OT Week and The Impact of COVID-19: Katie Whiteley - Cardiology and Acute Inpatient Care
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us all in ways we couldn’t have imagined back when the first lockdown started in March. Over that last 7-8 months, we have all come together as a community to learn how to adapt and to cope with the stresses that the virus has put onto our everyday ‘normal’ lives.
As we adjust into the ‘new normal’ (again), and to mark the start of OT Week, I, along with my expert OT team at Julie Jennings and Associates, have reflected on how the Coronavirus pandemic has affected our work, and what we are doing to make sure we continue providing our vital services safely to those who need it most.
Across OT Week we will be highlighting each of the individual roles we undertake, to give a broader picture of life as an OT during the pandemic.
Katie Whiteley
Area of work: In my role I specialise in cardiology inpatients
Background experience: Acute inpatient work in the specialties of elderly medicine, respiratory, adult medicine, trauma and elective orthopaedics and major trauma.
Impact of COVID-19 on working practice or your personal perspective
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic I was working on the cardiology and cardiac surgery wards. I was also 27 weeks pregnant. Instantly my role within the team changed as I was no longer able to work on the hospital wards due to being in a vulnerable category. A week later Occupational Health instructed me to work from home if able to or be on medical suspension due to being pregnant.
My day to day work changed dramatically from completing face to face patient assessments and working in a busy MDT to being at home working alone. Even though I couldn’t work in my normal role I was still able to support the team and receive support through supervision from a distance.
Whilst working at home I completed non-clinical work for my team and other teams within the clinical service unit. This included writing a job description for a new role, setting the teams up on a messaging service to enable improved communication, and analysing outcome measure data to write quarterly reports for two of the teams. My colleagues were experiencing a challenging time within the hospital with numerous and ongoing changes. By completing this non-clinical work at home, it reduced the pressure and demands on my colleagues. I also continued to provide formal supervision for a junior member of staff using Microsoft Teams.
Your OT perspective and what you can do to positive influence challenges imposed by the pandemic
This pandemic has affected everyone in different ways and everyone has different ways of coping. Having a good supervision structure is a way of ensuring support for all staff. Prior to the pandemic a section on health and well-being was added onto the supervision documentation sheet. This section has now become particularly important. I will always ensure I discuss this section in depth to support the health and well-being of staff I supervise and assist in obtaining further support when this is required. It’s vitally important to ensure good mental health within the team.
Working flexibly, quickly adapting to new ways of working and having a good supervision structure were key at the beginning of the pandemic and will likely continue to be important parts of our work. The effects of the pandemic could last a long time and as a result our practice needs to continually evolve to meet the needs of patients and staff.
Your commitments to support the recovery of People that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic
Whilst I am on maternity leave, I need to keep up to date with new knowledge of COVID-19 to ensure I understand the impact on people’s function and daily lives both in the acute setting and longer term. Once I return to work, I will need to increase my knowledge of new local services that have been established to ensure I use all the resources available to patients still in the recovery phase in order to maximise their potential.