Occupational Therapy

The mission of the Occupational Therapy Department is to develop competent, compassionate occupational therapy practitioners and scholars through a dynamic, student-centered, occupation-based educational program.

Vision

Our vision is to lead the profession in the meeting society’s occupational needs by fostering excellence in occupational therapy teaching, scholarship and service.

Occupational therapy is a health profession whose practitioners work with clients of all ages and diagnoses.  The goal of occupational therapy intervention is to increase the ability of the person to participate in everyday activities, including feeding, dressing, bathing, leisure, work, education and social participation. 

Occupational therapy practitioners  work in  hospitals, clinics, schools, rehabilitation centers, home care programs, community health centers, psychiatric facilities, or nursing homes. With experience, the therapist might function in private practice, as a university faculty member, as an administrator, or as a consultant.

The graduate occupational therapy (OT) curriculum is designed to facilitate occupation-based, client-centered practice, critical thinking and clinical reasoning. Courses emphasize life-long learning and professional responsibilities and help students become competent practitioners. Workshops, lectures, intervention labs, small group classes and fieldwork experiences help students apply and integrate practice grounded in theory.

The graduate OT program at Westbrook College of Health Professions emphasizes inter-professional education among nursing, nurse anesthesia, athletic training, applied exercise science, physical therapy, social work, dental hygiene, physician assistant, pharmacy, public health, dental, and osteopathic medical students.

The Occupational Therapy Program was first awarded accreditation in January 1985. The OT Program is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 4720 Montgomery Lane, Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20824-3449. [(301) 652-AOTA]. www.acoteonline.org

Graduates of the program are eligible to take the National Certification Examination for the Occupational Therapist administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be an Occupational Therapist, Registered (OTR).  NBCOT, Inc. 12 South Summit Avenue, Suite 100 Gaithersburg, Maryland 20877 Phone: 301-990-7979 Email: Info@nbcot.org web: www.nbcot.org

National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT)
Most states require licensure to practice. (State licensure requires NBCOT Certification Examination results). Eligibility for the National Certification Examination requires:

• Master's degree, with a major in occupational therapy.
• Successful completion of an accredited occupational therapy curriculum; and
• Successful completion of a minimum of six months of supervised fieldwork (Level II).

Clinical Experiences
Students complete Level I Fieldwork experiences as part of didactic courses in a variety of community and medical settings. This experience reinforces class concepts. Students are supervised by qualified personnel including occupational therapists, teachers, social workers, public health nurses, and physical therapists.

Level II Fieldwork emphasizes the application of knowledge by providing the student with an in-depth experience in delivery of occupational therapy service to patients/clients. Students complete two full time level II fieldwork experiences, each is 3 months long.

The expenses incurred for room and board during these internships, and travel to and from them, are the responsibility of each student. Students may complete fieldwork at any approved location.

The requirements for Level II fieldwork include:

• A minimum of six months (24 weeks, full time) of Level II Fieldwork experience, preferably with at least three months on a full-time sustained basis;
• Completion of all fieldwork experience no later than 18 months following completion of academic preparation;
• Supervision provided by a registered occupational therapist with at least one year of experience.

Graduation Requirements

Students must successfully complete all courses prior to graduation and fulfill all curriculum requirements.

WCHP Academic Policies

The Department of Occupational Therapy, the Westbrook College of Health Professions, and the University of New England are committed to offering a quality Occupational Therapy education program that complies with the evaluative criteria of the ACOTE (Accreditation Council of Occupational Therapy Education). The program provides learning experiences to enable graduates to achieve the outcomes required for the practice of Occupational Therapy.  Please refer to the WCHP Graduate Program Progression Policies and Procedures for detailed description of academic standards.

The OT Department’s goal is to develop competent, compassionate practitioners and scholars.

Upon completion of the Occupational Therapy curriculum, the student will be able to:

• Foundations
  • Have acquired, as a prerequisite, a breadth and depth of knowledge in the liberal arts and sciences
  • Have an understanding, awareness, and appreciation of social, global and cultural  issues.
  • Be prepared as a generalist with a broad exposure to models and systems of current and emerging occupational therapy practice.
• Occupation across the Lifespan
  • Articulate and apply evidence-based occupational therapy for people of all ages.
  • Demonstrate entry-level competence in person-centered and occupation-based practice across the lifespan.
• Communication and Leadership
  • Commit to uphold the ethical standards, values, and attitudes of the occupational therapy profession.
  • Differentiate roles and responsibilities within occupational therapy.
  • Perform as a competent and compassionate inter-professional practitioner.
  • Demonstrate effective professional communication and leadership skills.
• Critical Thinking in the OT process
  • Demonstrate effective critical thinking/clinical reasoning/interpersonal reasoning in occupational therapy practice.
  • Advocate for occupational therapy services and for/with the recipients of those services.
• Scholarship and Research
  • Commit to engage in lifelong learning.
  • Commit to the utilization and promotion of evidence-based practice.
  • Synthesize information from research and knowledge bases to support practice.
  • Participate in professional and/or inter-professional growth and dissemination of research and knowledge.

