LEVEL II FIELDWORK
The goal of Level II Fieldwork is to develop competent, entry-level, generalist occupational therapists. The Level II Fieldwork experience is designed to promote clinical reasoning and occupational based practice, by giving students the opportunity to collaborate with an occupational therapy clinical educator and develop independent skills related to human occupation and performance. According to AOTA, this fieldwork experience gives OT students “the opportunity to develop increased knowledge, attitudes, and skills in advocacy, administration, management and scholarship.”
The OTD program is committed to creating fieldwork partnerships in traditional, nontraditional, and emerging settings.
Students will complete two Level II fieldwork experiences throughout their time are Rutgers focused on developing competent, entry-level occupational therapists. Prior to either Level II fieldwork experience, students will have completed three Level I fieldwork experiences. By completing these experiences first, the program wants to ensure that students are prepared with their clinical and critical thinking skills before entering their first level II fieldwork. This timeline is designed to increase students’ success when participating in their Level II fieldwork experiences. The timing of these fieldwork experiences also ensures that students will have completed much of their didactic curriculum prior to their Level II fieldwork experiences. All courses in the curriculum are designed to improve and support the students’ success during these critical experiences.
Each Level II fieldwork will consist of 12 weeks of hands-on experiences that will provide application of concepts and principles learned in the academic program. Under the supervision of a licensed occupational therapist, students will further develop professional behaviors, clinical reasoning, and clinical skills to provide occupational therapy intervention services in a traditional or emerging area of practice.
It will be the responsibility of the academic fieldwork coordinator to ensure that fieldwork sites are integrated with the curriculum and to ensure that the sites meet each student’s learning needs.
The goal of Level II Fieldwork is to develop competent, entry-level, generalist occupational therapists. The Level II Fieldwork experience is designed to promote clinical reasoning and occupational based practice, by giving students the opportunity to collaborate with an occupational therapy clinical educator and develop independent skills related to human occupation and performance. According to AOTA, this fieldwork experience gives OT students “the opportunity to develop increased knowledge, attitudes, and skills in advocacy, administration, management and scholarship.”
The OTD program is committed to creating fieldwork partnerships in traditional, nontraditional, and emerging settings.
Students will complete two Level II fieldwork experiences throughout their time are Rutgers focused on developing competent, entry-level occupational therapists. Prior to either Level II fieldwork experience, students will have completed three Level I fieldwork experiences. By completing these experiences first, the program wants to ensure that students are prepared with their clinical and critical thinking skills before entering their first level II fieldwork. This timeline is designed to increase students’ success when participating in their Level II fieldwork experiences. The timing of these fieldwork experiences also ensures that students will have completed much of their didactic curriculum prior to their Level II fieldwork experiences. All courses in the curriculum are designed to improve and support the students’ success during these critical experiences.
Each Level II fieldwork will consist of 12 weeks of hands-on experiences that will provide application of concepts and principles learned in the academic program. Under the supervision of a licensed occupational therapist, students will further develop professional behaviors, clinical reasoning, and clinical skills to provide occupational therapy intervention services in a traditional or emerging area of practice.
It will be the responsibility of the academic fieldwork coordinator to ensure that fieldwork sites are integrated with the curriculum and to ensure that the sites meet each student’s learning needs.
Level II Fieldwork Learning Outcomes
- Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the role of OT in varied practice settings.
- Articulate and apply occupational therapy theory, client-centered evaluation, and OT practice-related evidence to formulate, implement and modify occupation-based interventions.
- Demonstrate effective interdisciplinary collaboration skills to maximize OT clients’ and populations’ functional outcomes.
- Demonstrate an emerging understanding of task analysis in areas of occupation, performance skills, performance patterns, activity demands, context(s) and environments, and client factors in required course assignments.
- Discuss with fieldwork educator observations based on appropriate theoretical approaches, models of practice, and frames of reference to develop occupation-based intervention plans and strategies based on the stated needs of the client and family as well as data gathered during the evaluation process.
- Demonstrate the ability to effectively utilize available community resources and create/generate new resources to meet the needs of OT clients and populations.
- Demonstrate entry-level clinical competence, professional behaviors, and leadership abilities through a combination of academic and fieldwork education culminating in meeting established professional criteria.
- Analyze the effects of commonly seen physical and mental health disease processes on occupational performance for children and adults, within the context of communities and social groups.
- Engage in scholarly endeavors to interpret and apply evidence-based practice data to OT practice.
- Demonstrate professional written and verbal communication skills in writing through organizing, thinking critically, and communicating ideas and information in documents and presentations.
- Use sound judgment in regard to safety of self and others and adhere to safety regulations throughout the occupational therapy process.