Interview with Neurology Practice Network chair, Tammam El-Khodor
I have to go back in memory for many years to answer this question. I was conflicted on which career I wanted to pursue in my early twenties. Initially, I was pursing a career as a pilot and started to take flight lessons. However, at the same time I felt a pull towards the medical field and natural sciences but was not sure in what capacity. I was not interested in pursuing a career in medicine and I wanted to learn about psychology but did not want to be a psychologist. Furthermore, I found social sciences to be stimulating and I was naturally attracted to them. If only there was a profession that combined all of the above! It turned out that there was and my brother introduced me to occupational therapy. Unfortunately, the only missing topic was flying, which was not part of the occupational therapy curriculum.
I had to make a decision on which career to choose. I decided that occupational therapy was a career that opened the door for ongoing professional growth, learning, and opportunities to help others. The rest was history.
What is your favourite thing about CAOT-BC?
I think CAOT-BC is a dynamic forward thinking organization that plays an important role in promoting the profession in our province. My favourite aspect of CAOT-BC is the different Practice Networks that occupational therapists can join. This initiative by CAOT-BC is unique in the nation. The Practice Networks create a container for therapists to connect around a clinical topic or practice that interest them. These networks provide a space for sharing ideas, new learning, and have the potential to create new possibilities in a particular field.
Where have you worked over your career? Where do you work now?
My presumption that occupational therapy would lead to diverse professional prospects and learning opportunities was confirmed in my career path. I have been practicing as an occupational therapist for 20 years in different clinical, academic, and leadership roles. I worked in Portland Oregon in different clinical settings including Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in a trauma-I hospital, acute, inpatient and outpatient programs, home health, subacute rehabilitation, and residential homecare.
In Montreal I worked at the Jewish General Hospital (JGH) in acute care, mostly in ICU, coronary care unit (CCU), neurological, and cardiac surgery floors.
I held a position as a faculty lecturer at the School of Physical and Occupational Therapy at McGill University and at the present time I am a clinical instructor at the Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy faculty at UBC. I work for Vancouver Coastal Health on the Community Rehab & Resource Team.
What has been your most interesting job?
My years at JGH were immensely productive and fulfilling. I had the opportunity to advocate and demonstrate the complex scope of occupational therapy in specialized clinical settings such as ICU and CCU, which allowed me to publish about this topic. Furthermore, I was able to take on different leadership roles including establishing occupational therapy service on the neurological-surgery team and collaborated on developing an inter-professional protocol for spinal cord and brain injured patients at the hospital. As a Certified Lean Agent I led the optimization of occupational therapy services at JGH.
What might someone be surprised to know about you?
I am close to completing a Master of Education in Clinical Psychology at UBC and, during my free time, I am an avid Aikido practitioner.
What do you think will change/shape practice over the next five years?
I share the concerns that some occupational therapists have around the state of our profession and practice. Especially, since certain fundamental questions keep arising in implicit or explicit ways, such as how we define what we do, our scope of practice, and how that translates into our clinical work. I think these are critical questions that we need to settle among ourselves in order to be effective in advocating and expanding our practice.
Having said that, I think the new move by the government towards creating primary healthcare clinics presents us with a prospect to shape our own practice over the next five years. I think we have a unique opportunity to play a leading role in this healthcare delivery model if we reclaim and implement our bio-psychosocial frame of reference in our practice. In order to achieve this we need to seek advanced educational training in delivering primary care. It is crucial that we start building the foundations for specialty training in occupational therapy.
We need to clearly define occupational therapy practice to our different stakeholders so others do not define it for us. Our stakeholders include people we serve, other healthcare professionals, third party payers, and the government.
I believe that occupational therapy is a profession unlike any other with immense potential to improve individual and population healthcare outcomes. Each one of us plays a role, from our position, to foster this potential and ultimately better serve our patients, clients, and communities.
#OT365
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