{"id":27538,"date":"2013-10-24T11:24:38","date_gmt":"2013-10-24T18:24:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stage.headlessnauedu-b6hgdzckfdgxgzhe.westus-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=27538"},"modified":"2013-12-03T08:27:53","modified_gmt":"2013-12-03T15:27:53","slug":"nau-moves-front-edge-occupational-therapy-new-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/nau-moves-front-edge-occupational-therapy-new-program\/","title":{"rendered":"NAU moves to \u2018front edge\u2019 of occupational therapy with new program"},"content":{"rendered":"

Occupational therapists excel at overcoming the obstacles between people and their potential, and the high-demand field is about to broaden the health care horizon with a new doctorate program<\/a> at Northern Arizona University.<\/p>\n

Beginning in fall 2014, NAU will be the only public university in Arizona to offer occupational therapy, and one of a handful nationwide that will award a doctoral degree. The 33-month program, which includes a 16-week residency, will operate out of the Phoenix Biomedical Center.<\/p>\n

Founding chair Patricia Crist<\/b> speaks with conviction about the field\u2019s person-centered philosophy, and she brings experience with establishing a \u201cpractice scholar\u201d model at the master\u2019s level. At NAU, she can take that approach a step further.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe profession appears to be pushing toward the doctorate and I wanted to be on that front edge,\u201d Crist said. A practice scholar \u201cis not just a user of evidence but creates evidence in their own context,\u201d she said, emphasizing the dual role of applying and producing research. \u201cWe need practitioners who can read deeper into the research, translate observed changes from interventions into outcome studies and show that they\u2019re making a difference in people\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Crist, occupational therapists fill an important niche in health care by addressing the whole person, physically and emotionally, while considering the environment in which that person lives. While some practitioners are hand specialists and stroke recovery specialists\u2014areas most often associated with the field\u2014most fill wider roles as creative problem solvers. She said the largest employer for occupational therapists is K-12 schools, which use them for readiness skills such as handwriting or behaviors conducive to remaining in the classroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are a lot of health care fields that do things to people,\u201d Crist said. \u201cOccupational therapists talk about doing things with people, as a coach and facilitator. We want you to be able to do things that are everyday parts of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

NAU\u2019s program will emphasize service learning. While two new practice labs and a home simulation lab await the first cohort of students, Crist said that she is building connections with community agencies to give the students experience with people \u201cin their natural context.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cStudents need to see people in their lifelong journey adapting to disability, chronic illness or social conditions so that they can choose strategies that will be meaningful in the long term,\u201d Crist said.<\/p>\n

The program is pursuing provisional accreditation while recruiting faculty and students, with plans for the first class of 24 to begin in August. They will be studying alongside NAU students in the physician assistant studies and physical therapy programs already established at the Phoenix Biomedical Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe value people who love to teach new skills, to seek creative solutions to everyday challenges and to engage in meaningful relationships with clients,\u201d Crist said, offering a profile of the type of student who might be interested in the field.<\/p>\n

Applicants must have completed a bachelor\u2019s or master\u2019s degree. The program is entry-level, which means it is not a post-professional option for practicing therapists.<\/p>\n

But recruiting shouldn\u2019t be difficult. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for occupational therapy is growing \u201cmuch faster than average,\u201d with a median salary of more than $72,000 per year.<\/p>\n

Arizona, in particular, faces a shortage of health care professionals and the deficit is expected to deepen over the next decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cNAU\u2019s goal is to provide high-quality health care to the people of Arizona,\u201d Crist said. She emphasized that health care in general is turning to a community participation model, in which wellness, a balanced life and prevention become the focus. Occupational therapy embodies the positive psychology of that approach, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re taking sick populations, including environments, and trying to make the whole community sustainably healthier,\u201d Crist said. \u201cWe want to find out what people\u2019s strengths are and try to move them forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Occupational therapists excel at overcoming the obstacles between people and their potential, and the high-demand field is about to broaden the health care horizon with a new doctorate program at Northern Arizona University. Beginning in fall 2014, NAU will be the only public university in Arizona to offer occupational therapy, and one of a handful…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":27546,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,11],"tags":[38,24,501,502,292,503],"class_list":["post-27538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors","category-research-academics","tag-nau","tag-northern-arizona-university","tag-occupational-therapy","tag-patricia-crist","tag-phoenix-biomedical-campus","tag-practice-scholar"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/46"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}