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As Occupational Therapy Month comes to end, I have had time to reflect on my experience attending the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) Inspire 2022 conference earlier this month.
I had the honor and privilege to attend the AOTA Inspire 2022 conference this year. It was such a tremendous experience meeting some amazing clinicians, researchers, students, and individuals passionate about delivering high quality care to patients. I enjoyed speaking and learning from everyone I encountered. Everyone had something valuable to offer, and I am very thankful for these interactions.
Something I thought about since after the conference, is why don’t other healthcare professionals attend other conferences for different disciplines? I found it interesting how specific healthcare professionals will only attend their own respective conferences. I mean, I do understand we want to learn more within our own profession, but perhaps there is more out there.
When I was at the AOTA conference, I was able to look at some of poster presentations, hear active discussions, and other educational initiatives. I was so amazed by the plethora of information, and it really helped me understand more about certain topics I really wasn’t familiar with. This really challenged my thought own personal knowledge base and helped me uncover more I wanted to learn more about. I felt invigorated and rejuvenated.
After reflecting for the past month, I realized how important it is to interact with healthcare professionals from all backgrounds and professions. We have a unique opportunity to strength the multidisciplinary approach for our patients.
I encourage healthcare professionals to attend other conferences from different disciplines. This will allow us to understand emerging research, treatment strategies, and other useful information to help guide clinical practice.
More importantly, attending other conferences outside of our own profession is a great way to network with like-minded, self-motivated, and innovative individuals like ourselves. I believe it is it important to be able to collaborate with one another to come up with ways to enhancing the delivery of care.
Yes, we attend our own conferences to learn and earn continuing education credit. However, I think we need to look beyond this and explore other conferences from different perspectives to further clinical decision making and improve the delivery of overall general healthcare.
Happy Occupational Therapy Month!
Article Written By Eric Trauber, PT, DPT, OCS, CSCS, FAAOMPT