Increasing medical students’ understanding of the role of occupational therapists

Abstract

Understanding the roles and responsibilities of different healthcare professionals allows for collaborative care to occur. This article describes the evaluation of a student-designed, case-based educational module about the roles and responsibilities of occupational therapists (OTs) designed to increase the knowledge of occupational therapy among medical students. The study used a quasi-experimental, pre-/post-test design. Independent paired t-tests showed medical students’ mean score on the OT Awareness Education Module at post-test was significantly greater than their mean score at pre-test. Results demonstrated how using an evidence-based approach to design an educational strategy can increase the knowledge of one member of the healthcare team about the role of another within a short period. This study documented an effective approach for educating future physicians about the roles and responsibilities of occupational therapy as they prepare to make decisions affecting patient care outcomes.

• Interprofessional education
• medical students
• occupational therapy
• quantitative method
• role clarity

Acknowledgments

We acknowledge Kristen Derderian, Marissa Gayle, Leshia Jones, Tara Jones, Amanda Litt, Lael Paschal, Christen Rush, Tara Scully, Zoely Velez, and Rachel Zitrin for their contributions to the design and evaluation of this education module during their fulfillment of responsibilities as members of the 2009 Pi Theta Epsilon – Beta Delta Chapter of Nova Southeastern University’s (NSU) Master of Occupational Therapy Program and the College of Osteopathic Medicine at NSU in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the writing and content of this article.

Notes

1. A copy of this instrument is available upon request from the corresponding author.