There is a recognized gap in knowledge between the academic and research world and that of the practicing clinician. This gap serves as a barriers to moving foward in today’s healthcare environment, which increasingly demands evidence-based interventions and outcomes. The demands on today’s clinician include increased productivity requirements, reduced treatment frequency and duration, and expectations to maximize available reimbursement levels. These demands all contribute to a workig environment that does not support clinical practice in accordance with occupational therapy or evidence-based principles. This project is designed to provide today’s clinician with a re-orientation to, and a working knowledge of principle American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) documents such as the Centennial Vision, Occupational Therapy Practice Framework: Domain & Process 3rd Ed., Standards of Continuing Competence, Occupational Therapy Standards of Practice, and the Code of Ethics and Ethics Standards as a means to refocus practice with philosophy. This is a necessary step towards a return to occupational performance directed care. The workshop will also address three specific models of practice which possess easy to interpret concepts that ca be easily applied to practice. These documents and models or practice are valuable resources to support the clinician in providing occupation-based, client-centered care which reflects the authenticity and uniqueness of occupational therapy practice. The second component of this workshop will address the issues related to knowledge translation, and the issue related to integrating evidence-based practice into the clinic. Clinicians are expected to utilize evidence in practice, though there is common reference in the literature regarding the difficulty clinicians have with achieving this, which include a lack of skills, confidence, and tools. This workshop will explore the barriers and strategies to evidence-based practice, and provide strategies that will support the novice evidence-based practiioner in accessing and interpreting research.
