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An Introduction to Occupational Therapy in Critical Care

This course provides an overview of the role of occupational therapy in critical care, focusing on early rehabilitation, functional assessment, and supporting patients’ recovery following critical illness. Participants will gain an understanding of key interventions, multidisciplinary working, and the occupational therapist’s contribution to improving patient outcomes.
  • Duration:  11 hours 
  • Video Time:  45-60 Minutes/Session
  • Author: Occupational Therapy Team-King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
  • Learners: 100+

An Introduction to Occupational Therapy in Critical Care

OVERVIEW

This virtual course is aimed at Occupational Therapists starting out in critical care. It is assumed that attendees have some basic knowledge of the intensive care environment, however have not yet honed their skills and confidence within this field. The content of this course is therefore pitched at a basic level however it is hoped to meet the needs of most individuals.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

  • Develop sound understanding of the role of OT in critical care.
  • Consolidate and improve upon existing knowledge and skill base.
  • Increase confidence when dealing with risk in critically ill patients.
  • Explore outcome measures relevant to different patient populations.
  • Empower OTs to promote their role and efficacy in critical care.
  • Understand the evidence base behind OT practice in critical care.

Who should attend?

  • Occupational Therapists
  • Physiotherapists
  • Rehabilitation Practitioners
  • Allied Healthcare Professionals

Meet The Team

Niall McDermott – Clinical Lead Occupational Therapist

Niall has worked at Kings College Hospital since 2016 and has been a pivotal member of the critical care team since 2017. He completed a BSc in Social Science from the University College Dublin in 2009 and later went on to complete a MSc in Occupational Therapy in 2013 from the University of Essex. Prior to specialising at King’s College Hospital, Niall worked at the Royal London and Barts in a number of clinical areas including stroke, respiratory, critical care, acute neuro rehab and trauma and orthopaedics. 

His specialist areas of interest include complex risk assessment, dysexecutive syndrome, delirium management and prevention, critical care polyneuropathy/ myopathy, spinal cord injury, visual skills, early mobilisation/ functional participation and assistive technologies. He was a part time consultant lecturer at Brunel University in 2019 teaching OT, however returned to full time clinical practice at the start of the pandemic. Niall is passionate for service evaluation, education, development and research in OT and currently is the OT consultant for critical care competency framework development at Health Education England/ NHSE/I. 

Marianne Clayton – Team Lead Occupational Therapist

Marianne trained at the University of Exeter and completed her BSc Occupational Therapy degree in 2008. She spent 2.5 years working in acute stroke at Kingston Hospital, followed by 1.5 years at University College London working in elderly care, A&E, infectious and tropical diseases. 

She has worked at Kings College Hospital since 2013 in a number of roles including stroke, major trauma and neurosciences. She has specialised in critical care since 2017.
Her areas of specialist interest are in spasticity, high spinal cord injury, peripheral nerve injuries, oedema management and hypoperfusion injuries.

Sarah Ellard – Team Lead Occupational Therapist
Prior to qualifying as an OT in December 2015, Sarah was a classically trained singer, performing at various weddings and events across the UK.  After a year living and volunteering in Costa Rica, Sarah decided that her real passion involved working with people and decided to return to University full time to pursue a career as an Occupational Therapist.  Since qualifiying seven years ago Sarah has worked in various OT roles, including acute medicine, care of the elderly, specialist medicine, neuro-rehabilitation, and critical care.  Sarah has a special interest in working with critically unwell patients and was originally one of three OT's working in Kings Critical Care. Over the last 3 years Sarah has helped to grow the team from 3 people to 10 people!  Having recently returned from a seven-month sabbatical travelling across South America, Sarah has now taken over development of the Livers ITU OT service at Kings, and is looking forward to developing opportunities for patients within this specialist area. 

Meet The Team

Chloe Fisher – Team Lead Occupational Therapist
Chloe trained at the Australian Catholic University in Melbourne, Australia and qualified in 2016. She commenced her career in Melbourne, prior to moving to the UK where she worked at St Bartholomew’s Hospital in the Heart Centre ICU before obtaining her role in critical care at Kings College Hospital, where she was Team Lead OT for Liver ITU. She has worked in critical care for the past four years of her career and her special areas of interest are in specialist medicine, particularly cardiology and hepatology. She is passionate about the role of OT in critical care and upskilling OTs to provide therapeutic treatments to patients surviving critical illness. In August 2022, Chloe returned to her home city of Melbourne where she is currently setting up the OT service in critical care at The Alfred Hospital.

