Fieldwork Homepage

Fieldwork guidelines and policies for students:

Confidentiality and professional behaviors: Students must maintain complete confidentiality concerning clients and staff observed at every fieldwork site. A breach of confidentiality may result in failure of the course and removal from the site and program. Students are expected to follow the AOTA Code of Ethics. Students demonstrating difficulties in clinical skills or professional behaviors on any level or type of fieldwork experience may be required to repeat the experience or remediate before progressing in the program.

CPR & TB: All students must have on file in the MOT office copies of current certification of CPR training and proof of TB testing. These must be renewed yearly. Any student who does not have current copies on file will not be assigned to a site or allowed to participate in any fieldwork experiences. Please note that copies of CPR and TB are kept in the MOT office; the student is expected to maintain their originals. Anyone requesting a copy of such from the front office will be charged $3 a copy. Yearly CPR and TB clinics are held for your convenience each fall. The CPR and TB clinics held here are included as part of your one-price plan.

Hepatitis B immunizations: Students will be informed with regard to the Hepatitis B immunization and the benefits of such. A copy of the Hepatitis B immunization record must be kept in the MOT office. Should a student refuse the immunization, a signed declination form must be kept on file.

Other student requirements: Many sites for both Level I and Level II have requirements for students beyond TB, CPR, and liability insurance. Examples of these include but are not limited to: student background checks (statewide, FBI or other), screens for drug usage/substance abuse, HIV testing, psychiatric illnesses, abuse clearance, proof of recent physical exam, immunization history, and health insurance. Students are responsible for obtaining any requirements a site may have and may be withheld from experiences if not in compliance. (Please note a felony conviction may keep you out of fieldwork as well as may prevent you from sitting for the NBCOT certification exam or obtaining licensure.)

Health insurance: Students are responsible for their own health care and health insurance is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!! The fieldwork sites are not responsible if a student is injured or becomes ill at a site – students are not eligible or covered by worker’s compensation, the university or the facility’s insurance. A site may provide health care to you at your expense but is not required to do so.

Transportation and housing: Students are responsible for their transportation and housing costs throughout fieldwork. Please note that students will also be paying tuition throughout the program, including Level II fieldwork, which is entirely off-campus. The housing board is posted for OT and PT students to assist each other in obtaining housing during their fieldwork experiences. Students are given the opportunity to post information about their hometown or other areas of familiarity as a way to assist other students completing fieldwork in this area.

Dress code: Professional dress is required for ANY field experiences. This includes, but is not limited to, any classroom activities that are outside of the classroom (visits to clinics like Work Fitness, CASI, Ridgecrest, St. Luke’s Children’s Hospital, Rock Valley PT, etc.), visits to clients with faculty, visits with an elder, and/or dropping off forms to a clinic for research projects. Professional dress means NO jeans, no shorts, no sandals, no printed t-shirts, no short skirts, no heels, no low-cut shirts, and no tight fitting clothes. Dress pants, khakis, comfortable shoes with non-slip soles are fine for clinic type work and outfits that are dressier are fine for visits that don’t include hands-on work with a client. A nametag must be worn for all field experiences. Students should ascertain appropriate dress code at each clinic assignment.

Selection of sites: As the MOT program is a humanistic program and SAU is a student-centered university, the fieldwork program works hard to meet every student’s individual needs. Site assignment is a collaborative process between the fieldwork coordinators and the students. Students are requested not to call sites on their own unless this is indicated by the fieldwork coordinator. Opening of new sites is discouraged due to the high number of current contracts already in our possession, in the interest of quality control, and the need for determining a good fit with our curriculum. Requests for new sites will be dealt with on an individual basis. Please note that once a site is selected and confirmed, it cannot be changed for anything other than a true emergency. (Financial issues are not considered an emergency as the student should plan ahead for housing, transportation and all other costs associated with fieldwork experiences.) Students not attending a scheduled experience may have to sit out a rotation so there is adequate time to address any issues.

Jobs outside of school: The job board that is posted behind the student mailboxes is split between jobs appropriate for students and jobs that are for Occupational Therapists. OT jobs are also posted on the job link from our fieldwork web page. Many students are employed in a variety of facilities that offer wonderful and relevant work experiences in positions such as aides, techs, and respite workers. However, students working at these facilities are not working as licensed therapists yet. Students may only do the duties that are appropriate for an aide, tech or respite worker and may not do “occupational therapy interventions” while holding these positions. This runs into licensure and professional boundary issues. Students are cautioned to keep work hours to a minimum as it is hard to balance work with school and fieldwork. Normal fieldwork hours typically vary anywhere from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m. For any full-time fieldwork experiences, students should anticipate that working while completing the fieldwork will be very difficult. These are hands-on experiences and students may have homework at night in order to prepare for the following day.

Required texts: Students will receive a fieldwork manual at the beginning of the program and are responsible for the information in it as well as bringing it to all required fieldwork classes. The book “The Successful Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Student“ is also required throughout the program.

Sladyk, K., The Successful Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Student. (2002). Thorofare, NJ: SLACK Inc.