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OT’s Role in Firefighter Mental Health

Alyssa garciaOT’s Role in Firefighter Mental Health

Alyssa M. Garcia, OTD, OTR/L

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Occupational Therapy Gives a Smile for Life

Julie Bezold Julie veithOccupational Therapy Gives a Smile for Life

FLOTEC submission

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Improving Patient Safety in Occupational Therapy

Anna demarcoImproving Patient Safety in Occupational Therapy

Anna DeMarco

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Revamping our fieldwork teaching approaches for "zillennials"

      Have you ever spoken to fieldwork students and felt like it went in one ear and out the other? Well maybe because it has. Let’s take a step back and consider it from the student’s learning perspective; it is not due to their unwillingness to learn. Most universities have adopted an adult learning style to meet the learning needs of students from younger generations, however, fieldwork educators may continue to use the same teaching strategies from previous generations. As these students’ learning styles have evolved, we cannot continue to propose the same teaching styles we used 15, 10, or even 5 years ago. As occupational therapists, we adapt our therapeutic use of self to meet the individual needs of our clients. Fieldwork educators must also adjust our therapeutic use of self to enhance our interactions with fieldwork students for their learning experience.

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Reintegrating occupational therapy in community mental health: a pilot program

 Current community-based mental health services in the state of Florida are sparse and focused on targeted areas, such as medication management, psychiatric services, trauma-based support groups, and day programming. Few programs or services facilitate community re-integration, and those that do, rely mainly on peer support services. The current continuum of care is not always able to account for the far-reaching effects of mental health and substance abuse issues and how they create obstacles to daily living and community participation. In Florida, mental health, substance abuse, and co-occurring disorder programs are under strain from a lack of funding. According to the State of Florida Appropriations Committee 2021 Annual Budget, only 7% of the allotted 3.8 billion dollars of funding to the Department of Children and Families is designated for community mental health and substance abuse services (The Florida Senate, 2022). These funds must stretch across all the programs and other related services. Funding for occupational therapy services is largely non-existent in these programs, despite a long history of treating this population. Occupational therapists (OTs) receive specialized education and clinical training to address areas within the continuum of community reintegration for clients experiencing mental health and co-occurring disorders. OTs can apply theory and conceptual models of practice stemming from a rich occupational science history to enable successful improvements in occupational participation and performance.

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Supporting student success in fieldwork and capstone post pandemic

 

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Embracing the growth mindset theory and social learning theory to positively impact motivation and engagement in online learners

     Online education refers to a learning process in which at least 80% of the course content is delivered via an online learning platform (Yeboah, Dogbey, & Smith, 2016). Hybrid education is a curriculum that has at least 50% of their delivery online. Increasingly, OT entry level programs are being delivered using hybrid curriculum. In addition, post-professional OT programs are primarily online in education delivery. According to the literature, enrollments in online education have grown rapidly in the past decade throughout postsecondary education (Jaggars, 2014). This growth offers learners opportunities, but also presents challenges for learners enrolled in online courses. For instance, despite the rapid growth in enrollment for online distance education courses, learner persistence and academic performance in online courses is often much lower than in traditional non-online courses (Croxton, 2014). Furthermore, according to Kauffman (2015), attrition rates remain high for online education courses as compared to traditional non-online distance education courses. Online education research studies have identified internal factors that lead to the underperformance for online learners (Croxton, 2014). These internal factors include lack of motivation, challenges with self-determination, and issues with not experiencing online engagement (Croxton, 2014). To this end, online college students who experience the least amount of motivation and engagement are said to be at a greater risk of dropping out (Pruett & Absher, 2015). It is of interest to identify ways the faculty can have an essential role in improving the motivation and engagement of online learners moving forward.

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Maximizing the OT and OTA Supervisory Relationship

     The Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE®) standards and the Standards of Practice for Occupational Therapy identify the collaborative roles of OT/ OTA intraprofessional responsibilities (Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education [ACOTE], 2018; American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2020, 2015). According to the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA, 2022), there are 16 occupational therapy and 20 occupational therapy assistant programs in Florida. The 2022 U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook reports 6,770 occupational therapists and 2,550 occupational therapy assistants licensed in Florida (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022). The employment rates for occupational therapy practitioners are growing exponentially, with an expected increase of 24% for OTAs and OT aides and 14% for OTs by 2031 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2022). With the growing demand for occupational therapy practitioners, the profession must ensure that OT and OTA students and practitioners have the knowledge and skills to promote quality supervisory and collaborative relationships to ensure best practices for our clients. This process should start in the educational environment.

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Health management as an IADL

        The updated Florida Occupational Therapy Practice Act defines health management as “therapeutic services designed to develop, manage, and maintain health and wellness routines” (The Florida Legislature, 2022). The American Occupational Therapy Association also de- fines it as an instrumental activity of daily living (IADL) in the Occupational Therapy Practice Framework (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 2020). The goal of health management is to improve or maintain health to support participation in occupations. The categories of health and wellness can be broken down into the following categories (AOTA, 2022):

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OT Pelvic Health CE offered by Region 9

Call to Action: Share Your Feedback with CMS

Call to Action: Share Your Feedback with CMS

OT practitioners, it’s not too late to make your voices heard by CMS!
 
As you may already be aware, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is seeking feedback on its Medicare Physician Fee Schedule (MPFS) Proposed Rule for Calendar Year 2023. AOTA is in the process of finalizing a comment letter that will be submitted on behalf of organizational members, highlighting key areas of concern noted in the proposed rule and advocating for better access and reimbursement for occupational therapy services under Medicare Part B.
 
