Postgraduate - UnitOCC5111 - Advanced hand therapy theory, principles, and practice

This unit entry is for students who completed this unit in 2015 only. For students planning to study the unit, please refer to the unit indexes in the the current edition of the Handbook. If you have any queries contact the managing faculty for your course or area of study.

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6 points, SCA Band 2, 0.125 EFTSL

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Level	Postgraduate
Faculty	Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences
Organisational Unit	Department of Occupational Therapy
Offered	Not offered in 2015
Coordinator(s)	Ms Rebekah Beard

Synopsis

This unit will take a problem solving/ clinical reasoning approach to the management of upper limb injuries encompassing the acute and recovery phases as well as chronic conditions. It will build on existing knowledge of human structure and function and introduce concepts of tissue injury and repair to enable students to identify appropriate therapeutic strategies, depending on the person's stage in recovery from injury. Students should be able to identify the anatomical structures of the upper limb, and describe their specific functions. These will include bones, articular surfaces, joints, muscles, and nerves. Students will have the opportunity to develop skills in the fabrication of thermoplastic splints appropriate to complex clinical scenarios including tendon repair, arthritis, peripheral nerve trauma/repair, tenosynovitis, and fractures. Students will also attend an acute hand therapy clinic on 2 occasions to observe a client's recovery post surgery.

Outcomes

Upon successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of human hand structure and function, and describe the pathology and healing process in common upper limb injuries/conditions;
Develop and describe intervention strategies (which may include an orthotic device/splint) for clients with specific upper limb injuries, supported with sound clinical reasoning;
Demonstrate skill at the standard required for an advanced practitioner in the manufacture, fit and evaluation of specific splints for a variety of conditions which affect the occupational performance of specific clients;
Demonstrate competence in searching, describing, summarizing, and presenting (verbally and in writing) the evidence from scientific literature on a specific topic related to hand therapy.

Assessment

80% Attendance requirement
Attendance at an acute hand therapy clinic
Presentation at a seminar (20 minutes), submission and critique of all splints made, as well as one 1,000 word and one 2,000 word essay

Students must gain at least 50% of available summative assessment task marks and complete all formative assessment in order to pass the unit.

Workload requirements

On Campus: 40 hours lecture/practicums in block mode + 4 hours clinic
attendance + 16 hours attendance at seminar where students present their project outcomes. 60 hours of private study (including pre-reading for class times, research into and preparation of seminar presentation, preparation of assignments). Students will be required to attend two sessions at a private hand therapy clinic as well.

Chief examiner(s)

Ms Rebekah Beard

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study

Occupational therapy

Prerequisites

Completion of an undergraduate degree or equivalent in occupational therapy or physiotherapy.