Delivering Rehabilitation Care Around the World: Voices From the Field.

OBJECTIVES: To identify the challenges and common issues that the rehabilitation health workforce experienced in delivering services in different practice settings across the world. These experiences could suggest approaches to improving rehabilitation care to people in need. DESIGN: A semi-structured interview protocol centering on 3 broad research questions was conducted to collect data. The data were analyzed to identify common themes across the cohort interviewed. SETTING: Interviews were conducted using Zoom. Interviewees not able to access Zoom provided written responses to the questions. PARTICIPANTS: Participants included 30 key rehabilitation opinion leaders from different disciplines from 24 countries, across world regions and income levels (N=30). INTERVENTIONS: NA. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Although rehabilitation care deficiencies differ in severity, participants reported that the demand for services consistently outstrips available care, regardless of world region or income level. Access and social barriers, particularly in rural areas and remote regions, are common challenges for those delivering and receiving rehabilitation care. RESULTS: Individual voices from the field reported both challenges and hopeful changes in making rehabilitation services available and accessible. CONCLUSIONS: The descriptive approach undertaken has allowed individual voices, rarely included in studies, to be highlighted as meaningful data. Although the research findings are not generalizable beyond the convenience cohort included without further analysis and validation in specific local practice contexts, the authentic voices that spoke out on these issues demonstrated common themes of frustration with the current state of rehabilitation services delivery but also hopefulness that more solutions are on the horizon.

Development of a hybrid distance occupational therapy program in Alaska.

There are shortages of health professionals in rural states. Correspondingly, health professions education programs often do not exist in these areas. Students from rural areas seeking health professions degrees frequently move out of state or to urban areas for education. To address the shortage of occupational therapists in Alaska, Creighton University, a private, Jesuit university partnered with the University of Alaska Anchorage, a public institution, to deliver a hybrid occupational therapy program to students residing near or in Anchorage, Alaska. Characteristics for a successful interorganizational partnership include effective communication, a common goal, mutual needs, and trust. This academic program was designed by applying these characteristics and using agreed-upon benchmarks for web-based programs as described by Phipps and Merisotis. The collaborative program demonstrates a model, which could be used between two disparate institutions to meet the challenges and needs of rural and underserved areas for access to health education programs.

Fostering cultural competency, clinical reasoning, and leadership through international outreach.

ABSTRACT The Centennial Vision of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) has called for occupational therapy to be globally connected. Students can gain cultural competency, clinical reasoning, and leadership from attending didactic coursework and participating in discussions and clinical simulations. Immersing oneself in international settings, however, tends to have a greater impact on learning. The authors describe the outcomes of two international outreach programs: China Honors Immersion Program (CHIP) and Institute for Latin American Concern (ILAC). The outcomes of these programs indicate that students believe that such international experiences greatly affect their development, both professionally and personally. Implications of the program outcomes to current professional education are discussed. Future research directions are also proposed.