been
awarded to a consortium of Vocational Education Centres. Since early
2006 members of each of the working groups, i.e. OT, Physiotherapy and
Speech and Language Therapy, have met with staff from the VEC, the
Department of Health and Children and the SKILL Project Team within the
HSEA and have had several discussions in relation to the training
programme content. On April 10th the three chairs of these
working groups met with the above parties together and confirmed the
modular content for therapy assistant training. All participants must
complete 8 modules to receive their qualification. Training commences
very soon and reaching this stage of the process is a credit to all
involved. Dearbhla Birdy represented AOTI in this process. COTEC NEWS: Rosie Gowran,
Alternate Delegate to COTEC, will be retiring from her position in
December this year. We wish her all the very best
for her future plans. OVERSEAS
APPLICANTS: The AOTI Validation committee
continue to meet monthly to keep up to date with applications. Contact mellany.mcloone@erha.ie
for information on the requirements for validation of your qualification
to practice in Ireland.
WEBSITE, NEWSLETTER and JOURNAL: AOTI
was delighted to launch the new look website www.aoti.ie
last March. This is part of our investment in web systems within the
organisation which continues to be developed. The monthly newsletter is
now being distributed via e-mail and can be contacted at
aoti@eircom.net. PRIMARY
CARE POSTS: AOTI welcomes a recent
announcement of 52 new Primary Care OT Posts. This is a significant
development for OT in Ireland. These posts will be located throughout
the country and are part of the primary care reform process. The closing
date for applications was in mid-September. AOTI have recently published
a position paper. CONTINUOUS
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT PORTFOLIOS:
AOTI has recently developed this resource for AOTI members which focuses
on guidelines for best CPD practice. The portfolios were launched at
Conference and are available to all members of AOTI. The portfolio has
been designed to be comprehensive and user-friendly. It attempts to
capture the full range of CPD activities. The aim is to support members
to make CPD a core part of their daily practice. For information about the national association in Ireland please click here As
some of you may know, there will be anticipated general elections in
Italy next month (April 2008). This has complicated the road for the
Allied Health Professions in creating Professional Orders. In fact, on
March 4th 2008 the By-Law was set aside until a new
government will take power in the Chamber and Senate. No one knows what
priority this matter will have for the elected majority. This is a
devastating blow to everyone’s hope to secure the occupational therapy
profession amongst other already well-established health professions in
Italy. Nonetheless,
in the past months, Clinical Governance has been a priority for our
National Association. In fact, members of the National Executive and
Council, WFOT and COTEC Delegates, OT School Coordinators and Regional
Coordinators have met in Bologna early last year to encourage EBP, chart
audit and quality assurance amongst OT’s in Italy. The goal was (and
still is) to prepare our members to respect Professional Order standards
when the By-Law will pass. Also,
our annual Professional Seminar this year took place in Rome on March 8th
on Professional Competencies and Terminology. Our Association invited
Sarah Kantartzis (Greece), former ENOTHE President and member of the
Tuning Process to explain how the competencies and OT terminology were
established. This was needed since the Italian Ministry of Health asked
each professional association what their competencies were, in order to
organize the Professional Orders. Although the sad news about the Orders
came shortly before this event, we have nonetheless translated both
general and specific competencies along with basic OT terminology. This
way our Association will be ready to explain the uniqueness of our
profession and the need to preserve it from other related professions Finally,
Yann Bertholom is stepping down as our National President after a 2 year
term and a new interim President will be voted by the council during the
next Council Meeting in April 2008. National elections will take place
in spring 2009. Hope
to see many Italian colleagues in Hamburg… For any assistance or information, do not hesitate to contact me via mail cotec@aito.it For information about the national association in Italy please click here News from Latvia February 2006 June 6-10 hosted an Interim meeting of the WFOT Executive June 10-11 2005, there was a Conference for Occupational Therapists from Baltic with support from WFOT “Occupational therapy practice : international experience”June, 8 2005, there were Round table discussion “Occupation Therapy in Latvia: present and future” www.wfot.org Participation in process of “Tuning” which aims to harmonise educational structures in Europe- questionnaire about generic and specific competences of OT practitioners. This was completed by practitioners, lecturersand students. For information about the national association in Latvia please click here News from Luxembourg February 2006
The year 2005 was a very active period for our National Association. For information about the national association in Luxembourg please click here 1.