In this rule, CMS proposes a 4.4% decrease to the conversion factor and confirms continuation of the 15% payment cut for services delivered in whole or in part by an OTA. CMS proposes additional codes that may be delivered via telehealth after the COVID-19 public health emergency ends, but occupational therapy practitioners will only be able to access those codes for 151 days beyond the PHE since we are not considered permanent telehealth providers.
 
AOTA has been continually advocating on these issues and AOTA’s voice is strong, but we are stronger when the voices of our members are raised in support of the needed changes to keep our profession alive. 
 
We encourage members to share your personal story with CMS on how these cuts and policies are impacting your practice. This doesn’t have to be a formal comment letter—it can be a few sentences, a case example, or a paragraph on the struggles you face every day in delivering quality occupational therapy services. 
 
CMS needs to hear from you that continued cuts and lack of access to telehealth services after the public health emergency will have a direct impact on Medicare beneficiary access to timely, medically necessary occupational therapy services. 
 
Comments are due to CMS by September 6, 2022 at 11:59pm. We hope you’ll take a few moments to share your real-world experience with CMS.
 
Your advocacy efforts will make a difference!!!
Thank you for your membership!
FOTA
 

Joint effort with the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and the Department of Elder affairs in a home modification program.

Joint effort with the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and the Department of Elder affairs in a home modification program.

Eligible providers will have 60 days to complete the application for funding. Providers must apply by February 14, 2022.

FOTA's Government Affairs is proud to announce a joint effort with the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA) and the Department of Elder affairs in a home modification program designed to enable older adults in Florida to remain in their homes, rather than move to nursing homes or other assisted care facilities. The goal of this program is to enable low-income elderly persons to remain in their homes through low-cost, low barrier, high impact home modifications to reduce older adults’ risk of falling, improve general safety, increase accessibility, and to improve their functional abilities in their home. The program requires that an occupational therapist play the lead role for the home modification team. 
 
Details are limited at this time. We anticipate the cap for home mods will be around $5,000 for each client, and are still working on identifying an appropriate reimbursement rate for clinician. The initiative will occur throughout Florida, so where ever you are, you are needed. We are encouraging OTs to register with AHCA as Medicaid providers to shore up our resources in prep for this influx of around $127 million dollars earmarked for this initiative.
Please review the following alert to learn more. 

Florida Agency for Health Care Administration Announces Application Period for Home and Community-Based Services Provider Funding

~The initial application period focuses on supporting providers with workforce recruitment and retention~
TALLAHASSEE, FL – Today, the Agency for Health Care Administration (Agency) announced the initial application period for three components of the Agency’s Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) enhanced funding plan. Eligible providers will have 60 days to complete the application for funding. Providers must apply by February 14, 2022.
“Under Governor DeSantis’ leadership, taking care of Florida’s seniors and most vulnerable residents has been and continues to be a top priority,” said Agency Secretary Simone Marstiller. “The Agency is pleased to invest this enhanced funding in Florida’s home and community-based services providers to strengthen their ability to recruit and retain staff to care for the most vulnerable and enhance the ability of these Floridians to receive care in a community-based setting.”
The three components included in the initial application cycle include:
  • •One-time provider stipend payments to support HCBS providers;
  • One one-time payments to aid eligible HCBS providers in recruiting and retaining qualified staff; and
  • Funding to support the purchase of delayed egress systems for group homes and adult day training centers.
More information on the application process and a list of eligible provider types can be found HERE.
The application process for eligible providers is to ensure appropriate measures are put in place to prevent fraud, waste, and abuse. The Agency will announce additional application periods for remaining program components, which are expected to occur by April 2022.
Florida’s HCBS programs serve the state’s aging population, as well as individuals with physical, intellectual, and developmental disabilities. For more information about Florida’s strategy for administering the increased FMAP funding for HCBS providers and to apply or obtain updates on upcoming application cycles, please visit: https://ahca.myflorida.com/hcbsapplication.

What is an OT Compact and How Does it Apply to Me?


FOTA OT COMPAQ

FOTA OT COMPAQ2

INTEGRATING HEALTH LITERACY IN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

INTEGRATING HEALTH LITERACY IN EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING


Shirish Lala, EdD(c), MHS, OTR/L Academic Fieldwork Coordinator Daytona State College

The pursuit of acquiring literacy is intentional, purposeful, and deictic, and subject to change based on the contextual demands (Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, Castek, & Henry, 2013). Literacy can be loosely defined as a construct that provides an individual with the ability to read, write, and integrate information across a broad range of platforms in order to identify, recognize, and implement knowledge for the purpose of personal,social, or financial gain. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services describes health literacy (HL) as “the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions” (National Network of Libraries of Medicine [NNLM], 2011). However, according to the Centers for Disease Control, low HL is a serious public health issue affecting nine out of every ten adults (Centers for Disease Control [CDC], 2018a). At least 50% of the adults without high school education are at risk for experiencing severe health crises including medication errors, increased hospital visits, higher mortality, and greater health expenditure as compared to those with adequate HL levels (Brach et al., 2012).


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FOCUS Quarterly Deadline Approaching

FOCUS quarterly
FOCUS QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER DEADLINE IS MARCH 15

FOTA Boosts Quarterly Publication 

In a persistent move towards meeting the needs of its membership and readers, FOCUS, the official publication of the Florida Occupational Therapy Association (FOTA) has been renamed The FOCUS Quarterly.  The Author’s Guidelines have been adapted to include formal review of submitted materials, and inclusion of a variety of opportunities for the novice and seasoned writers in the community of occupational therapy and collaborating partners.  

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Human Trafficking CE Requirement

Hello,

Just a reminder that there is now a requirement for a Human Trafficking CE

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