Understanding Basic Rehabilitation Techniques Course Information

Develop a comprehensive knowledge of fundamental rehabilitation techniques and principles guiding selection of rehabilitation techniques and interventions to improve health.

General Course Information

• Course Type - Free, Open, Online
• Course Coordinators - Rachael Lowe, Naomi O'Reilly
• Institution - Physiopedia & ReLAB-HS
• About this course - This online course will develop knowledge of the fundamental rehabilitation techniques.
• Who can take part - This course is aimed at health and social care professionals, clinicians, students and assistants; and rehabilitation related health systems stakeholders. Others interested in this subject are more than welcome to participate.
• Date of course - 4th September 2023 to 1st October 2023
• Time commitment - Approximately 10 hours over 4 weeks (optional extra 4 hours)
• Language - the main course language will be in English, we will translate into other languages as demand requires.
• Requirements - Participants will complete online learning activities, engage with additional resources, take part in the conversation online and complete the course evaluation.
• Assessment - There will be a final quiz for each individual course.
• Awards - Plus completion certificate and CPD points.
• Accreditation - the course will be accredited in the USA, Australia and South Africa and is formally accepted without accreditation as a professional development activity by many other countries. If you would like this course accredited in your country please contact [email protected]

This MOOC is a collaboration between Physiopedia and the USAID funded Learning, Acting, and Building for Rehabilitation in Health Systems (ReLAB-HS). ReLAB-HS is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and is implemented under cooperative agreement number 7200AA20CA00033. The consortium is managed by prime recipient, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Quick Overview

1. Pre-course information will be sent by email two weeks before the start date.
2. The programme of courses will be available through our online learning platform - Plus (you will need a free trial account).
3. Case studies and discussion forums will be available through our Rehabilitation Community platform, which is free to join.
4. This programme is divided into eight courses, each being between 1 and 2 hours in length.
5. All courses will be released on 4 September 2023.
6. Participants will get a certificate for each course completed.
7. Once all courses are completed, there will be an opportunity to submit an assignment to complete the programme and receive the full programme certificate if you are a full Plus members.
8. The course will be available to complete for free for 4 weeks until 30 September 2023 for all Trial members. After this date only full Plus members will be able to complete the full programme and refer back to any of the resources at any time in the future. People in low income countries can get free access to Plus. We provide discounts based on your country of residence and if you are a student in full time study. Please see the Plus discounts page for more details and complete an application form if you believe you are eligible.
9. The course will be available in English

Introduction

The need for physical rehabilitation services is an urgent and growing global issue. According to a recent report, 2.41 billion individuals worldwide live with conditions that would benefit from rehabilitation services, with approximately 1 in 3 individuals requiring rehabilitation services throughout the course of their illness or injury. The proportion of the worldwide population over 60 will double in the next 30 years, the majority of whom will live with chronic diseases, particularly noncommunicable diseases. There are also approximately 150 million children and adolescents who experience disabilities, and injuries for people of all ages are becoming more frequent due to conflict, rapid urbanisation and motorisation. These changing health and demographic trends are contributing to rapid global increases in the numbers of people experiencing decline in functioning, resulting in enormous unmet rehabilitation needs. Much of these unmet needs are concentrated amongst the poorest and most vulnerable populations in low- and middle-income countries and conflict-affected settings, which are often ill equipped to cope with these increasing needs for rehabilitation services.

The World Health Organisation defines rehabilitation as "a set of measures that assist individuals who experience, or are likely to experience, disability to achieve and maintain optimal functioning in interaction with their environments”. Rehabilitation is in effect composed of multiple components or interventions to address issues related to all domains within the World Health Organisation's  International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF).

These rehabilitation techniques and interventions address impairments, activity limitations and participation restrictions, considering contextual factors both personal and environmental, including assistive technology, that impact functioning. When selecting a rehabilitation intervention, it is always important to remember that one cannot change what you cannot measure. Hence, accurate measuring and monitoring using basic rehabilitation techniques, is essential to select and provide appropriate rehabilitation intervention. A clinician's care plan is only as thorough as their assessment. Confidence in basic rehabilitation assessment techniques is essential for efficient and proper care.

Aim

To equip health and social care professionals with a comprehensive knowledge of fundamental rehabilitation techniques and principles guiding selection of rehabilitation techniques so they can play an effective and proactive role in global and local efforts to increase access to high quality rehabilitation and improvement health outcomes.

Intended Audience

This course is aimed at health and social care professionals, clinicians, students and assistants; and rehabilitation related health systems stakeholders. Others interested in this subject are more than welcome to participate.

This may include but is not limited to Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Rehabilitation Doctors, Rehabilitation Nurses, Prosthetists, Orthotists, Psychologists, Audiologists, Dietetics, Social Workers, Community Health Workers, Nurses, Medical Doctors, Managers, Researchers, Educators, Minsters of Health and their staff.