The Malta Association of Ocupational Therapists held its Bi-Annual
General Meeting on the 13th of July. Elections for the new
Executive committee were held. The newly elected Executive Committee
will serve a term of office from 2007-2009. The new executive ist For information about the national association in Malta please click here News from the Netherlands March 2007 New
Strategic Plan 2007-2010 In
2007 the National Association is moving further on the road of the new
Strategic-plan 2007-2010. As mentioned in the last news there have been
surveys with the members, interviews with “outsiders” of the OT
world, there have been conferences with the OT schools and in December
during the National Congress the members made a choice for two (out of
six) scenario’s the NA is going to follow. During the congress members
formulated seven dreams for the ideal OT future. The scenarios the
members have chosen are: strengthen the own power as OT and cooperate and/or merge
with others. It
is clear the chances and challenges for OT in The Netherlands are
manifold; we just have to ensure we can obtain them. It would be helpful
to have a “elevator pitch’ about OT - a short message which will be
clear to everyone - making OT more known in The Netherlands. During
the general assembly in February every member was asked to work with the
NA to make the dreams come true. New groups are formed to investigate
and develop all the ideas. New
board members During
the general assembly, three board members left after having served their
first or second (and last) term of office. Two
new board members were elected. These two new members are no OTs but
have a very interesting CV having professional careers in healthcare,
health insurance and client organisations and public relations. The two
other board members are OTs so it will be a good combination to work on
the challenges. Honours Madeleine
Corstens-Mignot,
WFOT delegate for the Netherlands has retired as OT. Madeleine has been
working in various settings and ended her career in the University
hospital Radboud in Nijmegen. She always has been very interested in
hand therapy and is an acknowledged specialist in her field. During her
leave-taking a mini symposium was held in her honour and the book on
SOESS V (an assessment for adults concerning writing conditions) was
presented. Madeleine was nominated to be honorary member of the Dutch
Association, which will be established in June. Marjan
Stomph was
chosen as an honorary member of the Dutch Association (NVE) for all the
work she did in creating awareness and sharing knowledge about
intercultural work and diversity in the Netherlands and her work for the
NVE. She has initiated and accompanied many BA thesis’ which have
resulted in guidelines and leaflets about working in a multicultural
community. Marjan has stopped working as a lecturer at the OT-school in Amsterdam but will proceed working for the Hogeschool Zuyd and as an independent advisor and trainer for the Dutch Association. Furthermore we are very proud of the fact Hanneke van Bruggen was invited by Alison Wicks and Florence Clark to join the Think tank 2, which will be held in Los Angeles on 28th March 2007.
The
Norwegian Association of Occupational Therapists (NETF) had a total of
3065 members at the beginning of the year 2007. 2359 of these members
were in active work, 499 were students, and 29 were pensioners. Changes
in the board National
Congress The
4th Norwegian Occupational Therapy Congress will be arranged
in Bergen autumn 2009. The subject is “Evidence
Based Practice in Occupational Therapy”. OT
Specialist Increasing
need of Occupational Therapy Norway
faces considerable challenges in: §
Reducing
the increasing numbers of persons in the Norwegian work force who
receives different kinds of benefits. §
Meeting the challenges
regarding the increasing numbers of senior citizens. §
Enabling
people with disabilities to exercise their rights and fulfill their
duties as citizens based on the principles of social equality and
universal design. For information about the national association in Norway please click here For current news of OT events in Norway, please use the link www.netf.no/english News from Portugal September 2003 NEW LOGO FOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY IN PORTUGAL The Portuguese Association of Occupational Therapists (APTO) has promoted a national contest to find a logo to represent our profession. The winner of this contest was a student of a Design University. You can see the new logo on our association page Portugal please click here CHANGES ON THE BOARD OF THE APTO There was a change in the board of the Portuguese Association. The President left the board and the Vice-President Silvia Gonçalves is acting President until next election, in March 2004. 4° CONGRESSO NACIONAL DE TERAPEUTAS OCUPACIONAIS The 4th National Congress of Occupational Therapy in Portugal is being prepared and will be held in March 2004. I JORNADAS HISPANOLUSAS DE TERAPIA OCUPACIONAL A conference that will promote the contact between OT's in Portugal and Spain will be held on 14th & 15th November, in Cáceres (Spain) . This conference is organised by the Associação Portuguesa de Terapeutas Ocupacionais and the Associación Extremeña de Terapeutas Ocupacionales. MARKETING OT The Portuguese Association is very actively promoting OT to high school students and to Health Professionals. It has participated at the most important fair to students in Portugal - FÓRUM ESTUDANTE - and will be present in a major fair of Assistive Technologies - AJUTEC. For information about the national association in Portugal please click here News from Serbia September 2006 Since
October a few things have happened -
In November
we had our first elections for the executive after four years of
existence as a society. All
members of the executive were reelected for a further - 4 year term of
office. -
In December
the Parliament passed a law about Chambers for Healthcare
Professionals and licensing of healthcare professionals. This
law means that for the first time in our history we will have to
be licensed if we want to work. - This year is a special year for OT in Serbia, not only that it is the 5th year of the existence of the Association, but it is also the 50th anniversary as an association with physiotherapists. The main event will be in October with a special ceremony for our all friends and colleagues! In 2008 the activities of Slovenian Slovenian Association of Occupational Therapists have been focused on two major events:
Congress of Slovenian
Occupational Therapy and
The Council Meeting of World Association of
Occupational Therapists (WFOT) Both events will be connected and taking place
in September 2008 in Ljubljana and Olimje. This sentence symbolises the client-centred
approach to planning and implementing occupational therapy. Because of
the presence of WFOT council members in Slovenia at that time, the
congress will organise a special “International day” in which many
distinguished occupational therapists are willing to give their lectures.
