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This article focused on the importance of having your heart, mind, and soul behind you and your profession in order to present professionalism within the occupational therapy field. The heart of professionalism in occupational therapy, focuses on doing Good Work and/or ensuring that what we are doing is right for us as well as improving another's life. The mind of professionalism in occupational therapy, this idea is centered around working to broaden the scope of knowledge within occupational therapy as well as providing EVP to your clients because they deserve more than the routine BUE exercises. Lastly, the soul of professionalism within occupational therapy, this involves collaborating with other individuals within the profession, critically evaluating, and brainstorming to ensure that the highest standard of practice is being used within the clinics. These three components are interwoven. Therefore, if one piece, the heart, mind, or soul is missing then the level of professionalism you portray decreases.

As we engage our hearts to do Good Work, strive to nourish our minds, and to cultivate the authenticity of our souls we can help make the field of occupational therapy stand out and be a pillar of professionalism. Wendy Wood's article is inspiring and is a good read to give you a little boost.

The author's purpose of this article was to promote professionalism as heart, mind, and soul at all level so that all we do in the name of occupational therapy not only remains right for ourselves and good for the world, but also grows more so over time. He described professionalism as especially important for the well-being of individuals or of society at large, having a value so special that money cannot serve as its sole measure: it is also simply good work. The author was captured by the magic of occupational therapy as a counselor at a summer camp for autistic children, which was a truly inspiring story about how he fell in love with the profession. He emphasized how personal professionalism is; so personal, in fact, that he uses the metaphors of heart, mind, and soul to depict its most vital elements. Any field claiming professional stature must be just as dedicated to cultivating its mind as it is to nourishing its heart, as the two are wonderfully symbiotic. I loved this article, and it truly depicted the meaning of and what it means to be an occupational therapist at a personal level.

Guidelines to the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics This is a really handy resource that provides a quick glance at the different elements of the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics. It lists ten sections of professional behaviors under the code of ethics and each have a subset of behaviors which are appropriate under that section. The first professional behavior listed is honesty. "Professionals must be honest with themselves, must be honest with all whom they come in contact with, and must know their strengths and limitations" (AOTA, 2005). The second behavior listed is communication. "Communication is important in all aspects of occupational therapy. Individuals must be conscientious and truthful in all facets of written, verbal, and electronic communication" (AOTA, 2005). The third area of professional behavior is ensuring the common good. "Occupational therapy personnel are expected to increase awareness of the profession's social responsibilities to help ensure the common good" (AOTA, 2005). The fourth professional behavior is competence. "Occupational therapy personnel are expected to work within their areas of competence and to pursue opportunities to update, increase, and expand their competence" (AOTA, 2005). The fifth area of professional behavior is confidential and protected information. "Information that is confidential must remain confidential. This information cannot be shared verbally, electronically, or in writing without appropriate consent. Information must be shared on a need-to-know basis only with those having primary responsibilities for decision making" (AOTA, 2005). The sixth professional behavior area is conflict of interest. "Avoidance of real or perceived conflict of interest is imperative to maintaining the integrity of interactions" (AOTA, 2005). The seventh professional behavior area is impaired practitioner. "Occupational therapy personnel who cannot competently perform their duties after reasonable accommodati

This web resource outlines the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics and Ethics Standards, as published in 2010, by the American Occupational Therapy Association. The OT Code of Ethics is a document outlining principles to uphold to maintain high standards of professionalism within the field of occupational therapy when confronted with ethical issues. The American Occupational Therapy Association defined seven principles that occupational therapy practitioners must uphold. These seven principles are beneficence, nonmaleficence, autonomy and confidentiality, social justice, procedural justice, veracity, and fidelity. This web resource defines each of these seven principles as outlined in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy, and explains how occupational therapy practitioners can uphold these principles in practice.

In this study, 38 students between the ages 7-10 who showed poor handwriting legibility were observed over the course of one school year. 29 of the students received regular occupational therapy services, 9 received no services. Each student was evaluated at the beginning and end of the school year in the areas of Visual-motor, visual-perception, in-hand manipulation, handwriting legibility, and speed. Students who received occupational therapy services showed more improvement in in-hand manipulation, position in space scores, and handwriting legibility scores than those students who did not receive occupational therapy services. Students who received occupational therapy services increased legibility with an average of 14.2%. Students who did not receive occupational therapy services increased legibility with an average of only 5.8%. However, students who did not receive occupational therapy services had more improved handwriting speed than those who did receive services. Overall, one may conclude that students with poor handwriting legibility who receive occupational therapy services will improve their handwriting legibility skills but not necessarily their ability to write with increased speed. During my fieldwork experience in the school system I was able to work with many students on handwriting goals. Regular occupational therapy can greatly improve a student's handwriting abilities. I saw positive results with many of my students after only 12 weeks of intervention.

This page provides an overview of the laws and regulations in Ohio regarding supervision in occupational therapy practice. It discusses specific supervision practices for students, assistants, unlicensed individuals, etc.

This web resource outlines Ohio Law concerning occupational therapists supervisory roles. A supervising occupational therapist is responsible and accountable for the actions of an occupational therapy assistant, occupational therapy assistant student, occupational therapy student, and unlicensed personnel, such as an aide or technician. A full-time supervising therapist who performs evaluations and is not directly responsible for providing occupational therapy treatment may supervise six occupational therapy assistants. However, a full-time supervising therapist who performs evaluations and maintains his/her own caseload may supervise no more than four occupational therapy assistants. A supervising occupational therapist must meet weekly with occupational therapy assistants who have less than one year of clinical experience, and monthly for those who have more than one year of clinical experience. This web resource provides vital information for those of us who are planning on working in Ohio.

