It has been a fantastic start to this year’s Annual Physiopedia and ReLAB-HS massive open online course (MOOC) on Understanding Basic Rehabilitation Techniques, with great discussions happening from all across the world. Rehabilitation professionals, including physiotherapists, occupational therapists, nurses, doctors, prosthetists, orthotists and psychologists are all sharing their experiences and knowledge as they explore the programme of courses on basic rehabilitation techniques.
What a varied range of professions and experience we have joining us on the MOOC this year! From students still completing their professional training, to new graduates starting in their first job wanting to consolidate what they have learned in their training.
Hello. I am Sehriban from Turkey. It is the first MOOC from the Physiopedia I will be participating as a recently graduated physiotherapist and also as a Physiopedia content team volunteer. My primary objective for this course is to enhance my proficiency in some of the fundamental rehabilitation techniques which I currently find less confident, aim to ensure that my knowledge remains up-to-date as part of my Continuing Professional Development (CPD) journey, and ultimately be able to provide better care to the patients I will encounter in my clinical practice.
To professionals with lots of experience returning to practice after some time away and wanting to refresh their knowledge as they get back into practice.
Hi my name is Antima, I am from Canada. I graduated in Physiotherapy in 2006, worked for sometime and then had to take a break. Now will be coming back in the field and this course came at right time. will help me in refreshing my basic rehab techniques and will gain more knowledge from other members of the group. Looking forward to learn more.
It is also fantastic to have so many clinicians with many years of experience, with some on the course having over 30 years in clinical practice who still have a passion to learn and improve their practice.
Hello, I am Mosunmola Williams-Ajayi a Nigerian, working as a physiotherapist in a Government Hospital and have worked over time on rota basis over 20 years. My expectations are; 1. Take a refresher course on Rehabilitation; 2. Update my knowledge of Neurological assessments(Dermatomes, Myotomes and reflexes); 3. Understand the relationship of International classification of functions, disability and health.
It is so reassuring for the rehabilitation profession to see the value that professionals continue to put into their ongoing learning and development, even after many years of practice.
For me, as Physiopedia MOOC Manager, I have enjoyed completing the first 2 courses in the programme so far. Course 1 on Introduction to Rehabilitation Interventions was great to refresh my understanding of what we mean by rehabilitation, and was interesting to learn that there is still no universal definition or understanding of rehabilitation; it is portrayed in many ways depending on the context, including as a development issue, disability issue, health issue, human rights issue, substance abuse issue and security issue. For me this is where I feel the strength of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) comes to the fore, as regardless of the specific definition you are working with the ICF always brings the focus to the whole person, it reminds us that it is not just about the impairment (body function or structure) but actually looks at how this impacts on our activities and participation and considers those factors that impact us on a daily basis.
My take home from this course has been the importance of a patient or family focused approach (for me family is key as I work in paediatrics) that includes patients in decisions such as goal identification and agreement, respects their values and preferences and most importantly focusing on outcomes that improve quality of life.
My final highlight of this first week has been the great discussions starting to happen in the discussion forums on our Rehabilitation Community – we have had almost 400 people already join us in the discussions from all over the world, sharing their experiences and knowledge. I look forward to more great interactive discussions over the next 3 weeks. If you are not already registered for our Rehabilitation Community you can sign up for your free account here. Once registered and logged in you can join the group 2023 Understanding Basic Rehabilitation Techniques Programme (MOOC) to introduce yourself and join the conversations and share your insights and thoughts about the course. If you are registered in the Rehabilitation Community, check out some other participant responses to the discussions, and challenge yourself to reply to at least 2 or 3 comments each week of the MOOC – interaction can really help our learning and this provides you with a great opportunity to interact with other clinicians across the world.
I look forward to interacting with you all next week on the discussion boards. I also can’t wait to refresh my knowledge of Range of motion, muscle strength and muscle length.
Remember that you cannot change what you cannot measure. So accurate measuring and monitoring is essential for selecting appropriate rehabilitation interventions.
If you haven’t already registered to join this year’s Physiopedia MOOC then it isn’t too late. All you need to know, with details for registering and getting started right away can be found on the pre-course information page.
This work is part of the ReLAB-HS activity and is made possible by the support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).