title: Increasing medical students' understanding of the role of occupational therapists.
abstract: Understanding the roles and responsibilities of different healthcare professionals allows for collaborative care to occur. This article describes the evaluation of a student-designed, case-based educational module about the roles and responsibilities of occupational therapists (OTs) designed to increase the knowledge of occupational therapy among medical students. The study used a quasi-experimental, pre-/post-test design. Independent paired t-tests showed medical students' mean score on the OT Awareness Education Module at post-test was significantly greater than their mean score at pre-test. Results demonstrated how using an evidence-based approach to design an educational strategy can increase the knowledge of one member of the healthcare team about the role of another within a short period. This study documented an effective approach for educating future physicians about the roles and responsibilities of occupational therapy as they prepare to make decisions affecting patient care outcomes.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Occupational Therapy , School of Health Sciences, University of Newcastle , Callaghan , New South Wales , Australia and.
authors.forename: Elysa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.affiliation: b Department of Rehabilitation Sciences , Florida Gulf Coast University , Fort Myers , FL , USA.
authors.forename: Eric
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shamus
mesh_terms: D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006282:Health Personnel / Q000193:education*; D006801:Humans; D007400:Interprofessional Relations; D000072087:Occupational Therapists / Q000592:standards*; D009788:Occupational Therapy / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024382:Professional Role; D013337:Students, Medical
keywords: Interprofessional education; medical students; occupational therapy; quantitative method; role clarity