Occupational Therapy Incorporating Animals for Children With Autism: A Pilot Investigation. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, May/June 2006, Vol. 60, 268-274. doi:10.5014/ajot.60.3.268 This research article looks at children with autism receiving two different types of therapy. One type is where they are receiving therapy with standard techniques and the other is where they incorporate animals into their therapy. Children received both types of therapy in the school setting. The participants showed greater use of language and significantly higher social interaction during the therapy that included animals.

This article highlights the increased pressure placed on occupational therapists to utilize evidence-based practice when working with patients. The main purpose of this article is to provide occupational therapy practitioners with the knowledge and skill sets to utilize evidence to support their treatment and provide the best possible care to their patients. According to the authors, evidence-based practice requires occupational therapy practitioners to synthesize their clinical expertise, with the best evidence available to them through systematic review, as well as considering their patients' values and preferences. This article presents a framework that occupational therapy practitioners can utilize in order to create a more evidence-based practice. The first step includes asking clinical questions and then searching the literature in order to discover answers to the question. When gathering research information the occupational therapists must then place the research in hierarchies, deciphering what studies are more reliable and valid and what studies will provide better support to answer your clinical questions. This part of the process includes critically appraising the research to decide which studies are strongest and have the most sound evidence to support the clinical question. Throughout the entire process it is important for the therapist to utilize their clinical judgment in order to make the best decisions, as evidence-based practice requires a collaboration between research, clinical expertise, and patient preferences.

Bennett, S., & Bennett, J. (2000). The process of evidence-based practice in occupational therapy: informing clinical decisions. Australian Therapy Journal. 47, 171-180 This is a very helpful article from the Australian Therapy Journal that describes the process of evidence-based practice in occupational therapy. It emphasizes the importance that our profession now has placed on building our foundation in evidence-based practice and how we must have "sound evidence" to back up our treatments and interventions. The article discusses the framework to use with evidence-based practice, clinical questions to ask in research and the types of evidence to focus on at this point in time for our profession. This is a very valuable resource for newcomers to the profession as well as individuals who graduated in the past without the research component who may be interested in research at this point in time. Bennett and Bennett (2000) walk the reader through how to search for evidence based practice articles and then how to critically appraise them. It addresses the clinical importance and validity and how to know when you have a good study. Finally, it helps you to gauge how to know when you can use the evidence for individual clinical decisions.

This article discussed the effectiveness of play therapy. The article discussed the criticisms surrounding play therapy. The article found that humanistic therapy was more accepted than non-humanistic therapy. It also stated that play therapy was found to be more effective with the parents involved. I find this to be true when working with kids because it lets the parents have a chance to learn techniques and carry over into the home for better results.

This study compared language use and social interaction in children with autism who received two forms of occupational therapy. The first form was using standard techniques and the other form incorporated animals. Twenty-two children between the ages of 7 and 13 from a public school in Virigina received both forms of therapy in a school based occupational therapy program for children with autism. The results suggest that the children had a greater use of language and social interaction in sessions incorporating animals when compared to sessions using standard occupational therapy techniques. These findings add to the growing body of evidence that the therapeutic use of animals may be an effective way to engage a wide variety of therapy clients, as well as to enhance the effectiveness of established occupational therapy techniques.

The purpose of this study is to describe currently used educational strategies for teaching evidence-based practice (EBP) in entry-level master's degree occupational therapy programs in the United States. Fifty-eight entry-level occupational therapy program directors completed a survey. Results showed that occupational therapy programs consistently use a wide variety of EBP resources for teaching EBP including database searches, literature reviews, and the development of a research proposal. Less commonly used strategies include the use of case stories and journal clubs. The current study provides a baseline of existing strategies taught in entry-level programs that may be built upon to gather more information about the content of EBP coursework, and determine ways to foster implementation of EBP in practice.

This web resource outlines West Virginia law regarding occupational therapists supervisory roles. Under West Virginia law, it is the responsibility of the occupational therapist and the occupational therapy assistant to decide the appropriate frequency and quality of supervision to ensure that the occupational therapy assistant is providing both safe and effective occupational therapy services to their patients. A supervising occupational therapist who is supervising an occupational therapy assistant with less than one year's experience is responsible for providing general supervision and must be available as needed by telephone, electronic, or written communication. Additionally, the occupational therapist must provide direct contact supervision to the occupational therapy assistant every two weeks at the work site. The same supervision rules apply to an experienced occupational therapy assistant except direct contact is only required monthly. The occupational therapist must document any type of supervision. This particular document did not mention how many occupational therapy assistants an occupational therapist can supervise at one time. This document is beneficial in highlighting the supervisory roles of an occupational therapist, for anyone considering working within West Virginia.

Ikiugu, M. N., & Ciaravino, E. A. (2007). Psychosocial conceptual practice models in occupational therapy: Building adaptive capability. Elsevier Health Sciences. This is a link to a free PDF of an entire textbook about psychosocial practice models in occupational therapy. The book is divided into five parts. The first section covers background information about occupational therapy, including the historical origins of the profession as well as paradigm shifts that have occurred throughout the history of the profession. The second section covers conceptual foundations of psychosocial occupational therapy, including a discussion about how the complexity/chaos theoretical framework serves as a basis for occupational therapy practice. The third section of the book discusses general practice considerations, including client evaluation, the therapeutic relationship, use of groups, clinical reasoning, cultural considerations, and ethical decision making. The fourth section of the book covers specific psychosocial interventions. The fifth section of the book discusses the application of occupational therapy across the continuum of care, ranging from consideration of age and developmental stages to application of psychosocial occupational therapy principles in the community. Although I haven't read this textbook in it's entirety, I have found the case studies very useful when addressing psychosocial needs of clients. I highly recommend that everyone save this PDF textbook for future reference.