Sheffield Occupational Therapy Clinical Academic (SOTCA) network meeting

A meeting of the Sheffield Occupational Therapy Clinical Academic (SOTCA) network was held on 26^th January 2017. The network was started by Laura Di Bona and aims to provide peer support, form collaborations and consider service developments.

Occupational therapists based in Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Sheffield Children’s Hospital, Rotherham Housing Services, University of Sheffield, and Sheffield Hallam University attended. All were interested in or to pursue research, and ways to combine research with clinical practice. There was a great variety of clinical and research experience in the room with people at different stages of their careers. Some had done research MSc modules, some MSCs, some were studying for PhDs, and some had submitted applications to the NIHR clinical academic pathway doctoral fellowship programme. Sam Armitage (Occupational Therapist, Sheffield Children’s Hospital), Laura Di Bona (University of Sheffield & Sheffield Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust) and Professor Gail Mountain (Professor, University of Bradford) all gave informal presentations about their research journeys. It seemed that carving out a clinical academic career required resilience, commitment and flexibility, and that there wasn’t one clear, established ‘pathway’ to follow, the presenters had all created and responded to opportunities.  Everyone  agreed to meet again, perhaps with presentations  - possibly related to Occupational Therapy and assistive technology research, or the MSc in Clinical Research – to be confirmed.  

Any occupational therapists, or occupational therapy students interested in doing  research, service evaluation/development are welcome! You can come for general interest and/or use the group for support, for example project ideas, funding applications, conference or publication submissions...

The next meeting is planned for  Thursday 27^th April 5-7pm at the Assessment and Rehab Centre  (ARC) in Nether Edge although this will be confirmed nearer the time.

SOTCA has a new website at: http://www.catch.org.uk/current-project/sotca/ . If you are interested, please log on to it and register your details with our new Mailchimp account so you can be sure to hear about future work of the group. Also, please follow us on twitter 

Written by Becky Field

T4I2016 programme now available!

The Technology for Independence (T4I) conference will take place on Monday 28th November 2016 from 08.30 to 17.30 at St. Mary’s Church & Conference Centre, Sheffield.

The programme for the conference is now available here.

The day starts at 8.30 with a packed programme including 22 talks in a variety of areas. We are delighted to have Prof Luc de Witte as a plenary speaker talking about "How to close the gap between what is technically possible and practically available?”. We will also be joined by Stephen Purdham from 3rings who will deliver a session on the Internet of Things.

This year, we will also host a free social event on Sunday 27th November from 7pm, the evening before the conference to give you a great opportunity for additional networking. The pre-event dinner will be hosted at Kelham Island Brewery (23 Alma St, Sheffield, S3 8SA) with steak & ale pie, peas and local beer. Those who have expressed their intent to be a delegate can apply to join this free social event*. Please email us to at t4i@sheffield.ac.uk.

(*Only 20 tickets available. Enquiries will be collected until 02/11/2016, allocated on a first come first served basis. Tickets will be sent out on 07/11/2016.)

Registration for the conference is open, please book your places here.

EXHIBITOR INFORMATION

We also offer exhibition space at the conference venue which is an ideal opportunity to demonstrate Assistive Technology.

We provide wifi, power and a table in a floor area of about 6m2 for £260 (plus VAT). Additional requirements can be accommodated, please get in touch and we will be able to provide you with pricing options.

This year we are also offering a light option for exhibiting. If you only bring a single banner, you can exhibit with the delegate fee of £160.

If you need more information or have specific requirements, please let us know.

We look forward to seeing you in November. If you would like further information about the conference please get in touch with Richard Simmonds.

NIHR Devices for Dignity Healthcare Technology Co-operative

Why is it so important to consider dignity during technology development?

The development of technology to assist or simplify medical diagnoses, treatment and management can provide the opportunity to greatly improve patient experiences and medical outcomes.  However, addressing only the patient’s clinical needs in isolation misses the opportunity to achieve genuinely effective solutions. For patients, their ability to live with dignity can have a big impact on their health and happiness. Truly effective and enduring technologies should therefore be developed with users, and should consider how, where and when they will use the technology; if a user dislikes using a technology, they are less likely to use it. An example of a technology that D4D is developing in partnership with patients and other collaborators is the Sheffield Support Snood collar for people with neck muscle weakness. The collar has been designed to be more wearable and adaptable than other support collars, and is currently undergoing a clinical evaluation.

