MSOT Technical-Standards

Master of Science in Occupational Therapy Program Technical Standards for Admission and Retention

Stockton University complies with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act. All applicants to the program and students in the program must meet the same technical and academic standards and must be able to function in a competent manner in educational and practice settings that may involve heavy workloads and stressful situations. The MSOT program and the Stockton University cannot compromise the health and safety of others and reserve the right not to admit any applicant who cannot meet the technical standards or who would constitute a direct threat to the health and safety of others.

Revealing a disability is voluntary. However, such disclosure is necessary before any accommodations may be made. Therefore, prospective students are encouraged to identify their disability so the MSOT program can determine what reasonable accommodation may be made. All disability-related information is dealt with in a confidential manner. We urge applicants to ask questions about the program's technical standards for clarification and to determine whether they can meet the requirements with or without reasonable accommodations.

Reasonable accommodations made will comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act and require departmental and institutional approvals. The Program and University must maintain the integrity of the curriculum and preserve those elements deemed essential to the education of an occupational therapist. Therefore, the MSOT program and Stockton University will provide reasonable accommodation as long as it does not fundamentally alter the nature of the program offered and does not impose an undue hardship such as those that cause a significant expense, difficulty, or are unduly disruptive to the educational process or those that do not allow reasonable assessment of an individual’s ability to perform as an occupational therapist.

The technical standards outlined below, in conjunction with established academic standards, are followed by the Admissions Committee to select students who possess the academic, communicative, cognitive, physical, personal and emotional characteristics that are necessary to become an effective occupational therapist. All students admitted to the MSOT Program should be able to demonstrate these abilities at the time of admission and at all times during their matriculation.

The following standards are those that are listed in the Occupational Information Network for any Occupational Therapist with or without accommodations. The source is the Occupational Information Network, O*NET On-Line, retrieved electronically on 9/15/07. Any applicant to Stockton University's Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program must be able to meet these standards:

Tasks

  • Complete and maintain necessary records.
  • Evaluate patients' progress and prepare reports that detail progress.
  • Test and evaluate patients' physical and mental abilities and analyze medical data to determine realistic rehabilitation goals for patients.
  • Select activities that will help individuals learn work and life-management skills within limits of their mental and physical capabilities.
  • Plan, organize, and conduct occupational therapy programs in hospital, institutional, or community settings to help rehabilitate those impaired because of illness, injury or psychological or developmental problems.
  • Recommend changes in patients' work or living environments, consistent with their needs and capabilities.
  • Consult with rehabilitation team to select activity programs and coordinate occupational therapy with other therapeutic activities.
  • Help clients improve decision making, abstract reasoning, memory, sequencing, coordination and perceptual skills, using computer programs.
  • Develop and participate in health promotion programs, group activities, or discussions to promote client health, facilitate social adjustment, alleviate stress, and prevent physical or mental disability.
  • Provide training and supervision in therapy techniques and objectives for students and nurses and other medical staff.

Skills

  • Active Listening: Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
  • Reading Comprehension: Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
  • Service Orientation: Actively looking for ways to help people.
  • Writing: Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
  • Instructing: Teaching others how to do something.
  • Speaking: Talking to others to convey information effectively.
  • Social Perceptiveness: Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
  • Time Management: Managing one's own time and the time of others.
  • Active Learning: Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Critical Thinking: Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

Abilities

  • Oral Comprehension: The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
  • Oral Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
  • Written Expression: The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Problem Sensitivity: The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
  • Deductive Reasoning: The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
  • Inductive Reasoning: The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
  • Information Ordering: The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
  • Speech Clarity: The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.
  • Speech Recognition: The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.
  • Written Comprehension: The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

Work Activities

  • Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships: Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.
  • Getting Information: Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.
  • Documenting/Recording Information: Entering, transcribing, recording, storing, or maintaining information in written or electronic/magnetic form.
  • Assisting and Caring for Others: Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.
  • Developing Objectives and Strategies: Establishing long-range objectives and specifying the strategies and actions to achieve them.
  • Performing General Physical Activities: Performing physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials.
  • Training and Teaching Others: Identifying the educational needs of others, developing formal educational or training programs or classes, and teaching or instructing others.
  • Making Decisions and Solving Problems: Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.
  • Communicating with Supervisors, Peers, or Subordinates: Providing information to supervisors, co-workers, and subordinates by telephone, in written form, e-mail, or in person.
  • Organizing, Planning, and Prioritizing Work: Developing specific goals and plans to prioritize, organize, and accomplish your work.

