Acute Care Occupational Therapy Fellowship

The mission of Houston Methodist Hospital’s Acute Care Occupational Therapy Fellowship is to cultivate and challenge therapists to become advanced practitioners dedicated first and foremost to their patients and their profession. The fellow will demonstrate patient-centered care, evidence-based practice, and innovation. The fellow will provide high quality and compassionate occupational therapy services to hospitalized adult patients of all ages, backgrounds, beliefs, and medical complexities.

Program summary
The OT fellowship is a salaried program, 12 months in length and includes a variety of complex patient care experiences, mentored practice, and specialty observation in all areas of the acute care setting including: musculoskeletal, cardiopulmonary, neuromuscular, multi-system, and critical care.

• The OT fellow will rotate throughout all diagnostic areas of the hospital (acute floors and ICU’s, including a brief exposure to subacute care in our inpatient rehabilitation unit)
• Mentoring will be provided by experienced occupational therapists. The intensity of mentoring will decrease as the fellow becomes more proficient in each area.
• Specialty observation will be relevant to each rotation/module/area of the hospital. The fellow will observe surgeries, medical procedures, and other disciplines to gain insight regarding the interdisciplinary team, other professions and their roles, and to better understand the hospitalization experience from the patient’s perspective.
• The didactic component includes formal classes as well as self-study modules for a comprehensive educational program specific to acute care.

Program Goals
The occupational therapy fellow will utilize the following core elements and principles: patient-centered care, evidenced-based practice, creativity and innovation, and compassion to provide the highest quality occupational therapy services for acute patients in the hospital setting.

1. Develop the acute care occupational therapy specialist to provide advanced practice skills in the evaluation and treatment of hospitalized adults with a variety of complex diagnoses and functional deficits. The OT fellow will utilize patient-centered focus, and evidence-based practice to perform appropriate assessments and establish a meaningful plan of care in a fast-paced environment.
2. Develop the acute care occupational therapy specialist to think critically and creatively to identify patient functional deficits/barriers to independence and formulate innovative and resourceful solutions, modifications, and adaptations with the patient and family’s goals in mind.
3. Develop the acute care occupational therapy specialist to demonstrate compassion for our patients and their families and act as strong advocates and consultants to members of the interdisciplinary care team, including rehabilitation colleagues, physicians, nurses, case managers, social workers, and other services, acting as an advocate for patients and families.
4. Develop the acute care occupational therapy specialist to utilize good teaching skills and robust mentorship to share with colleagues, students, and other health care professionals, information important to the OT process and progress of complex acute care patients and the significance of OT services for this population. The fellow should be able to share information, perspectives based on evidence, and past experiences using a variety of platforms (presentation, small group discussion, one on one education).