Planning an occupational therapy service

1. PLANNING AN
OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPY
SERVICE

2. The types of occupational therapy
services you may end up establishing
could include:
 An occupational therapy department in an
existing hospital
 A new occupational therapy service in an NGO
working with people with disabilities
 An occupational therapy service in an existing
special needs school
 A private practice
 A occupational therapy education
unit/department in universities/ institute

3. PLANNING AN OCCUPATIONAL
THERAPY SERVICE
Part 1: Developing Written Guidelines for your
Service
Part 2: Selecting staff
Part 3: Marketing the Service

4. Part I: Written Guidelines
 Organizational statement
 Organizational structure

5. Part I: Written Guidelines
Organizational statements
Organizational statements are broad
statements or ideas which describe why the
organization exists, and what it is trying to
achieve. These statements can be used to:
 explain the organization to others,
 as a way of 'selling' your organization to others,
 to unite the organization's employees in a common
stated goal.
 It includes: Vision and Mission statement, core values,
aim, goal, objectives and targets

6. A Vision Statement
 A vision is a broad statement, which indicates
'why', the organization exists and the
organization believes in.
 A vision is something that the organization
cannot achieve on its own, but wishes to
contribute to.
 For example, CRP's vision is:
“To ensure the inclusion of girls and boys,
women and men with disabilities into mainstream
society”.

7. A mission Statement
 A mission statement is a statement of what an
organization can do to work towards its vision
and can achieve alone.
 For example, CRP's mission statement is:
“To promote an environment where all girls and
boys, women and men with disabilities have
equal access to health, rehabilitation, education,
employment, the physical environment and
information”.

8. Core values
 Core values are the fundamental beliefs of a
person or organization.
 These guiding principles dictate behavior and
can help people understand the difference
between right and wrong.
 For example: CRP’s core values
 Sensitivity
 Compassion
 Dignity
 Collaboration
 Commitment to Excellence

9. Aims, Goals, Objectives and
Targets:
 Following a vision and a mission statement,
many organizations have stated aims, goals,
objectives and targets.
 These words can be given different meanings
in the literature.
 Overall, these terms relate to things that tell us
exactly 'what' the organization is going to do,
and 'how' the organization is going to do it.

11.  Name of the Organization
Helping Hand
 Vision
To public health and rehabilitation service
for person with disability.
 Mission
To promote a chained rehabilitation service
f acility in Bangladesh.

12.  Goals
HH will work toward its vision and mission by
achieving excellence in
 Provision of comprehensive, highest quality,
individualized, multidisciplinary rehabilitation
services to patients and their families in a
sensitive, accessible and compassionate
environment.
 Provision of community based and outreach
services to facilitate reintegration and inclusion of
person with disabilities into the community.
 Provision of public health knowledge among the
people

13. Objectives
 To provide holistic rehabilitation service for
children with cerebral palsy (Project name- Amaro
Pari)
 To provide sensory integration therapy for children
with Autism (Project name- Amar Ami)
 To provide rehabilitation service for person with
stroke (Project name- Valo Thaki)
 To provide awareness among mass people foe
preventing non communicable diseases (Project
name- Jiboner Jonno )
 To promote financial rehabilitation through
vocational training (Project name- Amar Kaj Kori)

14. Policies and Procedures
 Organizations are made up of more than just
the people who work for them.
 Each organization does things a certain way.
 This 'way of doing things' is usually dictated by
written guidelines which guide the ways
things are done in an organization.
 There guidelines are called policies and
procedures.

15. Continue…
A Policy: A policy is a general plans of action
which defines and regulates what has to be
done.
A Procedure: A procedure tells us how things
should be done. Many procedures are
required to outline how one policy should be
achieved. Procedures are detailed steps or
instructions that need to be followed to ensure
the policy is adhered to.

16. Continue…
Some things that an occupational therapy service would
need policies and procedures about include:
 Clinical areas - how are patients referred, how soon
should they be seen after referral, what types of
assessment and treatment should be used for different
diagnostic groups, etc.
 Documentation - how should notes be recorded in the
medical history, how often should this occur, how soon
after the patient is seen should the notes be written, etc.
 Personnel - what are the working hours, how many days
leave can staff have in a year, how will new staff be
recruited, etc.
 Financial - how much will you charge for your service,
how will the money be collected, who will be responsible

17. Continue…
 Emergency procedures - what should staff do in the
event of an emergency (fire, medical emergency), how
should patients be evacutated, etc.
 Health and safety procedures - how should staff lift
patients, what manual handling procedures should be
followed, etc.
 Education and training procedures - when will staff in-
services occur, how often, who will conduct the in-
services, etc.
 Organization of work - how are patients contacted with
appointment times, how are patients prioritised, what
happens when staff are sick, etc.
 Equipment procedures - where is equipment kept, who

18. Benefits of policies and
procedures
 Increase an organization's consistency and
fairness.
 Save time and effort.
 Allow less experienced staff, less skilled staff
or temporary staff to contribute more.
 Ensure that standards are met

19. Organizational structure
 In written guideline, it should be incorporated
how the organization will work and what will be
the reporting relationship among the staffs of
th organzation.

