Mentored e-learning as further education
Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists should to a higher extent be able to include the newest research knowledge when deciding on a treatment. Therefore, they should be able to quickly find the newest knowledge on e.g. rehabilitation from an English research database. And how is that possible while you are busy working? The course Knowledge Search and Information Management makes a suggestion how to. The course began in August 2008, and 30 of 38 Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists have been trained on professional information management.


Photo: Midtvestavis.dk

A new method for further education
The course Knowledge Search and Information Management combined virtual training, three days of classes and working with information search from your work computer. It was a cooperation between development and the library at VIA University College and Knowledge Communication Lab. The course content was production, systematisation and validation of knowledge – all related to the participants' daily work practice.

Between days of classes, two of the teachers visited the participants as their mentors and trained them in searching for knowledge in research-based databases – with a starting point in the daily terms and professional issues. Through this, learning and teaching was adapted to each individual participant, while also ensuring that the new knowledge could be passed on to colleagues as a general development of the competences in each clinic.

Great interest for the course
The interest in the course was great because the two professions, occupational therapist and physiotherapist, increasingly are met with a demand for professional argumentation and evidence-based work. A total of 38 Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists took part in the course that was offered four times from August 08 until April 09. Participants come from a wide range of hospitals, centres and clinics in the Central Denmark Region.