From the Editor
I am writing this From the Editor as I wait at the airport in Zagreb, Croatia for a flight to Frankfurt and another to Boston. I’ve been in three beautiful Balkan States: Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia over a week. During that time, I provided two workshops for Hrvatska Udruga Radnih Terapeuta (H.U.R.T.), the Croatian Association of Occupational Therapy (https://www.hurt.hr/en/homepage/); gave a lecture on Project Career at the Institute for Rehabilitation “Dr M.Zotovic” (www.zotovicbl.com) in Banjaluka, Bosnia and Herzegovina; and participated in the 23rd annual meeting of the European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education (ENOTHE). For those of you unfamiliar with this organization, it is a non-profit membership organization “…concerned with the standards and quality of professional education of occupational therapists across Europe. One of the primary aims is to ensure that there is a robust educational system for European occupational therapists, which demonstrates comparability, high quality and flexibility to respond to changes in health and societal issues, policy and practice” (Retrieved 10/29/17 at http://enothe.eu/enothe/what-is-enothe-2/).
Concurrent with the ENOTHE meeting, occupational therapy colleagues and I ran the 8th OT Virtual Exchange (OTVX). OTVX started in 2010 and has been held each year to celebrate World Occupational Therapy Day. It has been organized and run by Online Technology for Occupational Therapy (OT4OT), a small group of occupational therapists, of which I am a member, who are passionate about using online technology to support knowledge transfer activities using online technologies for occupational therapy practitioners and students around the globe. October 27, 2017 was the first time running an OTVX while attending another conference. We set up a mobile headquarters at the ENOTHE conference hotel and with our other colleagues in Australia, the UK, Canada and Boston, this 8-hour interactive online conference was a success. We even live streamed two keynote addresses by Marleen van Doesburg-Kaijen from Holland and Claire Craig from England, with over 1000 distinct views from around the globe.
As I reflect on the week, I feel grateful to be learning about other cultures and to be able to be part of a global community. As one speaker shared, you don’t need to travel on an airplane to be part of a global community. This is true in the case of WORK. As you read the various articles contained in this issue, you are virtually transported to Croatia with an article about the role of occupational medicine in assessing work limitations of construction workers or to South-Eastern Nigerian Markets in the article about the prevalence and associated factors of work-related musculoskeletal disorders among commercial milling machine operators, or to Malaysia with the article about predicting return-to-work following a cardiac event.
A continuation of learning about work around the globe is reinforced in our Learn at WORK webinar series. Here is the 2018 schedule:
Wednesday, January 31, 2018 1-2pmEST
Parental awareness of schoolbag carriage: A comparative study of Irish and United States parents
Sara Dockrell & Karen Jacobs, E-mail: &
Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/1069191880491268866
Wednesday, February 28, 2018 1-2pmEST
From the past to the future: integrating work experience into the design
Drs. Bittencourt, Duarte and B
Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7285376525477185537
Wednesday, March 21, 2018 1-2pmEST
Workplace Violence and the Meaning of Work in Healthcare Workers: A phenomenological study
Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/6573904541339253762
Wednesday, April 11, 2018 1-2pmEST
A case study detailing key considerations for implementing a telehealth approach to office ergonomics
Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3289959078106673923
Wednesday, May 16, 2018 1-2pmEST
Use of Speech Generating Devices Can Improve Perception of Qualifications for Skilled, Verbal, and Interactive Jobs
Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5676727242389189889
Wednesday, June 13, 2018 1-2pmEST
Split-shift work in relation to stress, health and other psychosocial factors among bus drivers
Jonas Ihlström, Göran Kecklund and Anna Anund, E-mail:
Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5910367965600248322
Wednesday, July 11, 2018 1-2pmEST
A Workplace Modified Duty Program for Employees in an Oncology Center
Elpidoforos S. Soteriades, E-mail:
Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7829754627924088323
Wednesday, August 22, 2018 1-2pmEST
A pilot study to precisely quantify forces applied by sonographers while scanning: A step toward reducing ergonomic injury
Dhyani Manish and Shawn Roll E-mails: ;
Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/4197487179777464065
Wednesday, September 19, 2018 1-2pmEST
Psychosocial risks, burnout and intention to quit following the introduction of new software at work
Link: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/5356945280898533378
Wednesday, October 24, 2018 1-2pmEST
Occupational therapists’ experience of workplace fatigue: Issues and action
Cary A. Brown, Jennifer Schell & Lisa M. Pashniak, E-mail:
Link: To be Arranged
Wednesday, November 28, 2018 1-2pmEST
A scoping review on smart mobile devices and physical strain
Link: To be Arranged
If you missed any of the 2017 Learn at WORK webinars, you can find the recordings of these complimentary learning experiences at the Learn at WORK YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOJalCXvSg9fPHaFFs48PuQ. You can view the complete schedule on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WORKJournal2016/?fref=ts.
As always, I welcome hearing from you.
Cheers,
