Presenters: Dr Annie McCluskey & Dr Lauren Christie, occupational therapists, The StrokeEd Collaboration , Australia
Dates: Mon 4th April & Thu 5th May 2022 (Two x 4-hr online) workshops. The same professional should attend BOTH workshops. (NB Change of date for the second meeting, from 20 April)
Time: 18.00-22.00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (Sydney/Melbourne/Canberra) – mornings in Europe
Cost: $255.19 (AUD) incl GST and Eventbrite Admin fee
Download the flier here: Knowledge translation flier
About the presenters
Dr Annie McCluskey is an occupational therapist, a health services researcher and educator. She has 30+ years’ experience in stroke and brain injury rehabilitation, in Australia and the UK. Annie has provided private occupational therapy and stroke rehabilitation services for over 20 years, consultations and mentoring for graduates. She is co-director of The StrokeEd Collaboration and an honorary academic at the University of Sydney.
Annie has published over 70 peer reviewed journal articles and been awarded over $4 million in competitive grant funding. Her research focusses on: translating evidence into practice particularly in stroke rehabilitation; adult handwriting and upper limb retraining; improving community participation and outdoor mobility; sexuality and intimacy after stroke. Annie is co-developer of ‘OTseeker’, a free evidence database for occupational therapists (www.otseeker.com)
Dr Lauren Christie is an occupational therapist and recent PhD graduate from The University of Sydney. She has over 15 years clinical experience in neurological rehabilitation and has held clinical leadership roles in Australia and the United Kingdom. She is currently a Senior Implementation Science Research Fellow- Allied Health at St Vincent’s Health Network Sydney and continues to work clinically as an occupational therapist.
Lauren has published six peer reviewed journal articles, and has been awarded over $400,000AUD in research funding. Her research focuses on translating evidence into practice particularly in stroke and traumatic brain injury rehabilitation including the implementation and sustainability of constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) programs. Her program of research also explores stroke and brain injury survivors’ experiences and preferences in relation to rehabilitation service delivery and health economics.
About the workshop:
The StrokeEd KT workshop provides an introduction to knowledge translation and explains the process of implementing evidence. Examples of common research-practice gaps will be presented from stroke audits and guideline recommendations (content can be adapted for other areas of practice such as aged care/falls prevention).
Therapists and rehabilitation teams will be invited to identify research-practice gaps relevant to their practice, such as underuse of seated reach/balance retraining beyond arms reach, upper limb constraint-induced movement therapy or electrical stimulation. These gaps are a good starting point for individuals and teams that want to change their practice.
Examples of improved practice outcomes include “increasing the proportion of inpatients that complete at least 2 hours of active task practice per day” or “for inpatients who have difficulty sitting, increase the proportion of inpatients that practice daily reaching beyond arm’s length in sitting, with supervision/assistance”.
Using recent projects as examples, we will explore barriers to implementing guideline recommendations, and summarise evidence from trials and systematic reviews. Common barriers affecting individual therapists and organisations include lack of skills and knowledge, unhelpful attitudes, beliefs and biases, lack of equipment and space, professional roles and health systems.
Finally, behaviour-change interventions can be used to address these barriers. Interventions include audit and feedback cycles, education and training, coaching and mentoring, prompt and reminders. Outcomes of recent projects will be shared. Participants will leave the workshop with an action plan.
Learning Objectives – By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to:
1) Explain the process of translating research into practice
2) Identify important research-practice gaps
3) List common barriers to translating research
3) List strategies/interventions that can be used to overcome these barriers
4) Identify expected outcomes for health professionals and teams (eg % of patients receiving the intervention) and patient outcomes (eg amount of practice conducted)
5) Explain frameworks that can guide implementation projects.
More details – including proposed workshop practical activities, go to the StrokeEd website: https://strokeed.com/about-workshops/knowledge-translation/
Acknowledgement: Some of the content for this workshop was developed, and has been presented with the following implementation science researchers: physiotherapist Claire Stewart from Sunshine Coast University Hospital, occupational therapist Professor Sally Bennett from the University of Queensland, and Senior Research Fellow Dr Denise O’Connor from Monash University/Cochrane Australia.