Occup Ther Health Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by UB Kiel on 12/28/14 For personal use only.
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
Today's health care practice requires diverse skills for any professional practitioner. None are more urgently needed than those required in the many phases of administration, the management of data, people and things. Through the years the literature of the profession has focused almost exclusively on clinical practice providing one with new knowledge, ways to enhance one's practice skills. Today, however, one cannot practice without sophisticated knowledge of all of the nonclinical aspects of daily function in the work place as well. Each of us is a manager of some sort, whether we are supervising volunteers or staff, communicating with others, planning and implementing programs, doing development and "selling" of ideas, evaluating programs andlor people's performance, managing money and assets of a program or department, teaching others. Recently AOTA has published its revision of the "administration" text which has served as the "guidebook" for most therapists and for curriculums in the past decade. A review of it appears in this issue. We as editors realize the tough time teachers and OT managers have in conveying management ideas to students and others. Students are frequently difficult to convince that this content is important to their success. Thus when we as editors thought about what kinds of materials would assist persons who really need and
.. .
O 1988 by The Haworth Press.
lnc. All rights reserved.
1
Occup Ther Health Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by UB Kiel on 12/28/14 For personal use only.
2
The Occupational Therapy Ma~ger'sSurvival Handbook
want to acquire better manager skills, a casebook approach came to mind. We have pursued that plan. Dr. Brollier, in her introduction which follows this one, tells you a bit how they have organized their material to follow that structure. We are most grateful to authors for their willingness to mold important managerial concepts into this format. We believe they have provided a challenging set of ideas for any serious student. As editor of OTHC 1 am particularly grateful to Tina Brollier, as co-editor, for her wise counsel and help, in designing the content of the issue, in identifying as authors persons who are active participants as managers, in critiquing papers and offering ideas to writers, in lending much diligent work. Our hope, however, is that we together have produced a useful adjunct to the classic OT as Manager text which many of you are accustomed to use as a daily guide and backup or for incidental or formal teaching. While this is a hefty issue of OTHC, it is one which contains much to intrigue you and to provide you with good, practical information. As is our habit, the issue also includes an important Feature: "Practice Watch," which in this issue focuses on clinical decision making, a process to which we pay far too little attention as a formalized process. Michael Magrun presents some thought provoking material based on the approaches to treatment of the learning disabled child, a situation often faced for growing numbers of occupational therapists today. It provides an intriguing vehicle for such thinking. We hope you will find it as stimulating as it was for us. The issue closes with our regular feature, "Book Reviews."
OBITUARIES We of OTHC and especially I, as Editor, wish to note with sadness the deaths of two friends of this journal. Janet C. Stone, member of the inaugural Editorial Board, former Director of Occupational Therapy at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital, long time friend, died in January 1987 after a short illness. Having been the initiating editor of the AOTA Bulletin on Practice, she had special feeling about the need for practice focused publications for the profession. She will be sorely missed by her many friends. Gerald W. Shamoft, a contributor to OTHC and book reviewer, former faculty member
From the Editor's Lksk
3
in the Occupational Therapy Department at the University of Southem California, known particularly for his philosophical writing about the profession, died late in 1986. He was a popular teacher, staunch colleague and friend to many who were touched by his thoughtful insights about occupational therapy. At the time of his death he was in doctoral study at USC.
Occup Ther Health Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by UB Kiel on 12/28/14 For personal use only.
Florence S. Cmmwell Editor
FROM THE EDITOR'S DESK
Today's health care practice requires diverse skills for any professional practitioner. None are more urgently needed than those required in the many phases of administration, the management of data, people and things. Through the years the literature of the profession has focused almost exclusively on clinical practice providing one with new knowledge, ways to enhance one's practice skills. Today, however, one cannot practice without sophisticated knowledge of all of the nonclinical aspects of daily function in the work place as well. Each of us is a manager of some sort, whether we are supervising volunteers or staff, communicating with others, planning and implementing programs, doing development and "selling" of ideas, evaluating programs andlor people's performance, managing money and assets of a program or department, teaching others. Recently AOTA has published its revision of the "administration" text which has served as the "guidebook" for most therapists and for curriculums in the past decade. A review of it appears in this issue. We as editors realize the tough time teachers and OT managers have in conveying management ideas to students and others. Students are frequently difficult to convince that this content is important to their success. Thus when we as editors thought about what kinds of materials would assist persons who really need and
.. .
O 1988 by The Haworth Press.
lnc. All rights reserved.
1
Occup Ther Health Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by UB Kiel on 12/28/14 For personal use only.
2
The Occupational Therapy Ma~ger'sSurvival Handbook
want to acquire better manager skills, a casebook approach came to mind. We have pursued that plan. Dr. Brollier, in her introduction which follows this one, tells you a bit how they have organized their material to follow that structure. We are most grateful to authors for their willingness to mold important managerial concepts into this format. We believe they have provided a challenging set of ideas for any serious student. As editor of OTHC 1 am particularly grateful to Tina Brollier, as co-editor, for her wise counsel and help, in designing the content of the issue, in identifying as authors persons who are active participants as managers, in critiquing papers and offering ideas to writers, in lending much diligent work. Our hope, however, is that we together have produced a useful adjunct to the classic OT as Manager text which many of you are accustomed to use as a daily guide and backup or for incidental or formal teaching. While this is a hefty issue of OTHC, it is one which contains much to intrigue you and to provide you with good, practical information. As is our habit, the issue also includes an important Feature: "Practice Watch," which in this issue focuses on clinical decision making, a process to which we pay far too little attention as a formalized process. Michael Magrun presents some thought provoking material based on the approaches to treatment of the learning disabled child, a situation often faced for growing numbers of occupational therapists today. It provides an intriguing vehicle for such thinking. We hope you will find it as stimulating as it was for us. The issue closes with our regular feature, "Book Reviews."
OBITUARIES We of OTHC and especially I, as Editor, wish to note with sadness the deaths of two friends of this journal. Janet C. Stone, member of the inaugural Editorial Board, former Director of Occupational Therapy at Rancho Los Amigos Hospital, long time friend, died in January 1987 after a short illness. Having been the initiating editor of the AOTA Bulletin on Practice, she had special feeling about the need for practice focused publications for the profession. She will be sorely missed by her many friends. Gerald W. Shamoft, a contributor to OTHC and book reviewer, former faculty member
From the Editor's Lksk
3
in the Occupational Therapy Department at the University of Southem California, known particularly for his philosophical writing about the profession, died late in 1986. He was a popular teacher, staunch colleague and friend to many who were touched by his thoughtful insights about occupational therapy. At the time of his death he was in doctoral study at USC.
Occup Ther Health Downloaded from informahealthcare.com by UB Kiel on 12/28/14 For personal use only.
Florence S. Cmmwell Editor
