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Everyone's gotta do fieldwork. In order to graduate from any occupational therapy or occupational therapy assistant program, you need both level I and level II fieldwork experiences. These requirements are set in the "Standards for an Accredited Education Program for the Occupational Therapist" and the "Standards for an Accredited Education Program for the Occupational Therapy Assistant" document used by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE).
Jumping into the "real world" of occupational therapy practice can be a bit of a shock after the relative safety of the classroom environment. Thankfully, AOTA has assembled a number of resources for fieldwork students to help get you through:
Want to know more about what fieldwork actually is, and why you've gotta do it? Check out AOTA's "Students' Frequently Asked Questions About Fieldwork" page.
The Assembly of Student Delegates developed a "Fieldwork Survival Guide" for level II affiliations. This guide gives advice on how to find placements, what you'll need to know the most, how to manage time, stress and money, and how to confront common fears in the level II experience.
The Fieldwork Experience Assessment Tool, or FEAT, is an assessment tool to help maximize learning experiences during fieldwork. The student and the fieldwork educator fill out three sections on the environment, the educator and the student. The student and fieldwork educator can then use the tool as a basis for discussion and problem-solving strategies. (Note: The FEAT is a .pdf document, which requires the free Adobe Acrobat Reader)
AOTA student-plus members have access to a Fieldwork listserv to discuss fieldwork issues among their peers.
Issues in Fieldwork
ADVANCE's exclusive column all about fieldwork, written by Patricia Crist, PhD, OTR, FAOTA. Crist is NBCOT president-elect and chair of the OT department at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. To read her column, click here.
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