| Abstrakt: |
Purpose -To develop a tool to assess support workers' competence to perform an aquatic therapy programme independently and for a specific client. The aim is that the intervention is continued as part of a sustainable long term management programme. (See the full Competency Assessment tool in the article that follows). Relevance - In the current climate, where all services are analysed for their cost effectiveness, it is essential to develop therapies that can be sustained without direct input from clinicians to reach a large number of clients. To achieve this, interventions and modalities must be delegated to either the client or to their support workers. This is especially important when working with people who have long term conditions where outcomes are achieved over time and may focus on prevention of deterioration rather than restoration of function. Description -The assessment tool provides an objective measure of when a support worker is competent to perform an aquatic therapy programme independently with a specific client. It documents the performance criteria that must be demonstrated if the activity is to be carried out safely and effectively. Once a level of competence has been assessed and agreed, the tool provides evidence that the support worker is meeting the occupational standard for performing aquatic therapy, hence the activity can be delegated. Evaluation - The initial feedback has been very positive with both the clinicians and the support workers acknowledging the benefit of breaking down an aquatic therapy session into specific skills and tasks. A more formal evaluation is being conducted and will be published once completed. Conclusion - The tool has increased the efficiency of the Southwark Learning Disability Aquatic Therapy service in that more people with learning disabilities (PWLD) in the borough of Southwark are accessing aquatic therapy as part of their physiotherapy management programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
