The ICRC team in Gaza that took part in the Amputee Rehabilitation course recently sent us some photos of their participation in the course. We were delighted to hear about their group working sessions each week throughout the course and the celebratory party that they had at the end of the course. We’re just sad that we didn’t get to eat any of that cake!
Here is what they had to say about the course:
Doing the online Physiopedia/ICRC MOOC on Lower Limb Amputee Rehabilitation was a first experience of such nature for all, giving us Palestinians from Gaza a great opportunity to learn and develop our professional skills. It is well known that the Gaza Strip suffers from chronic closure and difficulties to travel out to develop our skills and knowledge. Although we struggled due to limited power supply affecting access to internet and use of computers we succeeded in completing the course. Having done this it has increased our confidence and pride in the work we do! We were very happy to meet professionals from different areas of the world online. It was also good for us as a team here to meet together and discuss the development of the course, we didn’t have to do it alone, for us it was a group experience. It was inclusive course that included all parts of rehabilitation; physical, technical, psychological. We want to say a big thank you to Physiopedia and the ICRC for organising it.
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The stories that we hear as a result of the recent Amputee Rehabilitation course never cease to amaze us. We are particularly excited to hear about the impact that it had on clinical practice. Here are a few of the examples:
This course has motivated us to have a meeting with our OT, dietician & prosthetist. We are now starting a post prosthetic rehab program as we feel our patients are not properly trained after discharge from our hospital (they wait a year for prosthesis). We are working on changing the nurses from using soft bandages to semi rigid as per the course. And speeding up the healing process by diet & shortwave therapy. EWA is something we never did before & are now implementing. This course has affected every single member of my department, I can see it in the way they are treating, assessing & referring their amputee patients. We are even doing our journal club using the references and articles from the course so that we continue to learn and expand our knowledge.
~ South Africa
Five or six physios from the hospital where I work did this course so now we have commenced reviewing how we deliver our physio services to amputees with a view to writing a care pathway with other members of the multi-disciplinary team.
~ New Zealand
This course has opened my eyes to the gaps in our service, and inspired me to keep fighting for access to prosthetics in our area. I hope one day to be at the first (and replicable) district hospital in South Africa with a fully fledged O&P service and real amputee rehab services that are accessible and good quality for people who live in this poorly resourced rural setting.
~ South Africa
Thanks again to everyone who took part in the course and particularly to the group in Gaza for this report on their experience. Do you have a story from the recent ICRC/Physiopedia amputee course, we’d love to hear them!