RADIC Handbook - 3. Competencies
In the dynamic landscape of healthcare, Digital Rehabilitation stands out as a promising avenue for delivering effective, accessible, and personalized health care to clients [1]. To perform Digital Rehabilitation effectively, competencies from the rehabilitation professional are needed.
This chapter presents the essential competencies required for rehabilitation professionals engaging in Digital Rehabilitation practices. Furthermore, we present approaches to evaluate the competencies for Digital Rehabilitation and we give an overview about the current skills and competencies of rehabilitation professionals in East Africa.
Thus, key topics covered in this chapter include:
After you have gone through the content of chapter 3, you can work on the exercises to deepen the content:
Exercise
Objective
The objective of this practical exercise is to enhance the digital competencies of rehabilitation professionals, enabling them to utilize effectively digital tools and technologies in their practice.
Exercise Steps
- Reflecting on the importance of digital competencies in the field of rehabilitation.
- Perform the digital competence self-assessment questionnaire to identify areas for improvement.
- Exploring digital tools relevant to specific area of rehabilitation practice (e.g., physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy).
- Using the digital tools to create treatment plans, track progress, or communicate with clients.
- Reflection on own learning journey throughout the exercise, identifying areas of growth and areas for further improvement.
Summary
- Essential knowledge and competencies are required for the application of Digital Rehabilitation.
- The competencies cover the areas of practice, learning and development, professionalism as well as management and leadership.
- To assess rehabilitation professionals’ competencies regarding Digital Rehabilitation you can use a self-assessment that is based on a framework regarding Digital Rehabilitation, see for an example the appendix.
- According to the survey we conducted as part of the RADIC project, the skills of rehabilitation professionals in East Africa are good. However, some factors that may influence the results should be taken into account.
- Recommendations to enhance digital competencies could include the following: establishment of policies and regulations to support and enhance digital technologies in rehabilitation practices, the availability and decentralization of infrastructures such as internet connection, training for future rehabilitation professionals, and the enhancement of continuous professional training, follow-up of tools and practices. Furthermore, digital literacy is recommended in order to improve competence in the use of Digital Rehabilitation tools. Furthermore, stakeholder collaboration between governments, researchers, higher education institutes, healthcare facilities, industries, and clients/end users is required.