The following people have already confirmed their participation:
Julie Piergrossi
Lena Haglund
Marilyn Pattison
Anne Carswell
Sharon Britnel
Kit Sinclair
The international day of the congress will be
held in English and could be interesting also for occupational
therapists from abroad. In the case anyone would be interested in
getting more information on both events, you can contact: andreja.svajger@ir-rs.si.
For information about the national association in Slovenia please click here Spanish schools are taking part in the European tuning process. Last year
great efforts were made to produce guidelines for a degree course.
This was supported by COTEC and WFOT and they were presented to
the government and we are now and waiting for a Government decision on
whether the degree will be three years plus specialisation or a four
year degree. The Spanish Association and other O.T. organisations are requesting a
four year degree (the fourth year only for fieldwork). The association together with the University is offering a post graduate
course in “O.T. in Dependency” with a total of 300 hrs. and with a
financial support from the Social Services. This grant is due to a new
law this year concerning “dependency” which will create new jobs for
O.Ts. and others profession allied to health. Two new books will be translated into Spanish:
The association is under the process of changing the design, content and
site of the web. The new design has the intention of seeking more new
members and informing more
effectively about all the different services, news, courses, congresses,
etc. which the association offers. This new website is now www.apeto.com We will hold our national congress in October 2006 with the theme of ”O.T.
community based practice”. And
we are hoping to be able to bring a key speaker from overseas relevant
to this field. The programme will be placed on the website shortly. For information about the national association in Spain please click here News from Sweden November 2007 THE VALUE OF WORK Occupational Therapists meet people in their
daily life who really want to feel needed and sought after. They want to
be able to have a job that is adapted to their qualifications, tasks and
working-hours. For this to become a reality a strong political policy is
needed. It involves creating the economic requirements needed regarding
the insurance system. A uniform definition of the concept ‘working
capacity’ is required. The process of sick-listing must be quality as
well as legally secured and uniform. A greater possibility to get good
rehabilitation is needed and this must be performed by staff with
adequate knowledge and competence. A large number of people with for
instance rheumatic and neurological illnesses must be offered recurrent
rehabilitation. Employers must be willing to hire persons with different
abilities to a higher degree than today. Instead of looking at
people’s dysfunctions they should rather look at their competence. Most of us have met persons who have never
entered the labour market or never had paid work. This goes for young
people as well as for the intellectually disabled.
We must take a greater responsibility for these people. With
support and the right kind of contributions many of them can do
worthwhile and meaningful work. Occupational Therapists have an important task
to peform in the work area. However we must enter the process at an
early stage, not too late as often happens. A person who after rehabilitation now is back in work says: “I wish I had met an Occupational Therapist earlier. Then I wouldn’t have lost one and a half year without help and with constant pain”. Please visit our web site http://www.fsa.akademikerhuset.se where at the bottom of the page you will find “Information in English, French and German”. In English you can, among other things, click for our Code of Ethics and our Quality Policy. For information about the national association in Sweden please click here News from Switzerland August 2007 External to preserve the status quo, to develop it and to establish new fields for
occupational therapy. These aims have been divided into 9 strategic key aspects such as: -
Development of the occupation and finding investors -
To secure the developed projects. -
Education at work. -
To make OT visible and strengthen it -
Networking, lobbying, health associations The DACHS-project has been completed. The next step is for all
associations involved in the project to take advantage of all possible
opportunities to present the results of this project. The associations
will get in touch with the OT schools with the question do they intend
to take the topics ”health promotion and prevention” on board and
how are they planning to do it. If yes will it be in the basic or
advanced training. At the same time the EVS has made contact with
colleagues from Belgium and France to check if there is any interest to
have a similar project in the French speaking area. On the 26th/27th October the
2nd Swiss OT-congress: Ich bin tätig – Ergo bin ich.