Julie Sexton – Senior Occupational Therapist

Julie trained at University College Cork, Ireland and trained in occupational therapy from 2013-2017. She has spent the majority of her career at Kings College Hospital. She first started out in the Health and Aging Unit and has since covered a variety of both medical and neurological rotations. Thanks to these rotations and fantastic opportunities, Julie has a wide range of knowledge and skills and is able to apply these to a variety of settings. She has now transferred her skills to the community setting and is enjoying a new challenge in community neuro rehab. Areas of specialist interest include the OT role in palliative care and in life limiting conditions. Julie is passionate about the unique set of skills OTs possess to be able to assess and support engagement in activities that are the most meaningful to people, particularly at the later stages of their life.



Laurette Royston – Team Lead Occupational Therapist

Laurette completed her Occupational Therapy training in 2015 and after spending a few months out on the ski slopes, finally settled into her OT career in London in 2016. Prior to working at King’s, Laurette spent time working in cardiology and respiratory at Guys and St Thomas Hospital and enjoyed her time at the Lane Fox Unit, acquiring knowledge and skills in specialist tracheostomy weaning.   She has been a much loved member of the critical care team at Kings since 2020 and is now a Team Lead OT within the team.   She has experience of facilitating discharges for patients with tracheostomies and enjoys the challenge of increasing the awareness of the possibility of this to ensure a quality life for those living with tracheostomies in the community.   Her areas of particular interest are in working in the complex management of patients with major trauma, brain injury and spinal cord injuries.

Meet The Team

Beth Waters – Senior Occupational Therapist
Beth completed a masters from Brunel University London in October 2019 and has spent the first part of her very promising career with us at Kings. She first started out as a Therapy Assistant at Poole University prior to completing her masters. She has acquired a range of experience so far in health and aging, orthopaedics, surgery, critical care, stroke, specialist medicine and neurosurgery.
Her areas of interest include the assessment and management of patients with complex liver conditions, hepatic encephalopathy, delirium management, neuro specialities and neuro-oncology. She enjoys teaching and presenting and is hoping to gain more experience in this area.


Milly Rice – Team Lead Occupational Therapist

Milly graduated from London Southbank University in 2017. Prior to this, she studied Psychology and worked for 7 years in digital marketing. She has worked at Kings College Hospital for 5 years and now specialises in neurological rehabilitation. In December 2022 Milly decided to transfer her skills to inpatient neurorehab, specialising in stroke. Aside from all things neuro rehab, Milly has a keen interest in adaptive sports such as accessible skiing and snowboarding and has spent some time volunteering in this area. Milly has been an Occupational Therapist at King's College Hospital for 5 years and now specialises in her particular areas of interest in critical care and neurological rehabilitation.




Clíona Harte – Team Lead Occupational Therapist


Clí trained in Cardiff University and completed her BSc Occupational Therapy degree in 2018. She started her OT career in Northwick Park Hospital in North West London and joined Kings College Hospital in 2019 as a Band 5 rotational OT. Clí has worked in A&E, dementia care, frailty, major neuro trauma, acute medicine and infectious diseases and tropical medicine before finding her love of critical care occupational therapy in 2020.   Clí joined the team as a Band 5 before becoming a permanent member of the team by obtaining a static Band 6 role in 2021, followed by becoming a Team Lead within the team in 2022.   Clí’s areas of specialist interests are traumatic brain injuries, post traumatic amnesia and complex upper limb management. Laurette completed her Occupational Therapy training in 2015 and after spending a few months out on the ski slopes, finally settled into her OT career in London in 2016. Prior to working at King’s, Laurette spent time working in cardiology and respiratory at Guys and St Thomas Hospital and enjoyed her time at the Lane Fox Unit, acquiring knowledge and skills in specialist tracheostomy weaning.   She has been a much loved member of the critical care team at Kings since 2020 and is now a Team Lead OT within the team.   She has experience of facilitating discharges for patients with tracheostomies and enjoys the challenge of increasing the awareness of the possibility of this to ensure a quality life for those living with tracheostomies in the community.   Her areas of particular interest are in working in the complex management of patients with major trauma, brain injury and spinal cord injuries.