When education requires in-person work during a pandemic
August 26, 2020

By Kate Faye / HSC News

With Keck Medicine of USC now accepting all patients for needed health care services and the fall semester in motion, departments throughout have taken steps to make sure that the risk of COVID-19 transmission is minimal. This has resulted in new policies and best practices to which each school has had to quickly adapt.

As part of a series covering these changes, this article will focus on the efforts made at the USC Mrs. T.H. Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy to safely welcome back students and ensure they get the best education possible under these unusual circumstances.

Hybrid training to minimize in-person studies

In order to minimize the risk of COVID-19 transmission among faculty, staff and patients, students are learning remotely whenever possible. However, the very nature of occupational therapy means that students can only learn so much without practical hands-on experience, making a hybrid learning model essential.

“Some in-person course work is required in order to meet professional accreditation standards and learning objectives in preclinical courses,” said Julie McLaughlin Gray, PhD, OTR/L, professor of occupational therapy at the USC Chan. “Clinical fieldwork experiences are mostly off-site, and students will adhere to the placement site protocols for health and safety.”

Read the full article at HSC News.

⋯