will be held . More information is available at http://www.ergotherapie.ch . For information about the national association in Switzerland please click here News from The United Kingdom March 2008 BAOT/COT 32ND ANNUAL CONFERENCE AND
EXHIBITION 11-13 June 2008 at Harrogate International Centre,
Harrogate, Yorkshire. For the first time the specialist section HIV/AIDS,
Oncology, Palliative Care, annual conference is being run in conjunction
with the British Association and College of Occupational Therapists
annual conference and exhibition. Rachel Thibeault will be one of the keynote speakers. Full information is available at www.cot.org.uk
and we look forward to welcoming even more international colleagues this
year. RECOVERING
ORDINARY LIVES – THE COLLEGE OF OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPISTS MENTAL HEALTH STRATEGY (2007-2017) Launched
in December 2006 with Her Royal Highness the Princess Royal, the
College’s mental health strategy was the culmination of two years of
wide scale consultation and partnership working with practitioners,
managers, mental health service users and carers. The resultant Recovering
Ordinary Lives are a trilogy of documents:
The
College have been promoting the strategy via a series of 12 road shows
throughout the UK to a total of approximately 700 occupational
therapists, nurses, social workers, psychologists and service users.
Further events are planned during 2008 including presentation at the
2008 COTEC conference in Hamburg. The
College are also in the process of devising a self assessment toolkit
for individuals and organisations based on the strategy in order to
measure the milestones. For further information please contact genevieve.smyth@cot.co.uk All the documents are available for free download from
http://www.cot.org.uk/members/publications/list/intro/new.php ACTIVITY PROVISION:
BENCHMARKING GOOD PRACTICE IN CARE HOMES
Launched in October 2007, this benchmark tool was
commissioned by the College of Occupational Therapists and produced in
partnership with the National Association for Providers of Activities
for Older People (NAPA). The document is intended to inform, guide and
encourage care home providers, managers and commissioners, and is of
interest to residents, their families and friends, and care home
inspectors. The publication: §
Offers a framework of person centred quality
indicators and outcome measures for activity provision. §
Incorporates a benchmark tool to evaluate current
practice and promote excellence. §
Summarises relevant UK policy drivers and care
standards. §
Includes supporting evidence for good quality
activities in care homes. Available in English and Welsh the document can be
downloaded from: http://www.cot.org.uk/public/publications2/showpublication.php?c=7&pubid=33
FATIGUE MANAGEMENT FOR
PEOPLE WITH MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS (2007)
Written by Sarah Harrison, this fully revised and
updated new edition will inform physiotherapists, nurses, neurologists
and general practitioners as to the complex nature of MS fatigue and the
role of the occupational therapist in its management. The guidance includes: §
An overview of the many factors that contribute to
fatigue in MS §
The evidence base for the treatment of MS fatigue,
using energy conservation/ fatigue management education programmes. §
A summary of key outcome measures used both clinically
and in research studies. §
Practice guidance for occupational therapists in the
implementation of both group and individual fatigue management
programmes. §
A case report demonstrating clinical reasoning (including
goal setting and clinical outcome measurement). §
A CD ROM resource pack. Available to purchase from the COT website: http://www.cot.org.uk/public/publications/intro/intro.php
WORK MATTERS: VOCATIONAL
NAVIGATION FOR OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY STAFF
Produced as a result of a collaboration between the
College of Occupational Therapists and the National Social Inclusion
Programme, this booklet was launched in November 2007. It provides good practice guidance to support
occupational therapists who work with people on their journeys to
employment. It outlines
some of the barriers and how occupational therapists can work with
people to identify and tackle these.
It also introduces some ideas on engaging with people around work
issues and signposts readers to useful sources of information and
potential partner organisations. Available to download from: http://www.cot.org.uk/public/publications2/showpublication.php?c=7&pubid=20
UK
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY RESEARCH FOUNDATION – UKOTRF
UKOTRF is a new division of the College of
Occupational Therapists and was officially launched at a prestigious
event at Buckingham Palace in December.
It aims to build an evidence-base for occupational therapy by
supporting research into the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of
occupation-focussed interventions; to increase research capacity within
the profession and to raise public awareness of the valuable
contribution of occupation to people’s health and wellbeing.
See www.cot.org.uk/researchfoundation BRITISH
JOURNAL OF OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY – BJOT
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