Critical shortage of occupational therapists in rural Australia: Changing our long‐held beliefs provides a solution

Community Service Occupational Therapists: thriving or just surviving?

“…To effectively harness the CS occupational therapy workforce, the development of rural practitioners needs to receive greater attention. It has further been suggested that greater opportunities for rural practitioners to assume positions of leadership within the profession are required in order to contribute to a sound understanding of the skill set required for best practice in a rural setting 68 . If CS occupational therapists were supported and supervised by established rural practitioners, they would be better equipped to deliver services across the domains of occupational therapy practice.…”

The experience of medical and rehabilitation intervention for traumatic hand injuries in rural and remote North Queensland: a qualitative study

“…Lannin and Longland note that exercise protocols, services, clinical practices and guidelines that are developed in metropolitan locations fail to take into account the needs of rural and remote residents [31]. The participants in this study had to travel long distances to get to their appointment, which would cause additional pain or discomfort, and made it difficult to fulfil daily chores once they returned home.…”

Barriers to the use of Information and Communication Technology by occupational therapists working in a rural area of New South Wales, Australia

“…Furthermore, the increasingly ageing population is likely to result in a greater demand on occupational therapy services in both metropolitan and rural areas (Millsteed, 1999). Occupational therapists working in rural areas face particular challenges related to geographic distance and professional isolation (Lannin & Longland, 2008). Boshoff and Hartshorne (2008) designed an open-ended questionnaire to collect data about occupational therapists working in rural and remote areas of South Australia.…”

“…In a qualitative study into the professional support provided to new graduate occupational therapists in rural New South Wales (NSW), Australia, Steenbergen and Mackenzie (2004) identified resources and access to information technology as key factors in providing support for rural occupational therapists. The findings of these studies highlighted the need for appropriate recruitment and retention strategies, networking and collaboration, local and regional meetings and professional associations to address the issues of professional isolation, lack of professional development opportunities, limited support systems, travelling time, vast distances and the wide range of services and clientele (Boshoff & Hartshorne, 2008;Devine, 2006;Lannin & Longland;Mills & Millsteed, 2002;O'Toole & Schoo, 2010). The authors of these studies concluded that, if used effectively, ICT could assist with the implementation of these strategies.…”