Thousands gather to chat OT
For three days in June 2023, the Theratrak team were based in Cairns, QLD attending the Occupational Therapy Australia 30th National Conference.
Over 1,200+ Occupational Therapists (OTs), supporters and industry experts attended the conference both in-person and online.
The agenda was absolutely packed with insights from keynote presentations, panel discussions, workshops, social events, and ePoster presentations.
Theratrak was involved in two ePoster presentations in partnership with Thrive Group and Western Sydney University. Find out more about them below.
The inspiring Turia Pitt kicked off the conference with a keynote on: Personal Stories using OT. We were so inspired by Turia’s story of resilience, community support, and dedication to reaching big goals.
“Make space to do things that fill your cup” - Turia Pitt’s advice from her mum
We loved how Turia's talk really set the scene for the event emphasising the importance of self-care and reflection - a great reminder for busy OTs, families and kids!
Showcasing what Theratrak can do during two ePoster presentations
WESTERN SYDNEY UNI - Data-driven therapy home programs: Quantitative Evaluation of a digital home-programming tool.
Theratrak Founder & OT, Laura Simmons was featured twice during the ePoster sessions this year.
On day one, Laura joined the OT legend Caroline Mills to showcase how therapists have used the Theratrak platform so far.
Alongside colleagues from Western Sydney University, Caroline conducted quantitative research into Theratrak's usage. A retrospective quantitative descriptive methodology was used to provide a snapshot of the platform's usage. De-identified data was used with ethics approval from the Western Sydney University HREC.
Outcomes from the study:
88% of Theratrak users received a home program within 7 days. 72% of users received a home program on the same day.
Mobile app usage can serve as a therapy adjunct and help overcome wait times for therapy services.
The most popular activities to be prescribed on Theratrak so far have been around sensory regulation, core strength and gross motor skills.
Along with more research, the final conclusion outlined that mobile apps like Theratrak may assist in timely delivery in therapy services, overcoming wait times, and may serve in an adjunct for individual therapy sessions.
THRIVE GROUP - Supporting our waitlists! Innovating home therapy practice using therapy tools.
On day two of the conference, Director & OT at Thrive Group, innovator Annie Seccull presented how they've been using Theratrak to support their growing wait-list.
Waitlists in therapy are very common - especially since the global pandemic. We've heard from many OTs at the conference that some clinics have a wait-list of 100+ people, sometimes 500+ people, and in rare cases 1000+ people!!!! We've always known that therapy has been in demand and we're now refocused on our mission to improve access to therapy for these waitlists.
To support the Thrive Group's growing wait-list in regional Victoria, Annie searched for an online solution and found Theratrak. Annie was searching for a tool that could deliver and track individual therapy programs then assessed each tool on their price, accessibility, user design, customisability, and if they were Australian made. Theratrak scored highest overall on these factors and customisation.
Then Annie created a 10 week program for the early intervention age group (less than seven years of age) with everyday therapy activities including fine motor, gross motor, emotional regulation, self-care, and social skills.
Thrive Group then used Theratrak to deliver asynchronous therapy programs to support these suitable families on their waitlist.
Outcomes from the programs for families:
Families felt more supported
Families increased their knowledge of OT concepts and activities to practise at home
Families increased their knowledge about how OT can support their child in the home environment
Therapists had more job satisfaction and spent less time on admin / home programming
We were so happy to be able to present these projects at the OTA Conference in 2023.
We're working on more research to showcase the value of Theratrak and we'll be releasing that ASAP!
Insights from chatting with countless OTs
The Theratrak team was situated in the exhibition section of the conference and we had the best time chatting with some of the 1,200+ strong OT crowd.
We met OTs in private practice, universities, hospitals, government and more! We’re continuously blown away by the impressive work OTs do and the range of knowledge needed to support participants. We loved sharing our merch with OTs - especially the newly designed drink bottles.
At Theratrak, we run demos with therapy teams around the world and throughout the year showcasing what you can do with the platform. But often it’s not until we’re standing in front of therapists that they really understand the power and the wide range of therapy applications of Theratrak.
We loved sharing how therapists can prescribe home programs in minutes, how participants have fun engaging features within their participant app, and how some therapists are using Theratrak to deliver comprehensive home programming.
Next year, we're going to have even more amazing features to talk about!
Making big changes with small steps
Theratrak Founder & OT has been a part of the OTA community in Australia for many years. It's been exciting to watch the community grow and the range of innovations come out of the OT community.
Theratrak was launched in 2018. We started with a simple idea to support therapists with their workflow and had a big goal to increase engagement in therapy.
Big goals and growth are created through small steps. And we're going to keep taking steps towards supporting the many dedicated allied health professionals and their participants!
Want to learn more about how Theratrak helps to streamline therapist workflows?
Book in for a demo to find out more about our clinic portal, therapist app and participant app.
