Degree: Associate in Applied Science
HEGIS Code: 5210
Curriculum Code: 0665
Campus Location: North
Health Sciences Division
Pre-Admission Recommendations: 83% HS Avg., 2.75 for College Students, two-page handwritten letter of intent, 25-hours volunteer exp. in OT Clinic
Recommended High School Courses and/or Experiences: HS Biology, HS Math Level II or MT 006 Level on ECC Math Placement Test
Career Opportunities/Further Education: Hospitals, Long Term Care, Rehabilitation Centers,School-Based Settings, Day TX Settings, Developmental/Physical Disability
Program Description
There have been dramatic shifts in U.S. population as a result of an increased average life span. This phenomenon, along with advances in science, technology and medicine has brought occupational therapy into the forefront of the allied health care field.
The Occupational Therapy Assistant curriculum prepares entry-level occupational therapy assistants to work in community and institutional health care programs, providing direct service to individuals.
In this program, students receive instruction in theory and develop skills relating to occupational therapy in classroom, laboratory and clinical settings. During the second year, students participate in clinical practice settings to include general physical medicine and psychiatric centers, developmental agencies, schools, nursing homes and community agencies. Through these experiences, students gain experience in teaching patients/clients methods for engagement in self care, work, play/leisure, education, social skills and home/community living skills.
OTA Program Mission
Guided and complemented by the mission and core values of Erie Community College, the Department of Occupational Therapy at ECC strives to provide the highest quality occupational therapy assistant education and career preparation to students from our diverse regional community. Our mission is to serve our customers: our students, our profession and our community.
Commitment to Our Students
In a context of respect, caring and trust, we seek to guide students in the holistic learning process to become competent and caring entry-level occupational therapy assistant practitioners who demonstrate the clinical and interpersonal skills, knowledge, cultural sensitivity, experience, maturity and values necessary for success in the dynamic healthcare, human service, wellness and rehabilitation sectors in Western New York.
We are also committed to equipping students to be lifelong learners by teaching them the skills to be self-learners, and providing them with the resources and access to quality, relevant, continuing education and higher education transfer opportunities.
Commitment to Our Profession
With integrity and accountability, we are committed to providing a high-quality, multifaceted, state-of-the-art curriculum and learning resources that reflect current, applied and emerging areas of occupational therapy practice, and exceed the standards of our profession’s accrediting body. We are also committed to playing a visible and active role in our regional occupational therapy professional community.
Commitment to Our Community
Through our relationships with employers, clinical fieldwork affiliates and the community-at-large, we are committed to serving our community by promoting occupational therapy as an important contributor to health, function and well-being, and by graduating highly qualified occupational therapy assistants who will meet the dynamic healthcare, human service, wellness and rehabilitation employment demands in Western New York.
Program Philosophy
Our program philosophy reflects the following over arching values of occupational therapy. It includes our belief about how adult students learn.
Volition
Humans, intrinsically motivated by personal values and aspirations, and extrinsically directed by environmental demands, inherently engage in a variety of occupations.We place value on the volition of individuals we work with. Therefore, volition must be encouraged and supported through therapeutic relationship, emphasis on patient/client choice and involvement, and respect for the values, culture and beliefs of patients/clients.
Occupation
Occupations are “Activities…of everyday life, named, organized and given value and meaning by individuals and a culture” (Law, Polatajko, Baptiste and Townsend, 1997). Through self-selected occupations that are relevant, meaningful and therapeutic, humans have the capacity to influence their physical and mental health, their social and physical environments. In occupational therapy, we use occupations which have intrinsic and extrinsic value; occupations that have immediate and long-term therapeutic benefits.
Adaptation
Adaptation is a change in function that promotes survival and self-actualization. By engaging in meaningful occupations, humans adapt to a variety of contexts. The capability or capacity to adapt is characteristic of health and wellness. Our focus is on finding ways to help individuals adapt to changing social, physical, cultural, personal, spiritual, temporal and virtual contexts.
Enablement
Occupations, and consequently, adaptation, may be interrupted at any time during the lifespan by biological, psychological and environmental barriers, resulting in dysfunction. The focus of occupational therapy personnel, process and technology is to enable humans, in spite of biological, psychological or environmental barriers, to gain, maintain or regain the capacity and volition to adapt by engaging in meaningful occupations. We enable adaptation through remediation, compensation, education and encouragement. In addition to enabling adaptation, occupational therapy faculty maintains core values of the profession to include: beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy/confidentiality, autonomy/confidentiality, duty, procedural justice, veracity and fidelity (AOTA, 2005).
Mary Reilly, an early leader in the occupational therapy profession, reflects the values of the profession in the simple, yet profound statement: “Man, through the use of his hands, as they are energized by mind and will, can influence the state of his own health” (1962).
Our department has the following beliefs about learning. Learning is a dynamic process which develops over a time continuum. Learning promotes cognitive and affective maturation.
Cognitive maturation is the “development of an internal process by which learners select ways of attending, learning, remembering, or thinking to develop creative problem solving and thinking” (Gagne 1992).We promote problem solving and critical thinking by building complex learning on the simple and abstract learning on the concrete. Learning develops within a hierarchy from general information acquisition to concept formation to problem solving. For cognitive strategies to be learned the students must engage in developing solutions to problems, learning new attitudes and be exposed to role models.
Students have the potential to discover meaning and connect that meaning to their career and their lives. They bring with them a set of acquired attitudes and behaviors. We believe that attitudes and behaviors can be changed; or a new set of behaviors can be learned. Behavioral development encompasses the promotion of receiving, responding, valuing, organizing, and acting consistently with values one has internalized (Krathwohl’s affective taxonomy, 1964).