Transfer Credit

Transfer credits are rarely awarded to students who transfer from another occupational therapy program. The program director will review and award transfer credits on a case-by-case basis.

Advanced STANDING

There is no advanced standing.

Experiential Learning

No credit will be awarded to students for experiential learning.

PREREQUISITE COURSES

*Prerequisite coursework and the Baccalaureate degree may be in-progress or planned at the time of application, but must be completed by May, prior to matriculation. Please include any in-progress or planned coursework in your OTCAS application. Transcripts for coursework and/or degrees completed in the Fall term prior to the MSOT program start must be submitted to OTCAS to be verified during the Fall Academic Update period.  Transcripts for coursework and/or degrees completed in the Spring term must be submitted directly to UNE’s Office of Graduate and Professional Admissions as soon as they are available.

**Anatomy & Physiology and Neuroscience prerequisites must have been completed within seven (7) years of matriculation (taken summer 2009 or more recently) Anatomy and Physiology courses must include all body systems and be a full-year (two semester sequence) or the equivalent. Combination of courses must consist of both 4 credits of anatomy with lab and 4 credits of physiology with lab OR 8 credits of A&P I & II (both with lab). Animal Physiology and Exercise Physiology will not satisfy the physiology prerequisite.

ACADEMIC/EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

Applicants who meet the minimum requirements for application should understand that the average GPA for students accepted into the program are well above the minimum requirements. Just meeting minimum requirements does not guarantee an interview or acceptance.

• Successful completion of a Bachelor’s Degree, in any major, from a US regionally accredited institution, prior to the start of classes in May
• Successful completion of all prerequisite courses (listed above) with a "C" or better ("C-" grades are not acceptable)
• Have earned and maintained a minimum overall cumulative GPA of 3.0 as calculated by OTCAS
• Have a cumulative prerequisite GPA of 3.0 as calculated by UNE using the highest grade received for repeated courses
• Courses in Medical terminology, college level Chemistry or Physics, and Introduction to Occupational Therapy are highly recommended
• Completion of volunteer or work experience in a health or human service related setting is highly recommended

Note: Before matriculation, accepted applicants will be expected to meet all health immunization requirements; to obtain a physical examination with proof of up-to-date immunization status.  Please visit Student Health Care for details.

As required by clinical training sites, students will be subject to criminal background checks and drug screens prior to matriculation, and periodically throughout the OT program.

PROCEDURES AND POLICIES

• Applications for admission are accepted through the Centralized Application Service for Occupational Therapy (OTCAS) only. Applicants for Summer 2017 will experience a new modified non-rolling admissions process for the UNE MSOT program:
  • Priority application deadline is October 15th, deadline for electronic submission of your application to OTCAS, in order for OTCAS to be able to verify your application prior to releasing to UNE.  Applications verified by OTCAS and sent to UNE on or before November 15 will be considered for invitation to interview in November and December. (Decisions from these interviews will be made after the interviews session in December with decision letters being sent to applicants in early January, 2017.)
  • Final application deadline is February 15th, verified applications not sent from OTCAS by November 15 will be considered for invite to interview from January through March based on space availability
• Applications must be submitted to OTCAS by the posted deadlines.  Students are encouraged to complete and submit applications as early as possible in the cycle, preferably by the priority deadline.. The OTCAS application portal opens in early July for applicants to begin their application process.
• The Occupational Therapy Admissions Committee will review the full OTCAS application taking student GPAs, related work or volunteer experience, personal statement, letters of reference, and the on-campus interview into consideration when making decisions for admission.
• On-campus interviews are granted to qualified applicants by invitation only and are required for admission to the program.  
• International applicants and applicants with international degrees must have their transcripts evaluated for degree and grade equivalency to that of a regionally accredited institution in the US. See International Admissions.
• All applicants to UNE must be able to understand and communicate in English to be admitted to the university. UNE accepts several methods of English Proficiency, see International Admissions.           
• If the applicant cannot prove English Proficiency in another way, scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) are required and must be submitted as a part of the completed application.

For additional information on the admissions process and requirements, please access the OT Website.

Policy exceptions

The Occupational Therapy program and the OT Admission Committee in collaboration with the Office of Graduate and Professional Admissions reserve the right to make exceptions to the admissions criteria and to make changes or exceptions to policies and procedures, on a case by case basis, when it deems such a decision is necessary and appropriate.

Tuition and Fees

Tuition and fees for subsequent years may vary. Other expenses include books and housing. For more information regarding tuition and fees, please consult the Financial Information section of this catalog.