UCT Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Department
UCT Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Department
UCT Health and Rehabilitation Sciences Department – see details below:
The Department has strong, accredited undergraduate and postgraduate programmes with about 700 undergraduate students and approximately 234 postgraduate students at PG Diploma, Master and Doctoral levels. We are located in the Old Main Building of Groote Schuur Hospital in Observatory. There are approximately 93 Academic members of staff (including clinical educators) who are engaged in a range of activities at the local, national and international levels, and 11 Administrators.
There are a number of committees that function actively to promote the Undergraduate, Postgraduate and Research endeavours of the Department. The number of successful grant applications and research publications continues to grow in this dynamic environment.
Divisions
The Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences encompasses a range of allied health disciplines, organised into five Divisions or Programmes, namely:
Communication Sciences and Disorders (includes Speech-Language Pathology & Audiology)
Speech-Language Pathologists and Audiologists work with people who have difficulty hearing, speaking and swallowing. The Division of Communication Sciences and Disorders at UCT is committed to excellence in research and in educating future professionals in the field.
Nursing and Midwifery
Postgraduate Diploma in Nephrology Nursing – This is an innovative researched-based programme aimed at preparing specialist nurse practitioners to be equipped with the knowledge, skills and professional values for advocating the prevention of renal ill health and promoting renal health and meeting the health care needs of the Chronic Kidney Disease population, across their lifespan from birth to aged.
Occupational Therapy
Occupational therapists enable people to overcome barriers within themselves or their environment by reducing functional limitations in the body system, or addressing barriers within contexts where people live, work, attend school, play or pursue leisure.
Occupational therapists are trained to assess the person holistically, looking at all aspects of function, and to analyse the environments where people perform activities, so that they can understand how to improve function or adapt to the environment in order to foster successful performance.
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy is an applied discipline dedicated to the study of human movement and function and its relevance to health and well-being. The Division of Physiotherapy strives to be a world-class, African Division of Physiotherapy and is committed to the primary healthcare approach of educating physiotherapists who will be well-prepared to meet the health, rehabilitation and research needs of our country.
Disability Studies
The vision of Disability Studies Africa is to forge disability inclusion in Africa. We aim to do this by taking an asset-based approach to generating abilities and knowledge on disability inclusion with a specific focus on youth in Africa within a global context.
This will be done in partnership with communities, higher education institutions across disciplines, disabled people’s organisations, the government and the private sector.