Pat McKeePat McKeeAssociate Professor

Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy
(416) 978-1817
pat.mckee@utoronto.ca

Cross Appointments

  • Centre for Research in Education
  • Professional Practice Associate (Orthotics specialization), Toronto Rehabilitation Institute

School of Graduate Studies

  • Associate Member

Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Alberta

 

Section separator

Biosketch

Pat McKee has been a faculty member in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at the University of Toronto since 1987, preceding that with 11 years on faculty at the University of Alberta in the Department of Occupational Therapy and the Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology.

She advocates for a client-centred, bio-occupational approach to orthotic intervention (splinting), with a less is more approach that addresses comfort, cosmesis and convenience. She is author of “Orthotics in Rehabilitation: Splinting the Hand and Body”, which has been translated in Japanese.

Pat is known internationally as an orthotics expert and has taught orthotic workshops across Canada and the US. She has produced orthotic fabrication videos that are now used at several Canadian and US universities.

Her current research focuses on the further development of the Enveloping Anatomy Learning System (patent pending), refining and validating the Bio-Occupational Framework for Orthotic Practice and the efficacy of a hybrid neoprene-thermoplastic orthosis for thumb carpometacarpal arthritis. Read about her orthotic research study, highlighted on U of T’s Newspage.

Pat believes that good teachers are performers at heart, loving an audience, developing a relationship with it, and feeling energized and well-connected with it when it goes well. It is not unusual for Pat to take her guitar into the classroom to provide a light-hearted conclusion to a course by singing one of her compositions. Not only is she a performer in the classroom, but she is a “real” performer - a singer, guitarist and songwriter.

In 1981, Pat was able to blend two of her loves - occupational therapy and singing - when she wrote and recorded Look Beyond, Canada’s official song for the International Year of Disabled Persons. The message of song became the inspiration for an ongoing column in the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, titled “Look Beyond”.

Extensive radio and television interviews and school performances in Canada that year provided the unique opportunity for her to advocate for persons with disabilities and for occupational therapy. “Look Beyond was inspired by the lives of persons with disabilities that I had come to know and admire through my experiences as an occupational therapist. I wanted the song to be a vehicle to express the dreams and ambitions of persons with disabilities and to promote more positive attitudes toward them.” The lines at the end of the song speak to her commitment to Occupational Therapy in particular and to humanity in general.

I have composed the immortal concertos
     with ears that were silent and numb
I have touched the heart of a country
     across it on one leg I’ve run
I have led a nation of people
     from a chair under war-torn skies
I have seen the world through my fingers
     I can hear the world through my eyes
So look beyond what I am not
     and you will see just what I am
I’m a woman, I’m a child, I’m a man

Selected Recent Publications

  1. McKee, P. and Rivard, A. (in press) Foundations of Orthotic Intervention. In Skirven, T., Osterman, L., Fedorczyk, J., and Amadio, P. Rehabilitation of the Hand and Upper Extremity (6th edition), Elsevier Inc.
  2. McKee, P. and Nguyen, C. (2007) Low-profile Dynamic Wrist-Finger-Thumb Assistive Extension Orthosis for High Radial Nerve Injury – Fabrication Instructions. Journal of Hand Therapy, 20, 70-72.
  3. McKee, P. and Rivard, A. (2004). Orthoses as enablers of occupation: client-centred splinting for better outcomes. Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 71(5), 306-314.
  4. Ford, M., McKee, P. and Szilagyi, M. (2004). A Hybrid Thermoplastic and Neoprene Thumb Metacarpophalangeal Joint Orthosis. Journal of Hand Therapy, 17, 64 – 68.
  5. McKee, P. and Morgan, L. (1998). Orthotics in Rehabilitation: Splinting the Hand and Body. FA Davis Co., Philadelphia.

Recent Thesis/Projects Supervised

  1. “Orthotic intervention for M. Sc. OT and PT students with thumb joint instability that impacts hand strength and function”. Kelly Chan (MSc) and Christina Cavallari (MSc), 2009
  2. “Orthotic management of osteoarthritis of the thumb carpometacarpal joint”. David Clark (MSc) and Kate Pettifer (MSc), 2009
  3. “Muscles of the Hand – Development and Evaluation of a Teaching Tool”. Anjali Vasandani (MSc) and Dara Beacock (MSc), 2008
  4. “Orthotic Thumb Stabilization for PT Students Learning Manual Therapy and PTs doing Manual Therapy”.– Kitty Chan ((MSc) and Heather Attwood (MSc), 2008
  5. "Face Validity of the Bio-Occupational Orthotic Framework". Meredith Norman (MSc), 2007.
  6. "Development and Evaluation of Muscle Strength Testing Lab for OT Students". Vanessa Lobo (MSc), 2007.
  7. "Development and Evaluation of Orthotic Fabrication Videos for OT Students". Kevin Chow (MSc), Lucille Ayoub (MSc), Lidia Russo (MSc), 2007.
  8. "Multi-centre Research Study, Comparing Efficacy Of Two Hand-Based Orthoses For Thumb Carpometacarpal Arthritis". Vanessa Hawes (MSc), Daniela Laski (MSc), and Angele Bibeau (MSc), 2005.
  9. "Orthotic Education in Occupational Therapy University Programs in Canada and the United States – online survey". Andrea Rabiewsky (BSc), 2002. "Face Validity of the Bio-Occupational Orthotic Framework". Meredith Norman (MSc), 2007.

Research Interests

  • Enveloping Anatomy Learning System (patent pending)
  • Efficacy of orthotic intervention (splinting) for Thumb Carpometacarpal Osteoarthritis
  • Hybrid Thermoplastic/Neoprene Orthotic Designs
  • Bio-Occupational Framework for Orthotic Practice

Current Courses

OCT 1152Y: Musculoskeletal Structure and Function (Biomechanics and Functional Anatomy) Course design and coordination, principal lecturer, and lab instructor.

OCT 1261H: Enabling Occupation with Adults: Part I Orthotic lecture and labs.

OCT 1262Y: Enabling Occupation with Adults: Part II Coordination and principal educator of musculoskeletal component; includes orthotic intervention (splinting), arthritis, hand therapy, spinal cord injury.

Special Lectures / Keynote Speeches

  1. Understanding the Anatomical Basis of Hand Pathologies: An Experiential, Applied Anatomy Review. International Federation of the Societies of Hand Therapy, Orlando FL, June 2010
  2. Series of special invited orthotic and anatomy lectures at Lund University, Sweden, April 2010
  3. Clinical and anatomical considerations for orthotic intervention of nerve-related conditions, tendon disorders and arthritic joint pathology. Presented at: Clinical Anatomy of the Hand: Surgical Procedures and Orthotic Intervention, American Association of Clinical Anatomists Toronto, ON, July 2008
  4. Orthotic Intervention for Arthritis – presented to therapists enrolled in ACPAC (Advanced Clinician Practitioner in Arthritis Care) Program, Toronto, ON, March 2008 & 2009
  5. Patient-Centred Hand Therapy. Toronto Western Hospital, Toronto, ON, November, 2007

 

Department of Occupational Science & Occupational Therapy

Faculty