Evidence-Based Practice

At the end of this course, the students should be able to: 1. demonstrate skills in making clinical decisions; 2. exhibit competence in searching, identifying, locating, retrieving, understanding and applying the principles of research to the practice of OT; 3. evaluate the relevance and credibility of research evidence and decide appropriately when faced with conflicting information in the literature; 4. contribute to the rehabilitation literature as clinicians by completing modules on case reports and the peer review process; and 5. demonstrate ability of being knowledgeable consumers of research and the professional literature as it relates to the practice of OT.

Key concepts of evidence-based rehabilitation science. Issues relating to diagnosis, prognosis, and intervention. Making clinical decisions that are consistent with evidence in professional literature. Experience in searching the literature by developing clinical questions in a form that is compatible with electronic search engines and learning differences in available electronic data bases. Types of professional writing useful to occupational therapists including: grant proposals, journal articles, books, client education materials, and presentation of proposals and papers. Form and content of a range of technical documents and the processes of writing, peer review and critique.