21. Part 2: Selecting staff
It should follow a systematic process to select staff
 Work out the skill mix.
 Define the job requirements by developing a job
description and job specifications.
 Advertise the job.
 Give a copy of the job description to potential
applicants.
 Receive and review applications. Decide who
will be interviewed.
 Plan the interview.
 Conduct the interview.
 Contact referees.

22. Knowing what staff you need
 Before recruiting staff, it is imperative to work out
what the staffing needs of the organisation are.
To do this, a manager will need to look at the
plans for the service.
 In order to decide how many staff are needed in
an organisation, it is important to consider the jobs
that need to be done.
 It may be that in this process the manager finds
that there will be a lot of administrative jobs (for
example, answering the phone, booking patients
in for appointment, etc.).

23. A manager needs to consider the
following questions when planning
staffing for a service,
 How many occupational therapists will be
needed to meet patient / client needs?
 Could occupational therapy staff be supported by
occupational therapy assistants?
 What other staff are needed for the service (such
as receptionists, ayahs, etc.)?
 How will work be covered when staffs have sick
leave or annual leave? Should extra staff be
employed for these times?

24. The process of deciding what staffs are needed
for a service is often referred to as finding the right
skill mix.
 Skill mix is “...the balance between trained
and untrained, qualified and unqualified staff
within a service area.
 The optimum skill mix is achieved when the
desired standard of service is provided, at the
minimum cost....
 It will ensure the best possible use of
professional skills to maintain the service to
clients.”

25. Defining requirements of the
job
 Once the appropriate number and type of staff
has been identified, it is important to define
what a particular position will consist of and
what essential skills, knowledge and attributes
will be required to complete the job.
 The best way to do this is to write a job
description and job specifications.

26. Job Description
 A job description is a written document,
outlining the roles and responsibilities of a
particular job.
 A job description can be used both-
to describe the job to potential
applicants, and
to evaluate staff’s performance when
they are completing the job.

27. In attempting to define the job, the job
description should include the following
information:
 Job title
 Specific location of work
 Organisation structure
 Reporting relationships
 Main purpose of the role and key responsibilities
of the role
 Working conditions e.g. hours of work
 Promotion and training prospects
 Qualifications required
 Salary

30. Benefit of job description
 The job description should be made available to
potential applicants for the position.
 This ensures that applicants know what they are
applying for.
 This can be a good way to save time in the
recruitment process.
 If an applicant sees that they do not have the
required qualifications, or they are not interested
in the key responsibilities of the job, then they
do not have to go any further with their
application.

31.  Without a job description, many applicants
may apply for the positions that are not
appropriate, or not really interested in that
position.
 A job description is also important once
someone starts working in a position.
 It helps the employee to clearly understand
their role and the task and responsibilities
expected of them.

32. Job Specifications
 Apart from the job description, employers
should consider what the job specifications
are.
 Job specifications are the qualifications,
skills, attribute and knowledge that the
employer acknowledges the successful
applicant should, or must, have to undertake
the job successfully.

33. Job specifications can include
things such as:
 Qualifications (for example, must be a qualified
occupational therapist)
 Skills (for example, must be able to type 50 words
per minute, must have excellent communication
skills)
 Knowledge (for example, must have knowledge of
musculoskeletal injuries)
 Attitudes (for example, must be eager to learn
new skills)
 Experience (for example, must have two years
experience of operating Microsoft Excel)

34. Job specifications can be divided
into three broad areas.
 There are those things that are essential for an
applicant to be selected to the position, there are
those things that are desirable (this means that
they do not have to have them, but it is better if
they do) for an applicant to be selected, and
there are those things which are
contraindications and preclude an applicant from
being selected.
 Particular qualifications are usually essential
factors are things qualification in a course.
 An example of a contraindication is a previous
criminal record.

