Are We Maximising the Potential of Occupational Therapists to In Deliver Patient Education In Pulmonary Rehabilitation?

Roberts, Nicola Jane; Sewell, Louise

Abstract

Rationale: The roles of individual MDT members (e.g occupational therapist, nurse, physiotherapist, healthcare assistant) in delivering patient education in pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) are often unclear. Occupational therapists (OTs) are key members of the pulmonary rehabilitation team and are often involved in delivering educational sessions such as energy conservation and advice regarding activities of daily living. UK clinical guidance only provides suggestions for educational content within PR but provides no specific detail in terms of which members of the PR team are responsible for designing, updating and delivering specific educational content in a PR setting. Methods: A survey was designed to investigate how patient education in pulmonary rehabilitation is delivered in Scotland, UK. The survey included questions on demographic data from each site on the length of educational sessions, team staff mix, participants, variations in delivery, referral criteria for PR and outcome measures. Data was collected on the professional background of session leads as well as the delivery format, tools and resources used. This analysis specifically examined the involvement of occupational therapists in delivering education in PR programmes across Scotland. Regional leads based in NHS Boards (11/14) from the Scottish Pulmonary Rehabilitation Action group (SPRAG) completed the survey. Only 11 NHS Board had PR services running at the time of the study. Results: Responses were received from 9/11 of the NHS Boards sampled (representing 81.8% of PR activity in Scotland at the time of the study). Only a third of the regional areas PR teams included occupational therapists (33.3%, 3/9), much lower than levels of specialist nurses (88.9%, 8/9),) specialist physiotherapists (77.7%, 7/9) and healthcare assistants (66.6%, 6/9). Occupational therapists were more likely to be only included in delivering education and were often not part of the core PR team, 66.6% 6/9). Table 1 shows that occupational therapists were not always the professional lead in sessions such as energy conservation (44.4%), activities of daily living (44.4%). Conclusions: The data from this Scottish study suggests that occupational therapists in PR multidisciplinary teams may be underutilised. They do not always lead sessions that are conventionally considered to be part of their professional scope of practice. There is therefore the potential to maximise the PR team expertise and encourage appropriate PR educational sessions to be led by occupational therapists to share their field specific expertise.

Citation

Roberts, N. J., & Sewell, L. (2023). Are We Maximising the Potential of Occupational Therapists to In Deliver Patient Education In Pulmonary Rehabilitation?. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, 207, A4677-A4677

• Journal Article Type: Meeting Abstract
• Conference Name: American Thoracic Society
• Conference Location: Washington, D.C.
• Acceptance Date: Nov 30, 2022
• Online Publication Date: May 7, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023-05
• Deposit Date: Jul 13, 2023
• Print ISSN: 1073-449X
• Publisher: American Thoracic Society
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 207
• Pages: A4677-A4677
• Publisher URL: https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1164/ajrccm-conference.2023.207.1_MeetingAbstracts.A4677
• Related Public URLs: https://www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/10703/presentation/5963