News from Hungary 2005
The Hungarian Association of Occupational Therapists – the METE which is the acronym of the Hungarian name of the Association: „Magyar Ergoterapeuták Egyesülete” - is an independent, non-political and non-denominational association of Occupational Therapists. The METE, which is a professional organisation (not a labour union), handles professional and training issues and questions related to development and opinion generation. The Association was founded in 2001 by the first 24 OTs who received their degrees at the high level postgraduate school.
Aim of the Association: to unify scientific and practical healthcare professionals working in this area (whatever degree they have) in order to promote, support and help the local development of OT by:
- developing the education of OT in Hungary on a higher level
- integrating the knowledge of professionals (who are trained and working in different fields of rehabilitation)
- obtaining official recognition of OT by government authorities (and public opinion. Next chance will be a separate OT-section at REHA-Hungary Congress in May 2005)
- introducing OT methods in evereyday clinical practice
- maintaining and strenghtening professional connections with other Hungarian healthcare organisations and institutes (eg. physiotherapists, social workers, rehabilitation professionals)
- monitoring the educational programmes and courses for OTs
- applying the COTEC Code of Ethics by Hungarian OTs
- establishing cooperation with other members of COTEC
- linking to ENOTHE and WFOT, to join international scientific and educational projects (a lot of foreign experts and OT-students have visited the National Institute of Rehabilitation recently)
Membership of the Association: members can be full members or contributing members. Everyone who is working in the area of rehabilitation and agrees with the aims can be member of the association irrespective of his training (eg. OT-students, OT-assistants, or physician as the Association’s alternate delegate in COTEC is cardiologist). Contributing members can help the work of METE with financial support. The President of the Association attended an OT-teacher’s training course („An Introduction to Occupational Therapy for Health and Social Professionals”) and has practical experience in this field for a long time. The Council, which is the METE's highest decision-making body, meets every year. Between Council meetings, the Executive Board is responsible for managing the running of the Association.
The Board consists of the Association president, vice-president and one other member. The programme for the meetings consists of scientific news, published papers and lectures (held by the members of the METE) and dissemination of news, eg. information regarding new methods or asssitive devices. The Association can help train the OTs in the use of these devices.
Financial resources of the Association are very limited due to the low membership fees and some support from contributors (individuals or institutes). The annual meetings are funded by OORI (National Institute of Rehabilitation). The METE aimed to collect funding and support from government, social institutes and foundations and to apply to EU sources.
Education: The METE is in correspondence with the institutes of OT-education in Hungary. The first WFOT-standardized OT-education will be started soon at University of Pécs, Faculty of Health Sciences, Educational Center at Zalaegerszeg. Two of the latter teachers are attending the OT-education course organized by ENOTHE in Romania as the part of Joint Action Programme.
Occupational Therapists in Hungary make a great effort to improve their patients' ability to make a meaningful and purposeful life in accordance with their everyday needs and wishes. To reach this goal METE gives the members all of the information and professional knowledge possible for them to be able to work as successfully as possible. This pioneering work is accepted and appreciated more and more by people so occupational therapy has been included to the minimum standards of rehabilitation.