How Are We Building Ambiki Around What Matters to You?

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Many of us became speech, occupational, and physical therapists because the fields are broad and there are opportunities for work in many settings. Covid hit our industry hard, in all settings, and accelerated the cracks we were seeing within our professions. We want to do the best session possible for our patients, but we are up against impossible expectations. How can we make progress when we have no time? We know we can’t do it alone. We know we don’t have time to become experts in every area within our respective disciplines, but we also know our patients deserve that expertise. 

 

At Ambiki, we’ve been thinking about how we can take the knowledge we all have and help each other make efficient decisions. We’re curating the knowledge we’ve collected from others just like you to make it easy for you to make evidence-based decisions quickly. 

 

The major and minor focus areas of Speech, Occupational, Physical, and Feeding Therapies are an integral part of the DNA of Ambiki. This taxonomy is used throughout Ambiki to tag objects such as the goal bank, resources, and therapist expertise. It follows the structure of:  

 

  • Discipline -> Major focus area -> Minor focus area.

 

We formulated this taxonomy to be inclusive and intend for it to be standardized and (somewhat) static. 

 

In this speech therapy example, you see 37 minor focus areas, such as ‘comparisons’ and ‘narrative development,’ within the major focus area ‘expressive language.’ 

 

Ambiki Taxonomy

 

Why do we have a shared taxonomy? 

The point of this taxonomy is to have a standardized categorization system. As an analogy, imagine the following example from another industry - translation.  

 

  • Sarah says she is an "English to German: Automobile" translator. 
  • Bob says he specializes in "English to German: Car" translations.
  • Jenny says she does "English to German: Auto" translations.

 

They are all talking about the same thing but using different words. When the text of a Honda owner manual comes, how should we search for the person to best translate that text? Having a shared classification system can better route that translation to the right person/people. 

 

The same principle applies to therapy. If we have a shared language, we can more easily recommend the best resource, goal, objective, and therapist for a given situation. 

 

A focus area is a skill or ability being worked on or improved. To qualify as a focus area, at a minimum, you should be able to answer the question "would a goal be written about this focus area?" in the affirmative. 

 

What a focus area is not: 

 

  • It is not a type of resource or activity (such as "Open-Ended Resource") 
  • It is not a diagnosis code (i.e., "Apraxia" or "Autism") 
  • It is not a disorder (like "Speech Sound Disorders" or "Resonance Disorders") 
  • It is not an area of therapist skill or interest ("Business," "Time Management," "Sales," and "Teletherapy" are not in the taxonomy)

 

The taxonomy system of Ambiki has 3 primary purposes: 

 

  1. Encourage specialization. We hope that giving therapists visibility on how they tag things will encourage therapists to create items for more niche areas. Therapists in a specialized area will rise to the top faster than therapists who are in areas where multiple therapists are competing. We hope this will bring a virtuous cycle of helping therapists succeed in their niche areas of interest while also improving the quantity and quality of resources available in those niche areas.
  2. Know who is good at what. Without a good taxonomy, it will be hard to decide who is good at what due to poor data or categories that are too generic or too specific. We ultimately hope this will lead to more patient referrals based on demonstrated expertise.
  3. Allow Ambiki to provide smart and specific recommendations (such as for goals, resources, etc.). This taxonomy will be the DNA that drives features and allows us to "know" more precisely what the therapist needs next. Instead of having to search through a goal bank of 1,000 goals, they can instead search through a goal bank of 10 goals tailored to the needs of specific patients. 

 

How does it work?

 

Ambiki Taxonomy Bubbles

 

Ambiki staff developed our taxonomy with therapists with the intention that it will rarely change. Taxonomy is like a layer that covers virtually every aspect of Ambiki. Users can engage with taxonomy to discover and use resources, content, goal banks, activity lists, and more. They can also use the browser extension to add URL resources. 

 

We built Ambiki, and the underlying taxonomy, so that you can easily find and use the knowledge in therapy sessions. With a strong foundation that allows us to easily share information, we know there is strength in our collective knowledge. We’re joining you on your journey. You’re the expert; let us help you get your knowledge out to others.  

 

Complete your Ambiki profile to start sharing your knowledge and getting information from others like you.