Learning Objectives

At the end of this course you will be able to:

1. discuss the term "rehabilitation", the World Health Organization's definition of rehabilitation and the global need for rehabilitation
2. discuss the key elements of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF) model and its role in rehabilitation
3. identify at least four principles that guide the selection of rehabilitation techniques and interventions
4. identify at least three factors that may impact patient safety during moving and handling tasks
5. discuss the measuring procedures and abnormal rates for at least two basic vital signs
6. select an appropriate response from healthcare professionals during moving and handling tasks based on given case scenarios
7. describe the key features of active, active-assisted, and passive range of motion and end-feel
8. identify at least three factors that can impact range of motion
9. describe at least three principles that guide the assessment and measurement of range of motion
10. identify at least two types of muscle contraction and at least three factors that can affect muscle strength
11. list at least two contraindications to muscle strength testing
12. discuss at least two methods of muscle strength testing, the Medical Research Council Scale for grading manual muscle testing and optimal positions for muscle strength testing
13. discuss the basic characteristics of skeletal muscle
14. describe the two main testing methods to assess muscle length, three measurement tools, at least two factors that affect muscle length and key principles of the muscle length assessment
15. identify an appropriate test or testing position to assess muscle length for at least three muscles
16. identify the purpose of the neurological screen and at least three indications to conduct a neurological screen
17. discuss the three main components of the neurological screen and the key features of upper and lower motor neurone lesions
18. identify the potential location of a lesion based on information from a neurological screen in a given case scenario
19. identify at least three indications and contraindications for therapeutic positioning
20. explain at least four key principles of patient positioning
21. identify at least five common patient positions used in rehabilitation and when they should be used
22. identify the key benefits, risks, indications, precautions and levels of assistance for patient transfers
23. discuss at least three guiding principles to ensure safe, appropriate transfers in clinical practice and common patient transfer techniques
24. identify an appropriate transfer technique for a patient in a simple case scenario

Course Structure

This course will be divided into a eight separate courses, which together with the final assignment make a programme. Each course can be done as a stand alone course and it is suggested (but not required) that two courses could be completed over the duration of approximately a week and completed in succession. Please note that there are no synchronous sessions and no deadlines are applied, this programme of courses can be started and completed according to your own schedule. We expect the required elements of each course to take around 1 - 2 hours depending on your pre-existing knowledge and learning style. Additionally there are many optional resources provided and if you choose to review these the course could take significantly longer to complete.

It’s not going to be easy, we’ll expect you to work hard for your completion certificate! You won’t be sitting back and watching webinars, we’ll expect you to undertake reading tasks, complete quizzes, perform literature searches and other learning activities. You’ll need to reflect on your own experiences and make written contributions to the discussion forum. This forum is where we can learn from each other’s experiences and knowledge from all around the world. At the end of the course, when you have completed all of the required elements, you will be able to download a certificate of completion and ...... professional development points will be added to your personalised learning dashboard in Plus.

Course Outline

This programme is made up of the following courses and live webinars followed by an assignment. Each course has a separate completion certificate and completing the assignment is optional but will also provide you with a programme certificate:

1. Course 1: Introduction to Rehabilitation Techniques and Interventions
2. Course 2: Assessment Before Moving and Handling
3. Course 3: Assessing Range of Motion
4. Course 4: Assessing Muscle Strength
5. Course 5: Assessing Muscle Length
6. Course 6: Neurological Screen
7. Course 7: Exploring Positioning
8. Course 8: Exploring Transfers
9. Webinar 1: Clinical Case Studies of the Lower Limb on Thursday 14th September 2023
10. Webinar 2: Clinical Case Studies of the Upper Limb on Thursday 28th September 2023
11. Optional Assignment (to complete the full programme) - Available for full Plus members

Types of Learning Activities

Reading Physiopedia pages, journal articles, book chapters. Watching or listening to videos. Attempting quizzes. Participating in an international discussion forum.

Certificates and Assignment

On completion of each course you will receive a certificate. Once all eight courses are complete, there will also be an option to submit an assignment at the end of the programme to receive the full programme certificate.

Assignment submissions will be accepted up to 27 October 2023. A full Plus members account will be required to submit an assignment. Marking of assignments will commence on Monday 30 October 2023. Please note it may take up to 4 weeks to receive your results and feedback.

Cost

Free to all between 4 September and 30 September; continued free access to all full Plus members (people in low and low-middle income countries get free Plus membership).

Where

This is a completely online course which will take place in Physiopedia's complimentary e-learning platform Plus. You will need to set up a FREE Plus trial account to access the course, you can do that here (no credit card needed).

Case studies and discussion forums will take place in our free online Rehabilitation Community Platform. You will also need to register for the free Rehabilitation Community platform here.

Time Commitment

Completing this course will involve approximately 10 hours of learning activities that can be completed online at any time that suits you. There are no specific times that you are required to be online.

Language

This course will be in English. Although participants will only require basic English skills (reading skills are more important than conversational skills). Transcriptions and captions will be made available to assist people whose first language is not English. Participants will be encouraged to be respectful and empathetic to those for whom English is not their first language (e.g. in the discussion forum).

We will aim to translate into other languages as demand requires.

Accreditations

The course will be accredited in the USA, Australia and South Africa and is formally accepted as a professional development activity by many other countries.

On the successful completion of this course each participant will be provided with a Plus certificate of completion and Plus points (which are equivalent to CPD points/CEUs). These will be awarded provided you:

• Be part of the Physiopedia Plus Community Culture.
• Log as completed all the required learning activities.
• Actively and appropriately participate in the course discussions.
• Pass a final quiz with a score of 80% or more.
• Complete a course evaluation form.

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