35. Attracting staff – Advertising the
job
 Following the first two steps of identifying staff
required and defining their position, it is
necessary to recruit staff.
 This is an important step in the process of
selecting staff, as it is only possible to get ‘the
right person for the job’, if the right person
knows about the job!
 The manager needs to identify ways that
he/she can tell other people that the job exists,
and to identify how they can get the message
to the right people.

36. Writing an advertisement
One way to do this is to use a written
advertisement. An written advertisement should
contain the following information:
 Job title
 Salary
 Hours of work
 Qualifications required (or other essential job
specifications)
 Brief description of job
 Administrative details, such as who to contact for a
copy of the position description, what their contact
details are, and what the closing date for applications
is.

37. Continue...
 It is important to make the job sound exciting
and attractive in the advertisement.
 It will be difficult to attract the right staff if the
job does not sound interesting.
 An enticing advertisement helps to attract
quality personnel who are looking for a
rewarding and challenging job.
 Advertisements can be published in
newspapers, journals, magazines, on the
internet, and on notice boards.

42. Other methods of advertising a
job
 The method used to advertise a job may be
different for the different type of positions.
 For example, if you are advertising for an aya,
then a written advertisement in the newspaper
would probably not be an appropriate way to
advertise as potential applicants are not likely to
be looking in the newspaper for jobs.
 Similarly, if advertising for occupational therapy
staff, the expense of putting an advertisement in
the newspaper is wasted as there are more
effective ways to advertise to potential
occupational therapists.

43. Continue...
 It is well known that there is only one
occupational therapy course in Bangladesh, so
it would be sensible to put your advertisement
in a position where occupational therapists
and occupational therapy students at CRP and
BHPI would see it.
 This could include on notice boards, or on
the BOTA website.
 When there is a specific target population it is
also possible to advertise via word of mouth.

44. Continue...
 Word of mouth means telling people within the
profession that you are looking to employ staff,
and letting them know that they should tell
others, and anyone who is interested should
contact you.
 Any expressions of interest in the job, whether
from a written advertisement, or word of
mouth, should be given a copy of the job
description.
 This ensures that only suitable and interested
people will apply for the job.

45. Selecting staff
 Once a job has been advertised and potential
candidates have submitted their applications, it
is time for the manager to try to choose
which of the applicants should be
interviewed.
 There are a number of steps which the
manager must go through to choose which
applicants will be interviewed.

46. These are described below:
Reviewing the application
 Before talking about reviewing the application,
it is important to consider what an application
should consist of.
 For most professional positions, it would be
excepted that the applicant submit a
curriculum vitae (CV) or resume, an
application / cover letter, and names and
contact details of referees.
 These things will be discussed further in
Professional Development.

47. Continue...
 It is difficult to decide who is the most suitable
person for the job from a few pieces of paper!
 However, there are ways that we can find out a
lot about the applicant from their application.
Some of these ways are described below.

48.  Did the application arrive on time?
 If an applicant submitted their application after the
closing date, it may be a sign that they are
disorganised and not good at keeping to
timelines.
 Many employers consider this to be an automatic
exclusion from the interview process.
 However, if a manager was having trouble filling a
position, it would still worth looking at late
applications, as you never know what reason
someone had for submitting a late application.

49. Continue...
 Is it a good application? Does it convey a
professional image?
 The application should be well written and well
presented. The language and spelling used in the
application should be correct.

50. Does the applicant meet the job specification
criteria?
 This means does the applicant have the essential
criteria required.
 If the applicant does not meet essential criteria,
then they can be automatically excluded.
 For example, if an applicant applying for an
occupational therapy job does not have a degree
in occupational therapy, then they would be
excluded from the job.

51. Does the applicant have any contraindications?
 If so, they can also be excluded.
 And finally, does the applicant meet desired
criteria.
 The applicant may meet some desired criteria,
but not other desired criteria. In this situation, the
applicant is not automatically included or
excluded, but information can be used to assist
the manager to whether or not to include the
candidates for further consideration.

52. Planning the interview
 An interview is a formal conversation that is
conducted between two people in which
prepared questions are asked to exchange
information between two or more parties.
 Once the manager has decided on applicants to
interview, they can start to plan the interviews.
 The first step is to contact applicants and offer
them an interview time.
 It is good to be as flexible as possible when
offering an interview time.

53. Continue...
 Some applicants may be working in another
position and it may be necessary to offer a
time outside of normal working hours.
 However, whenever possible, it is best to
conduct all interviews in the one block of time,
because it makes it easier to compare one
applicant to the next.
 Once applicants have been advised of a time,
it is necessary to conduct further planning.

