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Knowles L1,2,3, Buttress S3
1St Helens and Knowsley NHS Trust, Therapy, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 2NOTAA Physiotherapist, Liverpool, United Kingdom, 3University of Salford, Salford, United Kingdom
Background: The global burden of trauma in the developing world is massive and set to continue to increase with the development of infrastructure and technology. Statistics from the World Health Organisation demonstrate that trauma is the cause of 32% more deaths in the developing world than HIV, tuberculosis and malaria combined. Physiotherapists are key to providing rehabilitation and it is accepted in high income countries that patients will have access to these services. Due to lack of resources, decreased recognition of the profession and poor awareness of rehabilitation, this is not the case in low income countries.
The need for rehabilitation interventions in Ethiopia is paramount and on a local level this was highlighted by the experiences of orthopaedic surgeons in Hawassa Hospital. As the orthopaedic department developed and the amount of surgeries taking place increased, the patients were receiving no rehabilitation. This discrepancy in progress between surgical advancement and the paucity of rehabilitation resulted in poor outcomes for the patient. In response a rehabilitation needs assessment was undertaken by overseas physiotherapists that were visiting as part of a multidisciplinary collaboration between NOTAA (Northwest Orthopaedic Trauma Alliance for Africa) and ADFA (Australian Doctors for Africa). Following this a bespoke training programme was developed and delivered to the nursing staff on the orthopaedic ward.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to ascertain the nurses´ experiences of the physiotherapy training to ensure that meaningful and sustainable change occurred as a result.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 10 nursing staff from Hawassa Hospital that received the four-day physiotherapy training programme in May 2017. The questions focused on the nurses' views of the training, how they had used it in their working practice and what they perceived the nursing role to entail. The qualitative data was analysed using an inductive approach supported by NVivo 12 software.
Results: Six main themes emerged from the interviews; Teaching methods and content, Communication, Understanding of orthopaedic care, Personal development, Patient care and Ward development. These themes were underpinned by satisfaction with the training. Many of the themes were closely linked and supported the change in working practice that was observed by the researcher six months after the teaching intervention. Within the themes there was evidence of emotional, environmental change and an emerging preference for a practical learning style.
Conclusion(s): The findings of this study demonstrated an overwhelmingly positive response to the physiotherapy teaching by nursing staff on the orthopaedic unit. There has been meaningful application and change in practice in Hawassa Hospital. Also captured in the themes of this study are learning styles of the nurses and important motivators for change, which can be used to develop further teaching and research.
Implications: The collaboration between NOTAA/ADFA and Hawassa Hospital continues to develop, and the findings of this study will serve to strengthen that collaboration and guide further teaching. Within international trauma rehabilitation, the successful impact of short-term interventions such as that investigated in this research, will aid in providing sustainable solutions to a rapidly developing healthcare issue.
Keywords: interprofessional teaching, developing countries, orthopaedics
Funding acknowledgements: This research did not receive any specific grant. However, one of the authors did receive funding for travel from NOTAA
The need for rehabilitation interventions in Ethiopia is paramount and on a local level this was highlighted by the experiences of orthopaedic surgeons in Hawassa Hospital. As the orthopaedic department developed and the amount of surgeries taking place increased, the patients were receiving no rehabilitation. This discrepancy in progress between surgical advancement and the paucity of rehabilitation resulted in poor outcomes for the patient. In response a rehabilitation needs assessment was undertaken by overseas physiotherapists that were visiting as part of a multidisciplinary collaboration between NOTAA (Northwest Orthopaedic Trauma Alliance for Africa) and ADFA (Australian Doctors for Africa). Following this a bespoke training programme was developed and delivered to the nursing staff on the orthopaedic ward.
Purpose: The purpose of this study is to ascertain the nurses´ experiences of the physiotherapy training to ensure that meaningful and sustainable change occurred as a result.
Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of 10 nursing staff from Hawassa Hospital that received the four-day physiotherapy training programme in May 2017. The questions focused on the nurses' views of the training, how they had used it in their working practice and what they perceived the nursing role to entail. The qualitative data was analysed using an inductive approach supported by NVivo 12 software.
Results: Six main themes emerged from the interviews; Teaching methods and content, Communication, Understanding of orthopaedic care, Personal development, Patient care and Ward development. These themes were underpinned by satisfaction with the training. Many of the themes were closely linked and supported the change in working practice that was observed by the researcher six months after the teaching intervention. Within the themes there was evidence of emotional, environmental change and an emerging preference for a practical learning style.
Conclusion(s): The findings of this study demonstrated an overwhelmingly positive response to the physiotherapy teaching by nursing staff on the orthopaedic unit. There has been meaningful application and change in practice in Hawassa Hospital. Also captured in the themes of this study are learning styles of the nurses and important motivators for change, which can be used to develop further teaching and research.
Implications: The collaboration between NOTAA/ADFA and Hawassa Hospital continues to develop, and the findings of this study will serve to strengthen that collaboration and guide further teaching. Within international trauma rehabilitation, the successful impact of short-term interventions such as that investigated in this research, will aid in providing sustainable solutions to a rapidly developing healthcare issue.
Keywords: interprofessional teaching, developing countries, orthopaedics
Funding acknowledgements: This research did not receive any specific grant. However, one of the authors did receive funding for travel from NOTAA
Topic: Education: methods of teaching & learning; Globalisation: health systems, policies & strategies; Orthopaedics
Ethics approval required: Yes
Institution: University of Salford
Ethics committee: School of Health Sciences
Ethics number: HST1718-036
All authors, affiliations and abstracts have been published as submitted.
