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Do you need to complete an OT self-care assessment for your client, but you’re not sure where to start or what needs to be covered? Discover how to use a non-standardised self-care assessment to uncover your client's true capacity and support needs.

Episode Summary: In this episode of the How to Be a Better OT podcast, host Clare Batkin breaks down one of the absolute pillars of adult occupational therapy: the non-standardised self-care assessment. Focusing on showering, toileting, dressing, and grooming, Clare explains how observing these routines provides invaluable insights into how a client's physical, cognitive, sensory, and psychological impairments impact their overall functioning. She shares her strategic planning process, tips for navigating hospital ward and community logistics, the "Pause, Prompt, Praise" framework, and how to translate your observations into solid recommendations for home equipment, support packages, or rehabilitation.

Key Takeaways:

• The "Why": Learn why a self-care assessment is about much more than just whether a person can wash; it's a powerful tool to understand baseline function, safety for discharge, and functional cognition.
• Strategic Planning: Discover why you should assess tasks in the way the client normally performs them, and how to choose the right amount of tasks to assess depending on your client’s capacity.
• Hospital vs. Community Logistics: Learn how to book assessments with ward nurses to avoid scheduling clashes, and how community OTs can manage limited funding by using "dry runs" or simulations.
• The Pause, Prompt, Praise Framework: How holding back and allowing safe mistakes reveals true cognitive capacity, and how to deliver graded prompts (from non-specific to direct) to keep the assessment going.
• Tips from the Field: Why you always need at least four towels for a hospital assessment, and how to stay dry when you dare to give the patient full control of a handheld shower hose.
• Standardised vs. Non-Standardised: Why popular tools like the FIM or Modified Barthel Index are actually scored using your non-standardised observations, rather than being completely separate tests.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Deep Dive: Access the full recorded webinars on self-care assessments, functional cognitive assessments and functional mobility assessments, along with clinical reasoning guides, and documentation examples by joining the Connector Membership.
• Freebie: Access more than 100 clinical resources in the Free Learning Library.

If you found this step-by-step guide to self-care assessments helpful, please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a colleague! Be sure to tune in next time for the final episode of Series 1, where we will cover how to work collaboratively with support workers.

Want to continue learning with Clare? Here are your options:

• Check out my FREE Learning Library full of resources and courses
• Sign-up for one-on-one or group training and support
• Book a time for a chat to see how I can help
• Sign-up for a Your OT Tutor membership
• Follow me on social media – vist my Linktree for the links you need!

Tell Clare what you think here!

Do you freeze up when you need to give a clinical handover, or find yourself jumping back and forth and fumbling your words? Discover how to use the gold-standard ISBAR framework to deliver logical, concise, and highly effective handovers to nurses, supervisors, and multidisciplinary teams.

Episode Summary: In this episode of the How to Be a Better OT podcast, host Clare Batkin tackles a critical communication skill that is guaranteed to pop up in every single clinical caseload: the clinical handover. Clare demystifies the jargon and introduces the widely respected ISBAR framework. She shares practical, real-world examples, ranging from a busy hospital ward shower update to an OT supervision session, and breaks down the five most common communication roadblocks that students and new grads face, offering targeted, actionable strategies to overcome them.

Key Takeaways:

• Why Handover Matters: Learn how structured clinical handovers ensure continuity of care, protect patient safety, drive team collaboration, and clearly establish clinical accountability.
• The ISBAR Framework Decoded: A step-by-step walkthrough of the Introduction, Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation framework.
• Real-Life OT Examples: Hear exactly how ISBAR sounds in practice, with a ward handover for Mrs. Jones and a community OT supervision scenario for Mrs. Williams.
• Overcoming 5 Common Roadblocks: Practical communication strategies for OTs who struggle with medical jargon, perfectionism, introvert shyness, speaking in a random order, or being too long-winded.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Freebie download: Join over 3,300 clinicians and download the Clinical Handover Template and Cheat Sheet in the Free Learning Library.
• Interactive Practice: Join the Connector Membership to access monthly "practice your skill sessions" where you can role-play clinical handovers in a safe, supportive space.
• 1:1 Support: Book a private clinical supervision session directly with Clare to help navigate your unique placement or workplace communication challenges: [Insert Link Here].

If you found this guide to clinical handovers helpful, please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a fellow OT! Be sure to tune in to the next episode when we will be shifting our focus to another foundational OT skill: how to complete a self-care assessment.

Want to continue learning with Clare? Here are your options:

• Check out my FREE Learning Library full of resources and courses
• Sign-up for one-on-one or group training and support
• Book a time for a chat to see how I can help
• Sign-up for a Your OT Tutor membership
• Follow me on social media – vist my Linktree for the links you need!

Tell Clare what you think here!

Do you feel overwhelmed by the high stakes of managing pressure injury risks? Discover the key principles of pressure care to make an immediate, life-changing impact in your occupational therapy practice.

Episode Summary: In this episode of the How to Be a Better OT podcast, host Clare Batkin breaks down a topic guaranteed to pop up on most clinical caseloads: pressure injury risk management. While pressure care is a massive field, Clare delivers an "in a nutshell" guide covering what pressure injuries are, how to conduct thorough risk and functional assessments, how to select the right assistive technology (AT), how to deliver targeted client education and what you need to evaluate. Whether you work in a hospital or community setting, you’ll be able to apply the principles covered in this episode.

Key Takeaways:

• Pressure Injuries 101: Understand how injuries occur and about the stages of injuries, and how the simple garden hose analogy can help you explain this to clients.
• The assessment process: Learn about the standardised screening tools like the Waterlow scale, and how a PEO approach to a function-focused non-standardised assessment is essential to understand how pressure injuries may develop for your client.
• Assistive technology prescription: Hear an overview of the obvious cushion and mattress options, as well as a reminder about how other equipment also has a part to play.
• Targeted Client Education: Discover why you must never skip explaining why pressure injuries occur before asking clients to change their behaviour. Revisit the RALFEY framework to ensure you provide the right information at the right time in the right way.
• Ongoing Evaluation: Why evaluation is an ongoing clinical responsibility, not just a discharge task. Learn how to evaluate the effectiveness of your assessment process, education and assistive technology prescription using a mix of standardised and non-standardised approaches.

Links & Resources Mentioned:

• Tool / Guide: Access the international Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Prevention and Treatment of Pressure Injuries (available in full and quick reference formats).
• Free Webinars: Watch the collaborative webinars with Unicare Health on Beds, Pressure Care Mattresses, Commodes, and Pressure Care Myths in the Free Learning Library.
• Deep Dive: Watch the full one-hour webinar on Managing Pressure Injury Risks (featuring the step-by-step Mrs Taylor case study), plus resources on the RALFEY Client Education framework, by joining the Connector Membership.
• Advanced Learning: Access the recordings on 24-Hour Positioning and AT Outcome Measures (including the QUEST 2.0 and PIADS) in the Your OT Tutor Journal Club or get even more help in the Alliance Membership.

If you found this podcast helpful, please subscribe, leave a review, and share this episode with a fellow OT! Be sure to tune in next time when we will be shifting our focus to an essential communication skill: how to deliver an effective clinical handover.

Want to continue learning with Clare? Here are your options:

• Check out my FREE Learning Library full of resources and courses
• Sign-up for one-on-one or group training and support
• Book a time for a chat to see how I can help
• Sign-up for a Your OT Tutor membership
• Follow me on social media – vist my Linktree for the links you need!