OT resources
OT resources and healthcare are ever evolving with the goals to improve the quality of care and patient outcomes, requiring medical professionals to prove the value of their services. Occupational therapists need resources to ensure they are using effective interventions supported by research while maintaining an inclusive and modern approach to their therapy sessions with the use of technology advancements. This article will highlight a few OT resources to find relevant literature and practice guidelines to modernize your practice to meet clients' needs.
Professional associations and organizations
These professional organizations are dedicated to improving the quality of healthcare services by offering continuing education, publications and access to research literature and are among the best OT resources:
- American Occupational Therapy Association, AOTA: A professional organization for occupational therapists that offers some free online information, but membership is required to view the full benefit from this site. Membership helps drive efforts of occupational therapy on a legislative level and makes it possible to provide extensive collections of OT resources for research, continuing education, and summaries to help therapists find effective solutions for challenges faced in current practice.
- American Society of Hand Therapists, ASHT: The professional organization for hand therapists offers some free online information with most of the site accessible with membership. Membership helps promote advocacy, education, research, and clinical standards to its members.
- World Federation of Occupational Therapists: Is a global organization that works with various national professional organizations to offer insight into standards for education, policies, manuals, and guidelines. Membership is required to access full content offered.
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services: Is a free online resource to view up to date guidelines for billing and coding therapy services.
- World Health Organization: A global resource to find information on interventions and conditions treated around the world, gaining an outward perspective on health conditions.
Research databases and journals
Another excellent set of OT resources are databases and professional journals.
Some of these OT resources are free and dedicated to the field of occupational therapy while others are geared to a broader group of health care professionals but offer information for occupational therapists.
- American Journal of Occupational Therapy: Also known as AJOT, offers literature pertaining to occupational therapy and accessible with AOTA membership.
- Cochrane Library: Free online resource with collections of evidence for searchable interventions. Membership is available but not required to view literature.
- National Library of Medicine: Free online resource to review research pertaining to specific interventions.
- Occupational Therapy Journal of Research, OTJR: is a peer reviewed journal focusing on factors of human participation and factors that influence health and well-being.
Many of these OT resources offer a portion of their literature as open access, where readers can explore the content for free. Other journals offer content for a fee, in which case, you pay-to-view content. Local libraries, colleges, and universities may assist you in viewing journals. Ask your local librarian or school administrator for more information to access content you may have difficulty viewing.
Therapy tools and assessments
OT resources such as the Shirly Ryan Ability Lab are a great place to start when searching a comprehensive list of assessments for the most appropriate assessments to have on hand for their practice. Considerations such as population, health conditions, age, and cost are all highlighted to help you start your search into which assessments to use in your practice.
Teletherapy platforms
The Department of Health and Human Services, HHS, provides current teletherapy guidelines at Telehealth.hhs.gov, including best practice guidelines and a provider toolkit for selecting secure, and accessible teletherapy platforms. The Department of HHS lists platforms, Microsoft Teams, and Cisco Webx as being HIPAA Compliant with additional privacy protection of HIPAA Business Associate Agreements (BAA) available.
TheraPlatform is another reputable option for a teletherapy platform that offers regular HIPAA compliance audits, and a business associate agreement (BAA). Desirable features when selecting a teletherapy software include end-to-end encryption, download requirements, intuitive use for patients, and if patients can sign an informed consent for teletherapy services through the selected platform.
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Occupational health apps and online programs
When evaluating evidence-based effectiveness, consider using apps as an accessory to complement clinical skills for achieving desired therapy outcomes. Apps can be a great way to incorporate into a home exercise program to reinforce engagement with therapy concepts outside of a client’s session.
Consider the core method and outcome desired for your interventions to align its modern literature and best practice guidelines when incorporating apps into your practice. Use your clinical judgment on the app quality and use due diligence to align your apps, essentially your therapy equipment with best practice guidelines mentioned above with professional organizations such as AOTA, and the Choosing Wisely Campaign by The American Board of Internal Medicine.
