Osteopathy Australia is launching a new e-learning portal on Monday the 21st of October, with specially-designed up to date courses written by some of the top people in allied health.

Seven courses will be launched initially, with many more to be offered in the future.

“Osteopathy is one of the fastest growing health professions in Australia, and we want to ensure practitioners keep that extra edge to thrive for their entire careers,” said Peter Tzanis, who manages Education at Osteopathy Australia.

The courses will be accessible through osteopathy.org.au and include Pain Management, Caring for the Clinician, Critical Appraisal of Research, Prevalent Sports Injuries and Exercise Rehabilitation.

“We’re proud to be able to deliver such a high calibre of course, which would enhance any health practitioners work, including nurses, physiotherapists and GPs”, added Mr Tzanis.

The courses will account towards Continuing Professional Development (CPD) hours as required by the Medical Board of Australia. CPD for Osteopaths is due at the end of November.

PAIN MANAGEMENT

Dr. Duncan Sanders (image attached) is the primary author of the Pain Management course. He is a Senior Lecturer, Sydney Medical School at the Pain Management Research Institute, University of Sydney.

He says pain management is a lot more complex than many recognise, and influence of psychosocial factors is often overlooked by GPs and allied health professionals alike.

“It’s pretty amazing that Osteopathy Australia is coming into this space, which has been neglected by other professions for a long time.

“The biggest predictors for long term outcome are the psychological and social things that go on top of the normal symptoms like lower back pain.

“Pain doesn’t relate to pathology at all. Two people might come in at exactly the same pathology and pain rating, of 7 out of 10, however one might be extremely high on catastrophising, meaning they think the worst about the condition, and they go over and over that in their head.

“People will present exactly the same but unless you screen for psychosocial influences you will most likely miss risk factors for long term pain and disability.”

Dr. Sanders is pleased that Osteopathy Australia is offering the Pain Management course, which he says offers practical tools to screen and assess factors around acute and chronic pain.

CARING FOR THE CLINICIAN

Melbourne Osteopath, Dr. Brett Wiener (image attached), was only six weeks into his Masters in Applied Positive Psychology, when he realised his profession had a surprising gap.

Despite being dedicated to the health and wellness of others, Osteopaths had no evidence-based frameworks to sustain themselves through the ups and downs of their personal and professional lives.

“Although allied health professions do provide resources when people get themselves into a bit of trouble emotionally or psychologically as a result of the work they do, there wasn’t a framework for enhancement or prevention, specific to allied health.”

This realisation led to the development of the ‘Caring for the Clinician’ framework.

To construct the framework, he gathered quantitative and qualitative data across practising Osteopaths and students, including a survey of Osteopath Australia members. This data was combined with cross cultural and cross industry research.

“The framework is supposed to be a primary enhancement model. We’re trying to enhance the well being before we drop below anything other than thriving. And if we can educate and empower people with knowledge and skills and tools, I feel like that’s a really good foundation for people to thrive.”

Brett’s ultimate aim is to show health professionals how to become “sustainable givers” – giving and performing acts for others, which is driven by a specific motivation and purpose, but not at the expense of themselves.

“It’s ultimately about designing the best possible Osteopathic profession of the future.”