Online Technology 4 Occupational Therapy

I just found a fascinating group online called Online Technology for Occupational Therapy. If you're an Occupational Therapist and you're reading this post, chances are you'd be interested in this group.

They seem to exist just to evangelize the use of new media tools and communication platforms in the Occupational Therapy field. They even going so far as to quote Tim O'Reilly, making a compelling argument for the use of emerging technology:

...the success of Web 2.0 lies in the fact that it has provided tools that have embraced the power of the Internet to harness collective intelligence (O'Reilly, 2005).

...61 percent of Americans go online for health information, which tells us that many consumers want and, more importantly, are willing to use online health resources (Hardy, 2010). Interactive online technologies enable us to connect students, practitioners, researchers and the public in shared topics of interest. It is carving a niche between workplace-based questions and research and developing knowledge from multiple perspectives (Gwozdek, Klausner & Kerschbaum, 2008; Lowry, Curtis & Lowry, 2004).

People working in health care have not adopted interactive online tools the way that people in sectors such as business, education and politics have. Hamilton and Penman (2010) suggest potential reasons behind the slow uptake of online "social software" tools by healthcare practitioners, including: 

• The healthcare workplace culture values "clinical contact and occasions of service" (McCluskey & Cusick, 2002, p.66) in preference to time spent on professional development. 
• Health care practitioners have limited access to the Internet at work (McCluskey, 2003; Schaper & Pervan, 2007). 
• Ongoing professional development is seen as a personal responsibility (Jantzen, 2008). 
• Confidentiality, professionalism and self-protectionism concern healthcare practitioners, which may prevent them from utilising Web 2.0 tools in practice (Baerlocher & Detsky, 2008).

...early adopters of online technology across all healthcare professions are identifying the importance of online technology in the future of healthcare education and practice. Practitioners are advocating for the utilisation of interactive online tools such as wikis, blogs and podcasts created for and by healthcare practitioners (Barsky & Giustini, 2008; Kamel Boulos & Wheeler, 2007; McClean et al, Wardman, 2007; Potts, 2006; Schembri, 2008; Bodell, Penman, Hook, Wade & Berry, 2008).

I for one am thrilled to find a group advocating this kind of usage. It's where we're going as an industry in the future, like it or not.

Imagine a future where healthcare providers have a closed online network with their patients and can answer care-related questions on the fly rather than forcing patients to drive in and waste what could be health-critical time. This is just one use case but there are many. There are even conversations going on in Social CRM circles with luminaries such as Jeremiah Owyang about these topics.

Keep your eyes peeled for our next site update, where we fold in some of these ideas into a platform you all can use to collaborate and learn about rehab therapy in the Chicagoland area. We're here to make a better community first and foremost, so keep us posted with your ideas how to do that.

Comments

[anita.hamilton@ualberta.ca]

This is a wonderful post as you are helping spread the "word" while demonstrating exceptionally good knowledge and skills with online technology yourself! I have never used odigo screen-reading tool... it was great to click on it and hear the post. Making the information that much more accessible! I will have to show my students that tool AND give it a try myself :-)
Cheers, Anita.

[Brad Hogenmiller]

Thanks Anita. You might want to check out my earlier post on how to subscribe to the audio feed of the blog through iTunes via Odiogo.

http://spotonchicago.com/2010/02/chicagos-physical-occupational-speech-therapy-news-in-your-ears-.html

It's dead simple and can be great for skimming through blogposts on an MP3 player while exercising or riding the bus. Think about if an OT put therapy instructions in a blog post for a patient who could then use Odiogo to listen via headphones... many possibilities.

-Brad (@SPOTonChicago)