54. This can include:
Where will the interview take place?
 This should be decided in advance.
 An appropriate room should be chosen.
 The room should be an area which is private and
free of interruptions.
 It should comfortably fit all the people who will be
present for the interview.

55.  Who will conduct the interview?
 This will depend largely on the organisation and
who needs to be involved.
 It also depends on the position which is being
filled.
 A more senior position may justify the need for
more people to be involved in the interview
process.

56.  What will be asked in the interview?
 Questions should be planned in advance.
 It is important to spend time developing appropriate
questions which will be asked.
 Questions should not be asked just for the sake of
asking questions.
 It is important that the questions selected clearly
assist the manager to find out if an applicant can do
the job.
 Some examples of question topics are listed below:
 Why the applicant applied for the position (can assist
to gauge the applicant’s interest in the position)

57. Continue...
 Past experience and how it has prepared the
applicant for this position
 The applicant’s expectations of the position
 The applicant’s strengths and weaknesses
 The applicant’s plans for ongoing professional
development
 Clinical questions, eg. What treatment methods
could you use for a patient with left sided
hemiplegia?

58.  Be ready to answer questions
 It is important for the manager to remember that
interviewing is an exchange of information, so
the applicant may also have questions.
 The interviewer should be prepared with answers
to expected questions, such as what the hours of
work are, what type of patients will be seen, when
the position is available, etc.

59. Conducting the interview
 On the day of the interview, it is important for the
manager to ensure that the room is ready, and that
other staff are aware that the manager should not
be interrupted during the interview.
 During the interview, the manager needs to do
everything possible to make the applicant feel
comfortable and supported during the interview.
 Interviews can be very nerve racking
experiences, and this can make people not
perform to their best.

60. Continue...
 If the interviewer is able to make the
applicant feel comfortable, they are more
likely to see the ‘real’ person.
 The interviewer should not expect the
applicant to do all the talking, but should
also provide some information about the
organisation and the position being
offered.

61. The seven steps in conducting an
interview
Put the applicant at the ease
Explain how the candidate and organization can be
benefited from an open interview
Explain areas that will be covered during interview
Ask questions that elicit answers to the dimension in
each area
Describe the job and organization
Ask the candidate if he has any question
Close the interview

62. Contact referees
 Once the interview has been conducted, the
interviewers should have some idea of which
applicants would be suitable for the position.
 At this point the interviewers can contact
referees.
 Applicant permission should always be sought
before contacting referees.
 Sometimes the interviewer has decided on one
person who they would like to offer the position
to, in which case they can just contact that
person’s referees.

63. Continue...
 In some cases, interviewers may be trying to
choose between two or three people.
 In this situation, referees of both people can be
contacted to assist with the decision making
process.
 When contacting referees, the interviewer
should have a prepared list of questions to ask
to find out about the interviewers previous
experience and performance.

64. Selecting the right applicant
 Following the interview and contacting
referees, the interviewer, or the interview
panel, should be in a position to select the
right applicant for the job.
 Once the successful applicant has been
chosen, they should be notified that they have
been successful.
 This can be done verbally, but a formal letter
offering them the position should also be
written.

65. The overall process for selecting
staff is shown below:
 Work out the SKILL MIX.
 Define the JOB REQUIREMENTS by developing
a JOB DESCRIPTION and JOB
SPECIFICATIONS.
 ADVERTISE the job.
 Give a copy of the JOB DESCRIPTION to
potential applicants.
 Receive and REVIEW APPLICATIONS. Decide
who will be interviewed.
 Plan the INTERVIEW.
 Conduct the INTERVIEW.
 Contact REFEREES

66. Continue...
 Unsuccessful applicants should also be
informed of the decision.
 The next step is set a starting date for your
new staff member, and wait until they get
started to see if the right decision was made!

67. Part 3: Marketing the Service
 the difference between the words promotion
and marketing was discussed briefly.
 You learnt that the word promotion, means to
continuously tell a broad group of people
about the benefits and advantages of a
particular thing, whereas marketing or
advertising means specifically trying to 'sell' a
product (or in this case, service) to a particular
consumer.

68. Continue...
 In the context of occupational therapy,
promotion means the ongoing process of
telling a broad range of people in the
community about-
 what the occupational therapy profession is, and
 what the benefits of it are,
 whereas marketing and advertising mean telling a
specific consumer (or group of consumers) about
a particular occupational therapy service (eg.
private practice, new department, etc.) and
advertising that service specifically.