Below are apps, OT resource and online programs that can help during interventions.
- Dexteria: A free app that offers a library of fine motor skills to help clients build fine motor coordination and strength.
- CDC Milestone tracker app: An app for pediatric therapists and clients to quickly review milestones with tips to support child development.
- Choiceworks: A visual schedule building app that lets users take pictures for creating a visual schedule.
- Kahn Academy Kids app: The kids version includes several games to help with letter recognition, letter formation and developmental concepts. Kahn Academy also offers an online program for adults to practice skills and even prepare for tests which may be beneficial for therapists and clients alike.
- Lumosity: An online program to help stimulate cognitive skills.
- Tools to Grow: An online resource that offers handouts and intervention ideas for therapists of school age children with concepts including sensory suggestions, ADL ideas and fine motor practice with colorful illustrations to share with clients.
Online communities and forums
Professional organizations such as AOTA offer community forums for therapists to collaborate and exchange ideas for practice.
Social media may also offer community forums for therapists but use your clinical judgment when deciding the quality of information exchanged on a forum.
Questions when considering quality include asking if the information aligns with the mission of occupational therapy to include evidenced-based methods, information that aligns with occupational therapy’s ethical framework, and culturally inclusive content.
Exchanges among professionals in online forums should maintain professional boundaries and respect administrative policies for each forum.
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Culture and diversity OT resources
OT resources to address cultural competence and diversity include searching online for authors and fellow practitioners who identify as part of an underrepresented community such as LGBTQ+, racial, and ethnic minorities.
American Occupational Therapy Association has an OT forum where you can connect with other practitioners to exchange ideas for addressing questions about serving underrepresented communities and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Frameworks to further guide therapists in improving the breadth of their care.
Another important note is to consider lingual diversity, literacy level, and emphasis on an individual’s occupational profile to hear what your clients need from you as a therapist to incorporate their values into your care for their needs.
Intersectionality resources help therapists understand that everyone has unique experiences of discrimination and oppression. Aside from actively listening to one another to consider each person’s unique perspective, resources such as the American Occupational Therapy Association and the National Institutes of Health provide resources and tools for practitioners to incorporate an intersectional lens into their practice. The American Heart Association offers information on motivational interviewing and active listening to help therapists with active interview styles to encourage client self-reflections to gain a better understanding of how to care for their individual needs.
Self-care and well-being resources for therapists
Self-care resources available such as Calm and Headspace, offer guided meditation and related activities to help manage your mindset for self-care. Youtube is a good resource for instructional videos for hobbies, or exercise videos that users can access for free. Additionally, sites like Pandora for music and Libby, a public library app let users access books and audiobooks for free to help them relax during their downtime.
The Mayo Clinic published an online resource to help recognize the signs of burnout, possible reasons you may be feeling burnout, and tools for management such as seeking out relaxing activities, prioritizing exercise, and practicing mindfulness. Time for self-care helps you step away from what is fueling your burnout so you can clear your mind and think about solutions for managing your burnout. Other techniques for managing stress include creating short-term and long-term goals to help you incorporate meaningful activities into your own life and make progress toward managing your workload better.
Conclusion
The internet and current apps on the market offer a world of possibilities and OT resources to help you run a smooth, productive, and efficient practice. Occupational therapists are encouraged to explore these OT resources to maintain the quality of care by supporting professional organizations and resources to keep their interventions modern with online platforms, apps, and programs.
Resources
In addition to these OT resources, using platforms such as Theraplatform, an all-in-one EHR, practice management and teletherapy software, can help therapists store and access all of their resources in one location. Sign up for a 30-day free trial with no credit card required. Cancel anytime.
More resources
- Therapy resources and worksheets
- Therapy private practice courses
- Ultimate teletherapy ebook
- The Ultimate Insurance Billing Guide for Therapists
- The Ultimate Guide to Starting a Private Therapy Practice