Work Styles

  • Concern for Others: Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.
  • Adaptability/Flexibility: Job requires being open to change (positive or negative) and to considerable variety in the workplace.
  • Cooperation: Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.
  • Integrity: Job requires being honest and ethical.
  • Dependability: Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.
  • Self Control: Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.
  • Stress Tolerance: Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.
  • Social Orientation: Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.
  • Innovation: Job requires creativity and alternative thinking to develop new ideas for and answers to work-related problems.
  • Attention to Detail: Job requires being careful about detail and thorough in completing work tasks.

In addition the standards listed above, students in the Master of Science in Occupational Therapy program at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey must also be able to meet these additional standards:

Academic Skills

  • Demonstrate basic computer skills including the ability to use computer hardware and software to enter data, to use Internet search engines, to send and receive e-mail, to use word processing programs such as Microsoft Word, and to be able to effectively learn other programs such as Microsoft PowerPoint.
  • Perform basic arithmetic (addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division), geometry, and statistics quickly and correctly.

Communication Skills

  • Clearly communicate information and ideas verbally so others will understand.
  • Clearly communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
  • Speak in front of a group of individuals.
  • Understand the English language to understand lectures, instructions, concepts, narratives and to ask questions and understand answers.

Cognitive Skills

  • Read and understand information and ideas presented in writing (on paper and on electronic devices).
  • Attend to written and verbal information for a minimum of 5 hours.
  • Use logic and reasoning to identify alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
  • Understand the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
  • Identify information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.
  • Demonstrate the ability to analyze data, analyze activities, evaluate patient responses to treatment, and complete course work/assignments.
  • Understand the consequences of errors.
  • Analyze information and use logic to address school-related issues and problems.

Social Skills

  • Ask questions when appropriate, and not interrupt at inappropriate times.
  • Adjust actions in relation to others’ actions.
  • Develop constructive and cooperative working relationships with others and maintain them over time.
  • Consider the impact of decisions on classmates and team members.
  • Participate in face-to-face discussions.
  • Be in close physical proximity and in physical contact with others.

Visual Skills

  • Read patient/client charts or histories in hospital/clinical setting.
  • Observe patient/client motor performance during tasks/tests.
  • Watch gauges, dials, or other indicators to make sure a machine works properly, according to established safe practices.
  • See details at close range (e.g., within a few feet of the observer).
  • See objects or movement of objects to one’s side when the eyes are looking straight ahead.
  • See objects in the presence of glare or bright lighting.
  • Perform tasks under low light conditions.

Physical Skills

  • Safely and skillfully move and handle patients of various ages and sizes. This involves the following abilities:
    • Use abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without “giving out” or fatiguing, including the ability to lift 50 pounds from the floor to table height.
    • Exert maximum physical force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects weighing up to 50 pounds
    • Quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms and/or legs.
    • Maintain the exerting physical force over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath.
    • Exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time.
    • Maintain or regain body balance or stay upright when in an unstable postural position.
    • Know your location in relation to the environment or know where other objects are in relation to you.
  • Identify the direction from which a sound originated in order to:
    • Effectively respond to oral requests/instructions from patients and team members.
    • Auscultate for internal body sounds
  • Tolerate sounds and noise levels that are distracting or uncomfortable.
  • Make fast, simple, repeated movements of the arms, legs, fingers, hands, and wrists.
  • Perform physical activities that require considerable use of your arms and legs and moving your whole body, such as climbing, lifting, balancing, walking, stooping, and handling of materials. This includes being able to apply physical restraint when indicated.
  • Spend time standing for up to 90 minutes.
  • Spend time sitting for a minimum of 30 minutes.
  • Spend time walking and running, depending on the requirements in the classroom or clinical setting.
  • Spend time kneeling, crouching, stooping, or crawling in order to perform tasks or complete assignments in the classroom or clinical setting.

Professional Skills

  • Determine tasks, priorities, and goals that pertain to school and clinical site assignments and requirements.
  • Coordinate or lead others as necessary for class assignments in accomplishing work activities in professional activities and clinical assignments.
  • Meet multiple deadlines in the classroom and while on clinical assignments.
  • Wear common protective or safety equipment such as safety shoes, glasses, gloves, hearing protection, hard hats, or life jackets when required in classes and at clinical sites.
  • Be honest and ethical, and demonstrate personal and professional integrity.
  • Fulfill all obligations in a reliable, responsible, and dependable manner.
  • Recognize responsibility for outcomes and results of assignments both in the classroom and in the clinical setting.
  • Demonstrate a willingness to lead, take charge, and offer opinions and direction as needed in school and clinical settings.
  • Pay attention to detail, and perform school-related tasks in a thorough manner.

Sources

These technical standards have been adapted from:

 

School of Health Sciences
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Fax: 609-652-4858

101 Vera King Farris Drive
Galloway, NJ 08205-9441