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Technical Standards & Essential Functions
Technical Standards & Essential Functions
Technical Standards and Essential Functions of a UNMC Occupational Therapy Student
Receiving an entry-level doctoral degree in occupational therapy from the Occupational Therapy Program indicates the graduate is eligible to take the national certification examination and is prepared to enter the profession. This page outlines technical standards and essential functions required for UNMC occupational therapy students to complete their education and training in the Occupational Therapy (OT) Program. Technical standards and essential functions apply to academic and clinical settings, as well as civil public behavior.
Technical standards and essential functions are stated to ensure that all students are aware of the expectations of the program. Students affirm their compliance, with or without reasonable accommodation, as a condition of admission and on an annual basis thereafter.
Definitions
- Technical standards are the knowledge, skills, and attitudes a student applicant must possess at admission, indicating their preparation for entry into the program. Technical standards are crucial for continued participation in the program.
- Essential functions are the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that all students must be able to execute, with or without a reasonable accommodation, in order to graduate from the program. Essential functions are crucial for occupational therapists in practice.
- Reasonable accommodations will be provided for qualified students with disabilities so they can meet essential functions. Reasonable accommodations will be established on an individual basis in consultation with the UNMC Accessibility Services Center.
Students must meet essential functions in four categories across academic and practice settings in order to progress in and complete the Occupational Therapy Program. The categories include:
- Professional standards and ethics;
- Mental functions;
- Sensory- and movement-related functions; and
- Communication and social interaction
1. Professional standards and ethics
Technical standards
Essential requirements
The entering student is expected to:
- Read, write, and understand oral and written English
- Demonstrate honesty, integrity, responsibility, compassion, ethics, and respect for others’ rights and property
- Demonstrate cultural humility
- Maintain privacy and confidentiality of peers, faculty, staff, and clients
- Adhere to safety precautions
- Recognize potentially dangerous situations and proceed safely to minimize risk of injury to self or others
- Accept and give constructive feedback
- Maintain work areas, equipment, and supplies
- Maintain personal appearance and hygiene
- Complete required assignments and tests within established timelines
- Attend class approximately 35+ hours per week including large groups, small groups, and integrated clinical experiences
- Participate in learning activities outside of class
- Effectively manage multiple demands and competing priorities
- Maintain professional boundaries with peers, faculty, and supervisors
The enrolled student will:
- Adhere to the Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics (2020)
- Demonstrate honesty and integrity within and outside of didactic and clinical environments
- Recognize and promote occupational justice for all persons
- Create a context in which clients are seen, valued, and heard
- Consistently apply universal precautions and infection control measures
- Collaborate with peers, faculty, FW educators, mentors, supervisors, clients, care partners, and team members
- Demonstrate professional competence, conduct, and growth through reflective self-assessment
- Demonstrate consistent professionalism in classroom and practice settings
- Actively engage in the supervisory process
- Complete health tests and immunizations required by the program or practice settings, or provide documentation of exempt status (immunization status may delay graduation)
- Complete and pass state and federal criminal background checks
- Maintain current CPR certification
- Adhere to privacy regulations (HIPAA and FERPA)
- Recognize and intervene during potentially dangerous situations and proceed safely to minimize risk of injury to self, clients, or others
- Complete client evaluations, interventions, and documentation within established timelines
2. Mental functions
Technical standards
Essential requirements
The entering student is expected to:
- Receive, process, and comprehend text, oral presentation, numbers, and graphs displayed in print, lecture, and audio-visual formats and store information for self-reference
- Use intellectual skills including attention, comprehension, measurement, mathematical calculation, reasoning, integration, analysis, critical thinking, comparison, problem-solving, self-directed learning, and planning
- Critically evaluate their own performance and the performance of others
- Articulate rationales for decision making
- Effectively use technologies such as computers, tablets, and mobile phones and supporting software programs (e.g., learning management system, electronic health records, Microsoft Office Suite, Zoom)
- Produce concise and grammatically correct written communication
- Manage time and calendar effectively
- Identify and interpret affect and nonverbal cues among peers and instructors
- Follow instructions and processes
The enrolled student will:
- Observe, evaluate, and analyze clients, contexts, and occupations which influence occupational performance
- Analyze and synthesize abundant information in a short period of time from a variety of sources
- Critically think and reason in didactic and practice settings
- Integrate occupation-based theories and models with other information during the OT process
- Identify and interpret affect, nonverbal cues, and response to intervention for people, groups, and populations
- Select relevant screening, assessment, and evaluation methods for people, groups, and populations
- Accurately interpret and synthesize evaluation results
- Make informed practice decisions using statistics, tests, measurements, and research
- Develop and implement intervention plans for people, groups, and populations
- Plan scope, frequency, and duration of service delivery
- Update, modify, and terminate plans of care
- Refer clients to services within or outside the profession as needed
- Collaborate with peers, faculty, supervisors, clients, care partners, and team members
- Supervise, select, and delegate tasks
- Follow all policies, procedures, and safety standards of program and practice settings
- Monitor health and safety of self and others and the environment and identify when intervention is needed
3. Sensory- and movement-related functions
Technical standards
Essential requirements
The entering student is expected to:
- Participate in fine and gross motor tasks
- Use senses for observation and process sensory information from people and the environment
- Participate in exploratory learning involving handling objects of various size and weight
- Travel in a timely fashion to class, labs, and practice settings
- Self-monitor and manage self in class, labs, and practice settings, for extended periods of time
- Produce legible written communication (handwritten and electronic)
The enrolled student will:
- Observe and participate in active experiential learning; perform and/or demonstrate ability to instruct others in manual and skilled tasks in class, lab, and practice settings (e.g., orthotic fabrication, daily activities, safe patient handling, equipment management, use of physical agent modalities)
- Perform evaluations and interventions that require palpation, manipulation of clinical tools, safe positioning of client and self, and demonstration of assistive devices and therapeutic techniques
- Interpret and use sensory information from people and the environment for observation, evaluation, and intervention
- Initiate safety and emergency responses and/or assist others to provide prompt care
- Tolerate and safely handle body fluids and human specimens
4. Communication and social interaction
Technical standards
Essential requirements
The entering student is expected to:
- Communicate meaning to others
- Demonstrate awareness of own non-verbal communication and interpretation by people
- Interpret verbal and nonverbal communication
- Produce concise, explicit, understandable, and legible written communication
- Communicate effectively and efficiently in oral and written formats
- Actively engage in small groups, class discussions, and presentations
- Report concerns to relevant personnel specific to situation
- Address problems or questions in a timely fashion
The enrolled student will:
- Communicate respectfully with peers, faculty, supervisors, clients, care partners, and team members including people from diverse backgrounds and varied abilities in educational activities and professional practice
- Build rapport and gather information with clients and care partners
- Read and record efficiently, accurately, and legibly in client record (charts, tests)
- Communicate any aspect of the OT process concisely in written and verbal formats
- Produce professional quality educational materials, adjusting for intended audience
- Manage conflict constructively
- Balance transparency, confidentiality, and privacy
Resources
- Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education. (2018). 2018 ACOTE standards and interpretive guide (effective July 31, 2020).
- American Occupational Therapy Association. (2020). AOTA 2020 Occupational therapy code of ethics. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 74, 7413410005
Americans with Disabilities Act
Students enrolled in the OTD program are expected to meet the Essential Functions set forth by the UNMC Occupational Therapy Program in order to be eligible for graduation. Sections 502 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) give students with disabilities certain rights regarding student and staff services and the curriculum. For information on the process for requesting accommodation for disability, contact Division of Student Success, 402-559-4199.