Spring Fever: Education and Opportunities

Just home from Seattle and one of this Spring's numerous education opportunities (Why are all the courses offered at the same time?) I  have dozens of thoughts and ideas to sort through! Truly a multidisciplinary conference, the  American Burn Association Annual Meeting brings together not just rehabilitation and medical professionals but also fire-fighters, who are greatly involved in raising funds for burn care and research*, as well as people who have survived the effects of burns.

Shopping Over the Border
Among presentation handouts and exhibition samples, (not to mention spoils from after-conference shopping) I packed three main themes into my conference bag. Neither novel nor simple, they require more individual attention but this is a start to sorting through them.
1. We need more research in occupational therapy practices
2. The separation of physical and mental health
3. More illusively---  the surprise of patients who are not patients.

Research and Education
Sitting alongside other therapists I realized that many of the clinical questions I have are certainly not unique. When is the ideal time to splint? Is it better to wait until there is signs of decreased range of motion--- or should I splint pre-emptively? Occupational therapy is so blessedly diverse and yet this increases the challenges for gathering the evidence for what is known or what we think we know. Where do we start? Poster presentations, case studies, small scale in-house studies are all steps towards gathering collective knowledge and findings. I've yet to commit to any projects but the questions and ideas are brewing.


Never the Twain shall Meet?
Like many occupational therapists I work in acute care phys-dis. Fast-paced and solution oriented we have to be focused on immediate concerns in order to help kids and there families get home as soon as possible. If a child has burned their leg, my focus is on helping their body heal and putting the resources together so they can go home. The traumatic circumstances of the car accident causing the fractured leg is something I am aware of but am not focused on. Fortunately at my hospital, we have other team members who are able to help address these concerns more directly, but I know many hospitals and health centres don't. Why do we separate physical and mental health issues? Why is depression or anxiety the frustrating lesser issue for these patients? What funding would we need for time to address these concerns more directly?

Patients or Colleagues
Looking up from photos at a burn camp exhibit booth, I was  greeted  by a man who had experienced a facial burn. I was caught off-guard by my own surprise and discomfort in talking to this man who's face bore evidence of numerous surgeries and likely years of wearing pressure garments and face masks. I work in burns so I ought to be more comfortable meeting people who look different.

I realize that part of what surprised me was not just this man's appearance, but the fact that we were not in the position of therapist and patient, and he was actually in a position to be teaching me--- as a representative of burn camps. It is one thing to overlook individual differences when you are in the positions of therapist and patient, it is an exciting (and at times challenging) other, to see people who they are outside of the world of hospitals, therapy and disibility.

-Mary Glasgow Brown

* The British Columbia Burn Fund supported a number of my colleagues to attend the conference this year.