We believe behavioral growth and cognitive maturation of students are equally important. Through confidence building, feedback and self reflective assessment activities, we are able to progress the student through the cognitive and behavioral learning continuums.
Accreditation
The program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA). The address is 4720 Montgomery Lane, P.O. Box 31220, Bethesda, Maryland 20824-1220. Phone number is (301) 652-AOTA. Website for
AOTA: www.aota.org.
Graduates of the program will be able to sit for the national certification exam for Occupational therapy Assistants. The National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) is the certifying agency who administers the national certification exam. After successful completion of the exam the individual will be a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (COTA). NBCOT’s address is NBCOT, Inc., 800 South Frederick Avenue, Suite 200, Gaithersburg, MD 208877, Phone: 301-990-7979, http://www.nbcot.org.
A felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT certification exam or obtain state licensure.
Graduation/Certification/Licensure
- An Associate in Applied Science degree is granted to each student who successfully completes all coursework and all fieldwork. The student must also demonstrate proficiency in algebra at the level of MT 006.
- New York State certification is required for employment in New York State. Upon graduation from the program, an individual is eligible to apply for certification. Many states in the U.S. require state licensure. Separate applications for state licensure must be filed within that state.
- New York State does not require results of the certification exam as a requirement for certification. A final official transcript indicating confirmation of an Associate in Applied Science is required.
- The total number of graduates who passed the certification exam as first time, new graduate test takers in 2005-2007 was 18 out of 20, which is a 86 percent pass rate. During that three-year time period, the program had 32 graduates.
- ECC OTA graduates interested in the practice area of psychiatric rehabilitation may meet eligibility criteria to sit for the Certification in Psychiatric Rehabilitation Practitioner (CPRP) exam after completing post graduate paid experience working within in a psychiatric rehabilitation setting. Students interested in pursuing CPRP certification should speak with their OTA advisor. Additional information can be obtained at United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (www.uspra.org).
Special Admission Requirements/Prerequisites
Students must demonstrate good physical endurance and good health. Sufficient physical strength is required for lifting and moving the human patient in a clinical setting.
- Additional required skills for a clinical setting include: Visual observation of patients and clients in treatment sessions; manipulation and handling of therapy equipment; ability to demonstrate cognitive skills relative to problem solving and clinical reasoning and handling stress.
- Applicants should have an 80 percent or above high school average
- Inter-curriculum or college transfer students must have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.50
- Will comply with the college’s math and English competency requirement; will complete developmental course-work prior to admission into the program
Department Notes
Level II students, enrolled in the last semester in field work, are not permitted to officially withdraw if they fail in fieldwork. The failing grade will be submitted to the Registrar by the OTA Department:
- The student must maintain a minimum grade of “C” in all Occupational Therapy courses, PS 100, PS 202, BI 150, BI 151, BI 152, BI 153, and PH 157
- A curriculum required course may be repeated only once. Students failing a course must provide the OTA Department a remediation plan identifying barriers and issues affecting performance. The plan will propose strategies to promote academic performance. Second failure of a required core course is not permitted.
- The curriculum is designed in a sequence of courses to be completed in that manner. Refer to course description section for sequence of courses and prerequisites.
- Each student is responsible for providing transportation to off-campus community agencies utilized for clinical activities
- A physical exam and current immunization report are required prior to start of fieldwork. Immunization against Hepatitis B is required.
- Because of the nature of the profession, deviation from professional conduct may adversely affect patient/client wellbeing. Therefore, the department reserves the right to immediately remove a student from didactic laboratory or clinical course-work and/or dismiss that student from the program if the department has determined the student has displayed inappropriate behavior or acted in an unprofessional manner. Appropriate professional conduct and department policies relative to fieldwork are outlined in the student manual.
Program Competencies
Upon graduation with an Associate in Applied Science degree in Occupational Therapy Assistant, the graduate will be able to:
- Identify basic patient needs and deficits by utilizing available resources, i.e. medical chart, performance of initial screenings, use of occupational therapy evaluation, patient/client observation team members, family and significant others
- Participate in assessment of patient/client occupational performance capacities and/or limitations
- Demonstrate ability to set patient/client goals and to plan a therapeutic program to prevent deterioration or promote independence in a patient/client performance of work, selfcare and play/leisure
- Select appropriate therapeutic activities to meet an individual’s performance in work, self-care and play by incorporating components of an individual’s life space to include cultural background, work/leisure history, socio-economic level
- Adapt therapeutic activities and/or the environment to meet a patient/client’s physical, cognitive, psychosocial, sensory integrative or developmental needs
- Utilize communication skills, both verbal and written, to exercise effective communication within a clinical setting.
- Coordinate clinical programs (i.e. in-service, patient/client, home, community, facility) and implement these programs within clinical setting
- Fabricate clinical equipment, adaptive equipment and orthotic devices used in various clinical settings
- Instruct patient, staff and family in use of fabricated equipment
- Monitor and maintain clinical equipment with regards to a given facility’s policies and procedures
- Perform business-related functions—attendance records, statistical reports, submit billing for third party payment
- Conduct oneself in a professional manner by adhering to the standards of practice, patient rights and confidentiality
- Maintain a therapeutic environment within a clinical setting to ensure order, safety, patient/client privacy
- Participate in the American Occupational Therapy Certification Exam
Curriculum
Total Degree Credits: 70.5
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