Preparing occupational therapy students for the demands of the complex and challenging healthcare or community environment is a daunting task. Fieldwork placements are difficult to find and the quality of these experiences vary. University administrators and program directors have to be selective of what learning tools their program will invest in so their students will be successful in their clinical placement and provide excellent patient care.
With Standardized Patient Encounters, students have the opportunity to practice their occupational therapy evaluating and treating skills with faculty-trained actors that can depict any physical or psychological condition in a simulated healthcare setting. Through these experiences, students will have an awareness of their strengths and weaknesses but also build confidence and comfort with their professional skills before entering their clinical experience.
Brief business description. 1.) With the help of Jefferson and the Rector Clinical Skill and Simulation Center, we will market to OT schools and/or individual students to practice their OT skills using Jefferson facilities. For a fee, programs or individual students will be able to purchase experiences from a selection of six (6) different simulated healthcare experiences using faculty-trained actors. Included in the fee, students receive information on how to prepare for the event and participate in the simulated healthcare experience (Standardized Patient Encounter). Afterwards, the student will receive feedback from the trained actor (Standardized Patient) and participate in a debriefing session with a Jefferson faculty member. Additionally, students can purchase audio/visual recording for their sessions. For an additional fee, a follow-up program will be offered to provide further training to the student on areas they had difficulty with during the encounter. These experiences will be scheduled on the weekend or during hours when not typically in use to ensure no impact on the university’s academic programs.
2.) An instructional manual outlining the implementation of standardized patient encounters in occupational therapy education will be created and offered to educational programs. The manual will include patient scenarios with cases already tested, learning objectives, recommended time tables, sample documentation grids, etc. to guide the simulation program development at the customer’s site. These types of manuals are common in the nursing education.
Proposed customer: 1.) Occupational Therapy (OT) and Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) programs will be the primary customer. The greater Philadelphia area has at least four (4) OT programs and two (2) OTA programs. These customers will benefit from affordable access to customized simulation experiences at Jefferson or can purchase an instructional manual of cases to guide their simulation program development. Success in this market can lead to market expansion to include other disciplines such as Physical Therapy.
Educational programs can pay an all inclusive fee for each simulated healthcare experience and can have up to seventy-five (75) students participate per day.
2.) Students from OT and OTA programs across the country will travel to Jefferson and will pay for up to four simulated healthcare experiences using trained actors in a single weekend. Success in this market can lead to market expansion to include other disciplines such as Physical Therapy.
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