A relatively new approach to occupational therapy will come under the spotlight at an international symposium in Queensland today.
"Evidence-based practice uses the current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients," Professor Jenny Strong said.
Professor Strong of UQ's Occupational Therapy Department said evidence-based practice was a trend spreading to many branches of patient care, including medicine, occupational therapy, dentistry, mental health, and obstetrics and gynaecology.
"It means integrating clinical expertise with the best available external clinical evidence from research with clinical experience. It also takes into account individual patients' predicaments, rights, and preferences in making clinical decisions about their care," she said.
The Evidence-Based Occupational Therapy-University of Queensland group will host the symposium at Brisbane Customs House on Friday, March 30 from 8.30am.
The symposium will feature key speakers from leading universities and hospitals in Australia, the U.S., United Kingdom and Canada.
They will be welcomed by Executive Dean of UQ's Health Science Faculty Professor Peter Brooks, who continues to research new drug treatments for rheumatic diseases and epidemiology and outcome measures in rheumatic diseases.
The Editor of the British Medical Journal's Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine based at Oxford University, and also Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine at UQ, Professor Paul Glasziou, will deliver the opening address on current status and future directions of evidence-based practice.
Professor Glasziou is an adjunct Associate Professor at the Harvard School of Public Health, and adjunct Associate Professor at the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) Clinical Trials Centre at Sydney University. He is also a member of the NHMRC's Health Advisory Committee, the Australian Pharmaceutical Benefits Economic Committee reviewing the cost-effectiveness applications for changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and a member of the British Medical Journal's editorial board. He has recently authored Guides for the NHMRC on How to review the evidence and How to use the evidence.
Professor Jenny Strong's area of clinical expertise is in working with people with pain. Her research in occupational therapy is driven by her belief that evidence is needed to support the good work being undertaken by occupational therapists. Her latest major work published this year is the Pain Textbook for Physiotherapists and Occupational Therapists as chief author, with colleagues from Canada and the UK. Professor Strong also became Deputy President of the University's Academic Board this year.
Media: Further information, Professor Jenny Strong, telephone 07 3365 2652 or email: communications@mailbox.uq.edu.au.
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