RA Moves to Strengthen Physical Rehab Education
Motion 1 was a hot topic on AOTA listservs prior to the conference. The motion asked the Representative Assembly to create a committee to establish competencies in upper extremity rehab for entry-level practitioners. While Motion 1 was defeated earlier today, the RA took three subsequent actions to support occupational therapy's role in physical rehab and strengthen the focus on core sciences and practice skills in this area in OT school curricula.
Part of the rationale behind Motion 1 was a perception that current OT students and new practitioners are not well-enough prepared in core sciences like anatomy and kinesiology, as well as in hands-on skills like splinting and manual muscle testing. The American Society of Hand Therapists had disseminated a survey to its members prior to the conference regarding students' preparation in these areas; more than half of the roughly 1200 respondents said they were seeing problems in this area, according to information that was discussed by Motion 1's originators during task group deliberation on this issue.
The task group decided to defeat Motion 1, with the originators' agreement, because they felt that a committee to develop competencies in this area was not the best way to address the problem at hand.
The three actions the RA took were:
- 1) To have AOTA staff develop a fact sheet on occupational therapy practice in the physical rehabilitation of the upper extremity, due by the fall online RA meeting - this would help AOTA staff as well as therapists to establish the role and expertise of OTs in this area when working with payers and addressing professional encroachment issues.
- 2) To recommend to the Blueprint for Education for the Future committee to recommend course content to retain excellence in physical rehab - the Blueprint committee, the second phase of the Model Curriculum committee, will be developing specific competency and course content recommendations that will reflect excellence in occupational therapy practice.
- 3) To have AOTA staff deliver to OT program directors a presentation on the state of education in the core sciences - since ACOTE's Standards already address competencies in physical rehab and UE skills, the task group questioned why students aren't being adequately prepared in this area. They felt a presentation to program directors on the importance of education in this area would help ensure that faculty are not just teaching this content, but teaching it thoroughly and in ways (for example, hands on labs as opposed to Web-based modules) that will better ensure new practitioners' competence in applying these skills in the clinic.
The full text of Motion 1 is available on AOTA's Web site on the RA page; the listserv discussion on the motion is available on AOTA's Physical Disabilities Special Interest Section forum. Both require AOTA membership to access.