Life-long learning and continuing professional development (CPD) are the processes by which professionals, such as nurses, develop and improve their practice.
There are many ways to address your CPD: formally, by attending courses, study days and workshops; or informally, through private study and reflection.
Reading articles in professional journals is a good way of keeping up to date with what is going on in the field of practice, but reflecting on what you have learned from the articles is not always easy.
These questions are designed to help you identify what you have learned from studying the article. They will also help you to clarify what you can apply in practice, what you did not understand, and what you need to explore further.
1 What is the most significant work-related illness?
a) Occupational dermatitis
b) Worklessness
c) Stress
d) Repetitive strain injury
2 The author joined the ‘Staying Healthy’ team of whose regional groups?
a) Lord Robens
b) Dame Carol Black
c) Lord Darzi
d) Lord Crisp
3 What was the common theme of the multidisciplinary ‘Staying Healthy’ team?
a) Promoting community and clinical responsibility for prevention and rehabilitation
b) Promoting clinical responsibility for sickness absence and rehabilitation
c) Promoting community aspects of prevention and rehabilitation
d) Promoting community and clinical responsibility for absence management
4 What emphasis did the ‘Staying Healthy’ team get from Dame Carol Black’s review?
a) Residual disability and ill-health retirement
b) Rehabilitation and retraining
c) Residual ability
d) Residual ability within disability, rehabilitation and retraining back to work
5 Why was occupational health excluded from the NHS in 1948?
a) It didn’t exist then
b) It was included in other specialities, such as dermatology
c) It was only for nationalised industries
d) It was just forgotten
6 What is the final step of rehabilitation?
a) Returning home after hospital treatment
b) Ensuring the patient can manage complete or partial self-care
c) Managing at home with social services
d) Returning to work
7 What are the practical steps needed to facilitate a clear pathway from clinical rehabilitation to return to work?
a) Resource implication, funding, training, clinical pathways and professional relationships
b) Resources, funding, training, relationships
c) Resource, budgeting, funding, auditing
d) Clinical governance, training and professional relationships
8 What would go towards funding these practical steps of rehabilitation?
a) Private money from employers
b) The savings made as less people require incapacity benefit
c) Government funding
d) All interested parties
9 Where are the first steps of these ideas likely to be tested soon?
a) Manchester
b) London
c) Norwich
d) Oxford
10 Who is the ‘father of OH’?
a) Robens
b) Legge
c) Snow
d) Ramazzini
Feedback
1. b – although all the answers are work-related conditions, the conclusions in the work of Waddell and Burton is that ‘Work is good for your health’. Get a copy of their book and see for yourself (see resources).
2. c – All these people have written reports relevant to OH practice. Get a copy of the Darzi report and see how it applies to OH and in particular your practice.
3. a
4. d – Now you have read the Darzi report and the Black report, can you see the link? Discuss this with your colleagues and how it applies to your practice and the influence it has on your continuing professional development.
5. b
6. d
7. a
8. b – With regard to this answer and question 7, what do you believe are the barriers to the success?
9. d
10. d – Do you know all these famous historical people and how they have impacted on OH? If not, do an internet search and acquaint yourself with them and their influence on OH.
Resources
Waddell G, Burton K, A (2006) Is work good for your health and wellbeing? London: TSO.
High quality care for all: NHS Next Stage Review final report: The final report of Lord Darzi’s NHS Next Stage Review. It responds to the 10 strategic visions of the Strategic Health Authority, and sets out a vision for an NHS with quality at its heart.
Working for Health Work and Wellbeing is a government-led initiative to improve the health and wellbeing of working-age people. Here you can download Dame Carol Black’s report and the government response.
Skills for Health is the Sector Skills Council (SSC) for the UK health sector. Our purpose is to help the whole sector develop solutions that deliver a skilled and flexible UK workforce to improve health and healthcare.
Mastering Clinical Audit from the University of Edinburgh is an online course for all healthcare practitioners. Knowledgeable members of the public with an interest in healthcare can also take the course.
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The Vocational Rehabilitation Association exists to help people working in the field of disability and employment to develop their personal and professional practice and maintain their awareness of a broad range of disability issues.
The Society for Research in Rehabilitation is the major multidisciplinary rehabilitation research society in the UK. It is a registered charity. It aims to advance education and research into all aspects of the rehabilitation of disabled people, and to disseminate the results of such research for public benefit.
