Quality assurance: opportunity for practical student experience.

The American Joul7lal 0./ Occupational Therapy The American Occupational Therapy Association's (AOTA's) 1989/90 Program Evaluation Guide (Accreditation Committee, 1989) for use with the Essentials and Guidelines of an Accredited Educational Program for the Occupational Therapist (American Medical AsSOCiation, American Occupational Therapy Association, 1983) includes the development and implementation of quality assurance as necessary components in educational programs for the occupational therapist. The Essentials, however, do not specify whether quality assurance is to be included in the curriculum as a part of academic course work or during fieldwork experiences. AOTA provides its members with resources and information concerning quality assurance through its Regional Quality Assurance Consultant Program. Since 1986, an objective of this program has been to increase participation of fieldwork students in quality assurance. Although there have been many references to quality assurance in the occupational therapy literature, only three entries were found that included the occupational therapy student. Although these entries referred to the importance of quality assurance and that entrylevel occupational therapists should have exposure to or familiarity with quality assurance techniques, they contained no discussion on how students might be rrepared (Gillette, 1982; Hammeke & Ganti, 1974; OStrow & Joe, 1982). The present paper describes experiences at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) at Galveston in proViding Level II fieldwork students with opportunities to learn about and to participate in quality assurance activities implemented by the occupational therapy department. UTMB provides fieldwork experiences in hospitals and clinics throughout the campus in the following practice areas: child health; forensic medicine; acute medicine and surgery; adult, geriatric, child, and adolescent mental health; substance abuse; physical rehabilitation; and gerontic medicine. Although the specific nature of each clinical assignment varies, similarities among each student's fieldwork program exist. All students attend a series of weekJy seminars, which involve orientation to general departmental procedures, lectures, and an oprortunity for each student to make a formal presentation. All students must complete written assignments, oral reports, and a special project. To proVide some direction to the students for the special project assignment, a list of suggestions for projects is available. Depending on the clinic assignment, this list might include the design and fabrication of a piece of therapeutic equipment, the development of a computer game or cognitive retraining activity, the creation of a patient education video or home program outline, the completion of an in-depth case study, the development of a needed treatment protocol, or the exploration and review of a quality assurance issue.