This month, as part of the Northern Territory PHN Nhulunbuy Seminar Series hosted by Flinders NT, Rehabilitation specialist, Dr Howard Flavell presented, a workshop titled ‘Prosthetic and Orthotic Management – No leg to stand on’.
A great group attended including medical students, general practitioners, physiotherapists, nurses and pharmacists. They heard Dr Flavell discuss how rehabilitation medicine helps the process of restoring and enhancing skills for someone who has had an illness or injury. When dealing with a patient the aims are to regain maximum self-sufficiency and function as normally as possible to maximise the benefits of recovery from the illness or injury, and to help the person cope with any persisting problems.
Howard’s presentation covered an enormous amount of information on how to:
- recognise the difference between prosthetics and orthotics;
- identify the causes of amputation and best practice in the management of care;
- identify common clinical conditions requiring orthotics;
- explain the process of pain management after amputation;
- describe gait biomechanics with the use of orthotics;
- recognise the psychological ramifications of amputation and use of prosthetics;
- introduce an inter / multi-disciplinary rehabilitation program for management of amputees to improve care and ensure patient safety.
Flinders NT in Nhulunbuy has been hosting the Northern Territory PHN Seminar Series, with the aim of fostering collaborative interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary learning.
The Clinical Education Training Facility in Nhulunbuy is an asset to the community and we at Flinders NT Nhulunbuy recognise the potential we have to share our facility and host learning activities across the health sector.
This ultimately strengthens our student experience and the skills base of the local health personnel, that we like to call a ‘win-win’.
For enquiries about the Nhulunbuy Clinical Education Training Facility contact:
Gemma Porteous, Facility Administrator
Te: +61 8 8986 8650 fnt.gove@flinders.edu.au