“Other, more rigid collars were painful – I couldn’t wear them for too long, I can wear this collar for 8 hours straight  – I wear it at work” -Anonymous patient participant comment in clinical study of new collar design

“This collar gives support but also more freedom of movement – I can wear it to drive”- Anonymous patient participant comment in the clinical study of the new collar design

By developing technologies around users’ wider needs rather than just patients’ clinical needs, and by taking into account the needs of everyone involved in a project from early stages, projects can be designed well, and all partners can benefit. 

·       Patients can experience fewer disruptions and exert greater control over their lives, which is likely to lead to greater satisfaction and adherence to their treatment, and better wellbeing.

·       Healthcare professionals are also users of technologies with their patients, so clinical input into device design can help ensure that technology adoption challenges are anticipated early in the development process and can be addressed in the context of existing practices, training and systems.

·       Technology companies can develop solutions that are likely to be better received by the patients and clinicians using them.

The resulting well-designed technologies are more beneficial to patients and users, so may benefit from patient- and clinical ‘pull’, which helps ensure the solution is widely sought, can help drive faster widespread adoption, and helps the company to establish itself more effectively within the health market place.

For this reason D4D works closely with and values the involvement of patients and carers, clinicians, researchers, designers, charities and industry partners when developing technology solutions. By building such partnerships we can ensure that the solutions that we develop maintain or promote people’s dignity - and by extension their wellbeing - at the same time as addressing their clinical needs.

Partners in the development of the Sheffield Support Snood are the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITRaN) at the University of Sheffield, Sheffield Hallam University, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS FT, Barnsley NHS FT and the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA).

Sheffield Occupational Therapy Clinical Academic Network (SOTCA): First open meeting a huge success!

Laura Di Bona

A group of occupational therapists based in and around Sheffield have developed a network to advance occupational therapy knowledge and practice. The network, SOTCA, aims to improve outcomes and experiences for service users of a diverse range of occupational therapy services across the region. SOTCA hopes to achieve this through forming cross-organisational collaborations and providing peer support to occupational therapists trying to improve practice or develop a clinical academic career. It is open to any occupational therapist who shares our aims, whether you are a student, newly qualified, highly experienced, retired or anything in between.

SOTCA’s first open meeting was held on 13^th October 2016 and attended by seventeen occupational therapists from seven organisations. It was hosted by Colette Fegan at Sheffield Hallam University who treated us to a tour of their innovative teaching facilities. The meeting was then used for networking, forming collaborations and peer support. The amount of knowledge and enthusiasm in the room was amazing, so we certainly have plenty to offer each other. The atmosphere was energising, optimistic and conversation flowed long after the meeting was due to finish! Old friends caught up and new friendships were formed. Future goals of the group were set and these include developing collaborations and links (especially between practice and research), learning from each other and improving practice.

The next meeting will be in January 2017. If you are an occupational therapist who would like to join our network, please contact Laura Di Bona (l.dibona@sheffield.ac.uk).

At the January meeting we plan to share some of our clinical academic / occupational therapy research experiences and journeys, do get in touch with Laura if you would like to share.

Some recommendations from the meeting:

• Contact Health, Advice and Information (CHAIN) Network. CHAIN is a successful online mutual support network of people working in health and social care. Sign up to the subgroups relevant to you at : http://www.chain-network.org.uk/chain/subgroup_resources.html

• College of Occupational Therapists Research and Development Bulletin. If you are a BAOT member and wish to receive these bulletins email Lesley Gleaves, R&D Administrator (lesley.gleaves@cot.co.uk).  

• Council for Allied Health Professionals Research. If you would like to be added to their mail list please contact Stephanie Portier  hwbsjp@exchange.shu.ac.uk, with your full name, email address, profession and which region you are based in. There is a forthcoming event entitled “How to be an AHP clinician who does research”. Thursday, 3rd November 2016 6-9 pm. Sheffield Hallam University.

 Written by Laura Di Bona