Developing Skills in Intra-Workplace Rehabilitation Education: Paper III

Abstract

Rehabilitation is a medical discipline which is needed wherever people have lost full functionality, and it is needed increasingly in noncommunicable diseases, such as neurological problems, but also, and perhaps more importantly, in middle-and high-income countries, where populations are growing more aged. The burden is borne by the health care systems, especially where family cannot take the full load of care. Rehabilitation is also a discipline which is carried out most effectively in multi-or interdisciplinary teams, which carry their own weight of learning and group tensions. They are also bound to consider best practice guidelines. Furthermore, there is also a wide gap between learning in college or university and practice in the ward which leads to a loss of confidence in newly trained medical and paramedical personnel such as doctors, nurses, physiatrists, occupational therapists and physiotherapists. There is a genuine need for expert rehabilitation specialists who can mediate within teams as well as between groups and patients and their families. This paper lays out the range of considerations such a rehabilitation therapist must have under their belt. A model is presented. There are also two sets of parameters when using the model in practice. The first is the levels at which it works: hospital, departmental and individual. Then there are the specific challenges. Curriculum practice guidelines work at the hospital and departmental and professional levels; teamwork with its intrinsic challenges is of paramount importance; finally, the individuals will learn how to represent their insights in writing, most specifically represented in full-blown case reports. If the levels and roles coordinate, rehabilitation medicine should develop favourably.