Currently, in Burma, there have been very limited opportunities for Continuing Professional Development (CPD) of rehabilitation professionals and also increased rehabilitation needs due to political instabilities. The ReLAB-HS Clinical Skills Training Programme in Burma is providing a great opportunity to upgrade the knowledge and skills of rehabilitation professionals to deliver quality rehabilitation services in the community.

The Clinical Skills Development Training programme is a 7 month training programme designed around the needs of rehabilitation professionals in Burma. A hybrid learning approach – a combination of online courses and in-person discussion and mentoring – is used to deliver effective and efficient learning. There are four programmes scheduled and several mentoring sessions with international topic experts, the first programme being based on gait training.

“After completing the gait training programme and mentoring sessions by Damien Howell, I implemented my knowledge into clinical practice. Surprisingly, there is a significant improvement in her gait pattern. It was a total surprise!”

Ms Khaing Hsu Wai from Parami Hospital, Yangon, is one of the physiotherapists taking part in the clinical skills training programme who is immediately seeing results. Her client, Client A, an 11-year old female who suffers from Transverse Myelitis that was diagnosed 2 years ago, has already benefited. She has decreased bilateral lower limb muscles strength, especially weakness on the right side. Obvious gait deviation is noted – with increased weight shift to the left during the right swing phase, decreased left knee flexion and ankle dorsiflexion throughout the swing phase, decreased right ankle push-off at terminal stance to pre-swing and reduced daylight between the thighs and right toe out.

“We provided her with strength training and gait training for the first few sessions but there was no significant improvement in her gait pattern,” said her Physiotherapist, Ms Khaing Hsu Wai from Parami Hospital, Yangon, Burma. “After completing the gait training programme and mentoring sessions by Damien Howell, I implemented my knowledge into clinical practice. Surprisingly, there is a significant improvement in her gait pattern. It was a total surprise!” she continued.

Client A’s gait pattern was captured in the recording video by Ms Khaing Hsu Wai and has improved in many ways. This was also shared and discussed with other participants during the first mentoring session by international expert, Damien Howell.

Gait Training mentoring session 2 by Mr Damien Howell in action

This hybrid approach to clinical skills training has demonstrated an improvement in clinical reasoning and technical skills of the rehabilitation professional. This is particularly pertinent for developing workforce capacity through CPD activities where no other opportunities exist.