Western launches
innovative new program
Lessons from the
2011-2012
Health Care
Team Challenge
By Daniel Ting (Queen’s medicine 2014) and Amanda
Sutherland (Queen’s occupational therapy 2012)
I
n the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s University, all health
professional programs promote interprofessional education, in-
tegrated into the core curricula in a variety of formats. The
Health Care Team Challenge (HCTC™) is an extracurricular case
competition that solicits students and faculty mentors from medi-
cine, nursing, occupational therapy, physical therapy and psychol-
ogy. Teams are given three weeks to collaborate on a hypothetical,
complex clinical case.
This past year, our team of representatives from medicine, nurs-
ing, physical therapy and occupational therapy won the Queen’s
competition in November 2011 and competed at the National Health
Sciences Students’ Association Conference in Kitchener in March
2012.
In both cases, we prepared an interprofessional plan of care
and were asked several questions — some prepared, some
impromptu — which we answered in oral presentations.
Working in an interprofessional team over several months was
an invaluable experience that taught many important lessons.
We learned to navigate collaborative practice in real-life situa-
tions. These cases were too complex to be addressed by a single
discipline, demanding a joint effort to contemplate problems and
comprehensive care plans. By identifying the contribution of each
discipline, we became empowered to apply our particular expertise,
while recognizing both overlaps and gaps in care.
ACOTUP/ACPUE is a national organization
that promotes and develops occupational therapy
education and research with an understanding
of issues in a global context.
ACOTUP
NEWSLETTER – Issue 14 – Fall 2012
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1
T
he School of Occupa-
tional Therapy at Western
University is excited to
announce the successful launch
of
its
new
combined
MSc(OT)/PhD program. Offered
jointly by the School of Occupa-
tional Therapy and the Graduate
Program in Health and Rehabili-
tation Sciences, this innovative
program is designed for
exceptional students who are
interested in obtaining both a
research-based doctoral degree
and professional qualifications to
practice as a registered occupa-
tional therapist. Through the
completion of an integrated,
combined curriculum students
gain a foundation of academic
content and hands-on clinical
experience in occupational
therapy necessary for practicing
as a professional while gaining
research training and skills at the
doctoral level essential for
becoming an independent
researcher.
This exciting program is the
first of its kind in Canada and is
structured such that it will
typically be completed within a
five-year timeframe during which
students are enrolled and funded
as full-time PhD students. The
format for completion of the
combined degree is two years of
full-time study within the doc-
toral program, followed by two
years of full-time study within the
MSc(OT) program, and ending
with a final year of full-time study
within the doctoral program.
The conferring of the
MSc(OT) degree will occur at
the end of the fourth year (allow-
ing students to write the national
certification exam and to practice
as an occupational therapist), and
conferring of the PhD degree
following the fifth year of study.
Admission
into
the
combined program is highly
competitive and is limited to two
students per year. Interested
candidates should apply using
the online application process
(
OUAC) via the Health and
Rehabilitation Sciences Graduate
Program website. Questions re-
garding the MSc(OT)/PhD com-
bined program can be directed to
the program chair Dr. Jeff
Holmes
(jeff.holmes@uwo.ca
).
HCTCTeamTwo (from left): Cyril Pendon (nursing), JessieWat (physical therapy),Amanda
Sutherland (occupational therapy), Vanessa Wen (nursing) and Daniel Ting (medicine).
Continued on page 3