69. Marketing
 Marketing involves more than just putting up
some advertisements about the service.
 "Marketing is a process of providing the right
service, at the right time, in the right place, at
an acceptable price, to an agreed standard"
(Turner, 1992).
 To successfully market a service, there are ten
steps that should be followed. These steps
are called "the marketing mix".

70. Marketing research
 This means gathering information about who the
product / service should be marketed towards,
where the product / service should be marketed
depending of potential audience, etc.
 Marketing research which needs to be conducted
when planning to market the new occupational
therapy service at Mirpur.
 Information that needs to be gathered includes
finding our what referring agencies (such as
hospitals, doctors, physiotherapy clinics, etc.) exist
nearby, whether there are any special schools
nearby who may refer children with special needs,
whether there are any other disability organizations
nearby who may refer patients, etc.

71. Product policy
 This refers to the process of ensuring that the
product meets the consumers' needs.
 For the occupational therapy department at Mirpur,
the 'product' is the occupational therapy service and
the 'consumers' are the patients and the other
professionals who refer patients.
 In terms of Mirpur, this step means ensuring that we
have policies that exist to ensure that the patients',
and referring health professionals' needs are met.
 This might include having a policy to ensure that
patients do not have to wait for their appointments,
and a policy to ensure that referring health
professionals receive feedback on patients they
have referred.

72. Packaging
 Effective packaging facilitates the development of an
easily recognisable organisational identity.
 An example of packaging can be seen if we consider
a fast food chain, such as Pizza Hut's.
 Every Pizza Hut's store has the same sign out the
front, its staff wear the same uniform, the food is
presented in the same way, and so on. This is an
example of packaging.
 Packaging for the occupational therapy department at
the Mirpur Centre, will involve CRP's packaging.
 All correspondence to other health professionals, all
brochures, stationary, etc. should display the same
logo.
 This ensures that the consumer becomes used to
seeing the logo, and knows immediately that it is

73. Pricing policy
 This means establishing how much consumers
are prepared to pay for a service.
 In the first step of marketing research,
information should be gathered about potential
consumers, and how much these consumers
can afford to pay should be considered in the
marketing of the service.
 The pricing policy at the Mirpur Centre, refers
to the process of establishing how much to
charge patients for therapy services.

74. Distribution policy
 Distribution refers to the consideration of how the
product is distributed to different consumers.
 This means, how do the consumers access the
product.
 Is it available locally (near to their homes) or does
it need to be delivered to them?
 In terms of the Mirpur Centre, the distribution
policy refers to a consideration of whether patients
are able to access the service.
 It may result in a recognised need for home visits
for patients who are unable to access the Mirpur
Centre.

75. Public relations
 This refers to improving public awareness of
the product and ensuring that the public know
that the product is credible and reliable.
 For the Mirpur Centre occupational therapy
department, public relations means ensuring
that potential patients and referrers know are
aware of the credibility and the standard of the
Mirpur Centre occupational therapy
department.

76. Advertising
 Advertising is a marketing communication that
employs an openly sponsored, non-personal
message to promote or sell a product, service or
idea. Magazine. Advertising in a specialist
magazine can reach your target market quickly
and easily. ...
 Radio. ...
 Television. ...
 Directories. ...
 Outdoor and transit. ...
 Direct mail, catalogues and leaflets. ...
 Online.

77. Sales Promotion
 We will discuss these two steps together, as in terms
of an occupational therapy service, they are
essentially the same thing.
 These are the steps in which the product is publicised,
in order to encourage people to purchase or to use it.
 We will discuss these steps in more detail at the end
of this lecture.
 For the new occupational therapy service at the
Mirpur Centre, it is important to 'tell' people about the
service to ensure that patients come to the service, or
that doctors or other health care professionals refer
patients to the service.
 Some possible ways of advertising such a service
could be a mail out, putting advertisements in the
mass media (newspaper, radio, television).

78. Personal selling
 Personal selling refers to individuals personally
telling others about the product or service in either
arranged or chance meetings.
 An example of this for Mirpur, could be arranging
personal meetings with doctors in the local area to
tell them about the new occupational therapy
service, and to inform them of how they can refer
patients.
 Another example could be any occupational
therapist from CRP having a chance meeting with
a doctor who works in the local area and telling
them about the service.

79. Customer service
 This means providing a good product or a
good service to consumers.
 A good product is said to "sell itself". That
means that because it is good, you do not
have to tell consumers that it is good, they will
already know once they have used it, and
therefore, they will continue to purchase it for
that reason.