Kate Atkins attended the following webinars in May:

• “An Exploration of Strategies Used to Stay Productive at Work” through the Work Wellness and Disability prevention Institute – information regarding strategies to help manage pain in the workplace
• CRPS through OTA – better understanding of CRPS
• She is also doing an Icare Webinar on Restrictive Practices on Thursday to learn the new icare policy regarding restrictive practices and Behaviour Support Plans

Barbara France attended the two-day Burns Injury Rehabilitation course at RNSH on 16^th and 17^th May 2019. The course of 50 participants included Allied Health and nursing staff. The focus was on burns injuries including:

• The classification of burns
• Medical and surgical treatment using different skin grafting etc
• Nursing treatment, especially dressings use
• Physiotherapy treatment to stretch scars and maintain range of movement, fitness levels etc
• OT treatment with scar massage, splinting, pressure garments, ADL function
• Psychological and psychiatric effects and treatment
• Role of the social worker.

Barbara is a case manager under the Workers Care and Lifetime Care and Support systems and two of her participants have significant burns.

The take home message was the team approach to management of burns, the journey for the patient/client/participant and the length of time taken to recover. Excellent course.

Natasha Roberts attended the Australasian Society for the Study of Brain Impairment and Bi-annual Conference of NZ Rehabilitation Association Inaugural Trans-Tasman Conference in Wellington from 02-04 May 2019.

As part of this conference, Natasha attended Professor Jonathon Evans workshop on Rehabilitation of memory and executive functions after brain injury. Her take home message from this workshop was that while many advances have been made in technology available that can assist people with brain injury, the devices and strategies must suit the person with the brain injury; and for some, the old fashioned calendar and spiral notebook can be more effective than a smart phone.

The standout presentations were:

1. A) strategies for and effectiveness of telehealth (conducted in Queensland public health).
2. B) Associate Professor Fary Khan’s (Royal Melbourne Hospital) presentation on fatigue in Neuro Rehab supported use of exercise in many diagnostic groups in facilitating recovery including return to work.
3. C) Cathy Buccolo and Di Winkler’s (http://www.summerfoundation.org.au) presentations on creating video presentations that are truly self-directed by the involved person and the power and importance of hearing what the person effected has to say not just what they are asked.