Slovenia National OT News Archive

News from Slovenia, 2018

Slovenian Association of Occupational Therapists and University Rehabilitation Institute of Slovenia (URI-Soča) organized 9thcongress of occupational therapists which was held on 25thand 26thOctober 2018 in Ljubljana. This year’s congress topic was: “From theory to practice”.

During the opening ceremony the invited guests from National Insurance Company, Medical Chamber of Slovenia, Nurses and Midwives Association of Slovenia, Association of Vocational Rehabilitation Service Providers Slovenia, Health Faculty, Slovenian Physiotherapy Association, Institute for Long Term Care, URI-Soča and others spoke about the importance of Occupational Therapy today and in the future in relation to the ageing population we are all a part of.

Dr. Tanja Križaj held first lecture of the congress where she introduced her doctoral dissertation, followed by several other presentations of good transition of theory into practice. Also participated in the congress were our physiotherapy colleagues and occupational therapists from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland and Turkey. We concluded our first evening with dinner, when we also celebrated the World Occupational Therapy day.

Dr. Lea Šuc held first lecture on the second day where she introduced her doctoral dissertation. There were 8 workshops in total, 26 posters and 36 presentations. With 190 participants this year’s congress was the largest ever.

The overall conclusions of this year’s congress were: that occupational therapy is becoming increasingly more recognisable in Slovenia and around the world; that there is an increase of occupational therapists working in community care; that our knowledge is being transferred into new fields; and that theory is being successfully transferred into practice.


News from Slovenia, 2017

ZDTS has organized several different events in 2017 with the aim of promotion and recognition of the Occupational Therapy profession. ZDTS also participated in the inclusion of Occupational Therapists in new legislation within both the health and social care systems. ZDTS has collaborated in setting up broadened professional body at the Ministry of Health, which is crucial for OT profession; we have actively participated in a workgroup that prepared legislation on long-term care; three of our members are actively working with Social Institutions of Slovenia towards achieving unification of documentation, etc. Our members have also started the active collaboration with Team for Palliative Care and furthermore, our members have managed to define the role of OT in the national project setting up new clinical pathways and professional guidelines for treating patients with back pain.

One-hundred-and-ten OTs from all over Slovenia attended our yearly meeting in December. We had a lecture from the Ministry of Health which introduced the aim and the course of professional audits and are carried out by OT auditors. Ministry of Health, individuals or institutions across Slovenia can all request OT audit. Further on there was an introduction of suggestions of new long-term care legislation into which we (ZDTS) have suggested a change in legislation to allow OTs to be recruited to all vacancies (and functions) foreseen in the new legislation. We then had a lecture from our Maltese colleague Demis Cachia on OTs working with older adults and patients with dementia from the viewpoint of institutionalization and long-term care.

We concluded our yearly meeting with awards for professional achievements in the field of OT; we have awarded the title »Supervisor« to one of our colleagues and congratulated Dr. Tanja Križaj on her doctoral dissertation (photo 1).

The president of ZDTS Katarina Galof invited all attending the yearly meeting to actively contribute at the 9th Congress of OT in Slovenia, which is taking place on 25th and 26th October 2018 in Ljubljana.

We are very happy to announce that Slovenian Journal of Occupational Therapy saw the light of day again after almost 10 years.


News from Slovenia, 2016

Slovenian association of occupational therapists and University Rehabilitation Institute of Slovenia (URI Soča) organized 8th congress of occupational therapists which was held on 27th and 28th October 2016 in Rogaška Slatina. The congress topic was: “Occupational therapy helps people live in their own way”. On 27th October we celebrated World Occupational Therapy Day and to mark this occasion we surprised all participants with interesting activities. 

The opening ceremony saw different guests from local community, Ministry for Health, Association of Nursing and Midwifery making their speeches in relation to Occupational Therapy. 

Occupational therapists from Slovenia and occupational therapist from Serbia introduced their professional knowledge in the form of 24 lectures, 8 workshops and 22 posters. The introduced topics showed the importance and broadness of occupational therapy as a profession. The presenters shared new knowledge, which OTs can use in their professional role. 

Professional and organisational committees of SAOT put a lot of effort into promotion of occupational therapy. Julija Ocepek was interviewed on national television and Katarina Galof on radio programme to mark World OT day. 

To summarize the congress – it is evident that more and more OTs are joining the interdisciplinary community teams and also work in new fields such as vehicle adaptation, forensic psychiatry, virtual reality and others. 


News from Slovenia, May 2012

This year’s activities of the Slovenian Association of Occupational Therapists are in this year focused on the promotion of occupational therapy and organisation of the 6th Congress.

Our promotion activities are connected to Occupational Therapy Global Day of Service. The majority of activities was organised on the 24th of February 2012 under the title”Pay it forward”. They were very successful in reaching many people and media. You can find an English version of the presentation on the following link:
http://delovnaterapija.weebly.com/
Slovenian activities have also been mentioned in dr. Karen Jacobs, ‘Slagle lecture’ on the 27.th of April in Indianapolis, USA:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4PvglRmPEU&feature=related.
An interview with dr. Karen Jacobs was also published in one of the most read Slovenian weekly magazines.

The 2012 biannual congress will be organised close to the World OT day, from 25th till 27th October. The theme of the congress is:“Let’s add the youth to the years”

Other relevant opportunities for continuing professional development through seminars and coursed include:
– Workshops on some MOHO instruments (WRI, WEIS,VQ)
– Occupational therapy with a neurological client
– COPM
– Assessment through structured activity
– Early OT with children
– Movement, Information, Awareness


Newsletter from Slovenia, Spring 2011

Recent activities of the Slovenian Association of Occupational Therapists (SAOT) focused on the organisation of the 5th Congress in September 2010. The theme of the congress was “Occupational therapy in the community”. It was chosen with the aim of raising awareness about the fact that the current organisation of health care and social services does not support or enable client to get occupational therapy services in their community. This is also why the SAOT invited Ruth Crowder, COT Policy Officer Wales to open the congress with the keynote lecture on the “Influence for occupation: the voice of occupational therapy in policy making”. Her experience and knowledge encouraged a very dynamic discussion.

Also other sessions of the congress covered relevant topics such as the Visibility of occupational therapy and presentation of the “Slovenian integrated occupational therapy model”.

In December 2010 the SAOT organised the traditional “New year seminar”. Its topic was “Evidence – based occupational therapy”. The meeting was opened by the lecture of an invited speaker, who presented the principles and methods of evidence-based approach to interventions in rehabilitation. The discussion opened many issues that point out the need for a coordinated approach to supporting and encouraging practicing occupational therapist to base and argument their work using existing research and other evidence.

For 2011 SAOT is putting special emphasis in providing its member with opportunities for their continuous professional development by organising seminars and courses. Some of most relevant include:
– Occupational therapy with a neurological client (January)
– Assessment of awareness of disability (February)
– Validation – an innovative approach to elderly
– (Constraint induced movement therapy)
– AMPS
– Early OT with children