Background: Research states that occupational therapy (OT) students often do not feel prepared or confident to practice in the acute care setting. The rapidly changing environment and complexity of patients in this setting often causes students to feel challenged and have low levels of self-efficacy. Additionally, the acute care clinical education experiences have high failure and remediation rates among students.

Objective: The purpose of this capstone project is to create an acute care short course to integrate within Georgia State University (GSU) Occupational Therapy Doctorate (OTD) Program curriculum to increase OT students’ confidence and readiness for acute care Level II Fieldwork placements.

ACOTE Area: The ACOTE areas relevant to this project are education and clinical practice.

Methods: A needs assessment including student surveys and semi-structured key interviews was conducted to evaluate the need for increased acute care preparation for GSU OTD students before beginning their acute care Level II Fieldwork. The results of the needs assessment, a literature review, and collaboration with content experts influenced the development of an acute care short course to integrate within GSU OTD Program's curriculum. The needs assessment, pedagogical models, and collaboration with content experts helped determine the composition of the acute care short course. The course includes four active, hands-on learning experiences that will take place during the last four weeks of the GSU OTD Program’s Fieldwork 1C and Skills for Occupation Based Practice Seminar III course. Furthermore, a Qualtrics survey was created to provide an objective rating of the Acute Care Short Course Outline, a document that best represents the overall acute care short course.

Results: The acute care short course includes four learning modules that will be implemented during the last four weeks of the Fieldwork 1C and Skills for Occupation Based Practice Seminar III course. The first three learning experiences focus on developing environmental awareness and basic acute care skills. The fourth learning experience is a simulation experience that focuses on students providing OT intervention to a standardized patient. Voiceover lectures, a preparatory packet, hands-on learning experiences, and additional educational tools were created to address increased acute care preparation for GSU OTD students prior to Level II Fieldwork experiences. A Qualtrics survey of the Acute Care Short Course Outline was also distributed to measure the quality and usefulness of the course. The participant’s responses indicated strong agreeability to the document’s content, readability, and usefulness for GSU OTD students.

Conclusions and Relevance: The acute care short course is expected to improve GSU OTD students’ readiness and confidence for practicing in the acute care setting for Level II Fieldwork. Over time, it is expected that the course will increase students’ scores on their Fieldwork Performance Evaluation. Additionally, this project’s potential outcome could enhance the program’s professional status and impact acute care preparation in other OT programs.