Yiyang (Sunny) Fang OTD, OTR/L(she/her/hers)

Objective. To describe the state of W&I occupational therapy practice and to identify challenges and opportunities in this specialty practice area.

Design. Cross-sectional survey conducted June 12 to July 17, 2020.

Setting. Online survey distributed through direct email invitations and online platforms (i.e., CommunOT, LinkedIn).

Participants. One hundred twenty occupational therapy practitioners who had worked in W&I within the most recent 5 yr.

Outcomes and Measures. We used 30 multiple-choice, Likert-scale, and free-response questions across three topics: (1) training, resources, and research; (2) challenges and barriers; and (3) opportunities.

Results. Most respondents were occupational therapy practitioners working in clinical settings with >5 yr of experience; 29.2% identified as male. The most frequently provided services were ergonomic consultation and worksite evaluation; clinic-based W&I services were less frequently provided. Workplace injury prevention, management of psychosocial issues, and employee wellness programs were ranked as the top opportunities for occupational therapy in W&I. A shortage of accessible training and resources to support W&I practice was found, particularly mentoring and occupational therapy–focused research evidence. Maintaining referrals, competition from other professions, and limited support from professional organizations were key challenges.

Conclusions and Relevance. This study illustrates the evolution of W&I occupational therapy practice and highlights an urgent need for increased professional recognition and educational support to maintain occupational therapy’s presence in this practice area.

The involvement of occupational therapy (OT) providers in work and industry (W&I) has noticeably diminished despite the historical and ontological connection between work and occupation. Clear career expectations are necessary to introduce and retain the OT workforce in this underrepresented yet essential practice area. This study aimed to describe OT practitioners’ experiences exploring and developing careers in the W&I practice area. We used an inductive thematic analysis in a multi-step, iterative process to explore experiences shared through comments and stories in response to an open-ended question in a cross-sectional online survey. Four semantic-level themes emerged, including career pathways, accumulation of expertise, professional identity, and challenges in W&I practice. Novel career paths revealed in the article underlined the limited recognition of W&I practice in OT. Structured career planning support is needed to promote the growth of this practice area.

Objective. To evaluate the quality of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) patient education handouts and identify the best resources for patients and clinicians.

Design. A document content analysis of handouts identified through a systematic internet search using 8 search terms on Google and Bing and a hand search of professional association websites.

Setting. Not Applicable.

Participants. Documents were identified from the top 50 search results across 16 individual searches. Included documents provided general patient education for CTS; descriptive websites, videos, and research studies were excluded.

Interventions. Not applicable.

Main Outcome Measures. Content analysis was conducted using the Information Score (IS) tool to evaluate completeness of information [0%-100%], and misleading treatment recommendations were identified. Design analysis was conducted using the Patient Material Assessment Tool (PEMAT-P) [0-100%] and two widely-used readability formulas, Flesch Reading Ease (FRE) and Flesch Kincaid Grade Level (FKGL). Using these results, all handouts were rated with a summative 12-point scale.

Results. Of 805 unique search results, we included 56 CTS handouts. The average IS was 74.6% ± 17.9%. 78.6% of the handouts mentioned non-evidence-based treatment recommendations. The average PEMAT-P score was 70.2% ± 10.9% and the average readability grade level was 7.7 ± 1.7. Only 3 handouts were identified as high quality based on the 12-point summative scores, while 22 handouts had mixed quality and 17 handouts had low quality on both content and design.

Conclusions. Findings of this study suggest a lack of high-quality and easily understandable CTS patient education handouts. Most handouts contained unreliable treatment information. Improvements are needed to ensure patients’ ability to understand and manage this condition.

Keywords. Carpal Tunnel Syndrome; Health Literacy; Patient Education

Accepted for AOTA INSPIRE 2021 but unable to be presented due to online event limitations.

This study systematically located and evaluated 56 patient education handouts for carpal tunnel syndrome. Handouts were reviewed for overall quality on the basis of completeness and accuracy of the content and readability for patients. Our findings point to strengths and limitations of educational materials and identified the best patient resources for OT practitioners.

Purpose. Dental hygiene graduates often experience significant psychological stress while transitioning from the educational setting to clinical practice environments. The purpose of this study was to characterize the duration of dental hygiene activities and tasks and explore efficiency within appointments, by students in educational programs.

Methods. Right-handed female dental hygiene students were recruited from two dental hygiene education programs. Each participant was video recorded while providing patient care during 3 sessions, once per term, over 3 consecutive terms. Activities, tasks, and student postures and positions were coded across the patient visit. Descriptive analyses were conducted to characterize overall durations and distributions across each category. Time spent on non-dental hygiene related activities was compared to other durations, as well as across the education/training time points and by patient type.

Results. Fifty-three videos were analyzed from nineteen participants. The average patient visit length was 155.06 ± 35.63 minutes; approximately half the visit was dedicated to instrumentation activities. Nearly 20% of the visit was categorized as activities or tasks unrelated to education or patient care. Although most participants completed the patient visit more quickly by the third time point, the percentage of non-dental hygiene activities did not decrease, and there were no associations between patient category type and the duration of the patient visit.

Conclusion. Patient visits were roughly three times the length of the typical dental hygiene care appointment, indicating a disconnect between training and practice. In addition to spending more time on hand scaling tasks, participants spent a lot of time on equipment setup and interacting with or waiting for faculty members. These findings have implications for improving efficiency in educational settings, particularly to facilitate a successful transition to clinical practice.