The current Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) Standards include a provision for the use of experiential learning methods as level I fieldwork experiences by entry-level occupational therapy (OT) education programs (ACOTE, 2018). Included in these experiences are two specific types of simulation: simulated environments and standardized patients. Earlier versions of the ACOTE Standards did not allow for the use of simulation as level I fieldwork experiences. This provision may help mitigate a shortage of level I and level II fieldwork placements and allow academic programs to provide consistent quality level I fieldwork across students (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2017). This use of simulation as a fieldwork training method is an emerging area of OT education that has limited research on its use and best practice. This doctoral project sought to contribute to the existing knowledge by conducting a research study which investigated the use of both simulated environments and standardized patients by academic programs, as well as identifying the primary supports and barriers to its implementation. The project included the creation, distribution, and analysis of a national survey of entry-level OT programs. The survey found that the main barrier and support to implementation of simulation was funding and that private institutions are more likely to utilize standardized patients than public institutions. The results of this study will help inform future ACOTE Standards, provide both the American Occupational Therapy Association and ACOTE with additional information to help determine how to best provide resources for academic programs that facilitate successful implementation of the simulation methods, and help identify programs that can participate in the dissemination of best practice in the use of simulation as fieldwork experiences. The author recommends that ACOTE should also consider mandating the use of simulation, along with other experiential learning activities, as partial fulfillment of level I fieldwork requirements, to allow for better access to funding, decrease the fieldwork burden on traditional fieldwork sites, and allow for more consistent level I fieldwork experiences.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bu.edu/oai:open.bu.edu:2144/36926 |
| Date | 19 June 2019 |
| Creators | Mack, Amanda Kay |
| Contributors | Escher, Anne |
| Source Sets | Boston University |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation |
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