What do Red Flags have to do with Complementary Therapy?
One of the main concerns that Conventional Medical Doctors have about Complementary Therapy has to be the safety of it. In fact, Doctors practice with a huge amount of uncertainty every day, especially primary care doctors like General Practitioners and Emergency Room Doctors. Doctors have long recognised that they cannot know everything, but they do expect a wide enough knowledge to know when and how urgently to refer something that they don’t understand or that indicates something more sinister. In medicine, these worrying signs or symptoms are known as Red Flags.
The College of Medicine has long supported Complementary Therapies on condition that the treatments are safe, and the therapists are adequately trained. Ideally, this would include knowledge of basic hygiene, first aid that is appropriate for the therapy, and basic health promotion with simple coaching techniques like motivational interviewing. For certain body therapies, this may include the recognition of worrying signs and symptoms of the painful condition. For example, for a painful back, the loss of normal bowel and bladder function (constipation, or the inability to pass urine or incontinence) may signify something called Cauda Equina Syndrome, which is a medical emergency that requires spinal decompression surgery or else the person could end up with permanent paralysis of their lower limbs and permanent bowel/bladder dysfunction.
Up to now, there have been few courses that cover these topics widely. Fortunately, a collaboration between a Complementary Therapist and a Consultant Anaesthetist has resulted in such a course. This is outlined below and is only a one-day course packed full of amazing content that is highly recommended. The College of Medicine endorses this course as one of an adequate quality for Complementary Therapists to practice safely.
Dr David Laird is speaking about this topic at the College of Medicine’s annual Integrative Health Convention. Get your tickets here : https://integrativehealthconvention.co.uk/book-now/
The Red Flags One Day Course
The Northern Integrative Health Practice has supported the NHS Chronic Pain Service when demand exceeded capacity in Durham. Training was provided to develop therapists’ skills in a defined pathway and this was rated by both patients and professionals as effective and responsive. The work was supported by a teaching package on “Red & Yellow Flags”. It has been road-tested across the UK and has been well received, improving therapists’ confidence on integrating care of people with long term conditions within the NHS. The course acts as an essential set of actions and observations similar to First Aid training that is mandatory to preserve life and promote recovery. It is an extension of these skills for early intervention in the clinical setting.
The course aims at enabling complementary therapists to contribute to excellent healthcare through active listening skills underpinned by the awareness of client sentinel symptoms and behaviours (flags). The therapist will gain confidence in reporting findings to the GP or medical services.
Key Outcomes.
- Understanding the necessary hygiene in the therapeutic setting.
- Recognition of the sentinel symptoms for back pain / headaches / skin lesions and more.
- Be better able to utilise active listening skills that can make their encounter more comprehensive and therapeutic.
- Be aware of brief therapeutic interventions on lifestyle changes that have a positive health benefit.
- Assist safe practice and signposting in an informed and logical way when a flag is observed and raised in the clinical setting.
- Communicate this with other professionals.
- Contribute to public healthcare.
Overlapping and integrating care involves being aware of one’s own knowledge, skills, development and boundaries, as well as having an understanding of people, their symptoms, signs and underlying disease. An awareness of the local health system, its delivery and the professionals involved is the foundation of this workshop.
All of the Outcomes above will be supported with varied teaching styles, resources and learning aids for pre-course preparation, on the course learning and post-course support.
Professional Background of the Providers.
Providers
Dr.David Laird MB BCh FCARCSI, FRCA, FFPMRCA, is the full time Consultant in the chronic pain management service at Co Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust. He has clinical and educational expertise in pain medicine and palliative care and also represents the collaboration between the medical service and the complementary service with a common sense approach. He was appointed as Consultant in 1990, developing the in-hospital palliative care service and the hospital & community multidisciplinary chronic pain service as well as being the hospital Clinical tutor for 9+ years delivering MDT training in communication skills & motivational interviewing and helping to integrate medical and non-medical training. He developed the RCP London Physicians as Educators course 20y ago and continues to teach Nationally on this as well as teaching patients, therapists, undergraduates and postgraduates on aspects of pain and lifestyle changes. Recent publication includes
Paula Esson.(BSc). Sport Science, has worked for 20 years in Sports injuries and coaching, and latterly in the development of support for health services through collaboration between complementary therapies and NHS. She has also worked alongside David in the pain service based at the Northern Integrative Health Practice Durham and been the Principal of the College of Bowen Studies for three years.
The course outline is not exhaustive and is based upon meeting the needs of therapists working in the field with the intent of creating an interactive delivered and online learning platform to support therapists’ development.
https://safetomove.eventsmart.com/events/
Upcoming dates all through the year at various locations across the United Kingdom
Contact them personally on 07780900283
Feona Gray says
Links to the website http://www.safetomove.com doesn’t appear to work. Looking for course details, upcoming dates, locations and prices, please.
Toh Wong says
Thanks! Have updated it – https://safetomove.eventsmart.com/events/