Students should call or email their CAS, SPS, or NHP academic advisor to make an appointment.

Transcripts are sent to Trinity’s Admissions Office.

1. Student Information Form
2. Signed Student Acknowledgement Form
3. Signed Form A: Time Sheet (10 observation hours)
4. Form B: Journal Reflections

The OTA Essay is a one page, double-spaced document designed to “let us know more about you”!  Please respond to the following questions citing references using APA style.

Why you are interested in studying occupational therapy at Trinity Washington University?  How does your interest in OT relate to your future goals?  What experiences or ideas shaped your decision to pursue a career as an occupational therapy assistant and how will your career decision advance the principles of social or occupational justice?

You may observe an OT or an OTA in any type of facility in the Washington Metro Area to include private or public schools, nursing homes, rehabilitation centers, acute care hospitals, private practice.  Below are a few suggestions for facilities in Washington, DC, but there are many more in surrounding states such as Virginia and Maryland.

*Please remember your observation must be with an occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant not an occupational therapy aide or rehabilitation aide.

Area hospitals include:

• Washington Hospital Center
• Sibley Hospital
• Howard University Hospital
• Providence Hospital
• Georgetown Hospital
• George Washington Hospital
• The Nation’s Children’s Hospital: Children’s National Medical Center
• Area Rehabilitation Centers include:
• National Rehabilitation Hospital
• Hospital for Sick Children
• Area Sub-Acute Facilities include:
• The Washington Home
• Area Skilled Nursing Facilities include:
• Hadley Hospital Skilled Nursing
• Rock Creek Manor
• Stoddard Baptist Nursing Home
• Area Nursing Homes include:
• Knoll wood Nursing Home
• Lisner-Louise- Dickson-Hurt Home
• Capitol Hill Nursing Center
• Carroll Manor Nursing and Rehabilitation
• Health and Rehabilitation Center at Thomas Circle
• Ingleside at Rock Creek
• Methodist Home
• Specialty Hospital of Washington- Hadley Skilled Nursing Facility
• United Medical Nursing Home

Observations will introduce you to OT practitioners in the DC area as well as help you understand the occupational therapy profession.

OTA admission requirements include the successful completion of the following courses with a grade of “C” or better.  Applicants MUST have an overall gpa of 2.75 and at least a 2.5 gpa in the sciences and math.  Trinity pre-requisites (25 credits) include:

• BIOL 121 – Anatomy and Physiology I
• BIOL 122 – Anatomy and Physiology II
• ENGL 107 – College Composition
• PSYC 101 – Intro to Psychology
• SOCY 100 – Intro to Sociology
• HPNU 120 – Medical Terminology
• MATH 110 – Statistics
• PSYC 243 – Lifespan Development
• SNHP 224 – Global Health

Required Documentation:  Prior to enrolling in any OTA fieldwork course, students are required to present documentation of the following:

• Current immunization or titers for: DPT; MMR; Hepatitis B (3 doses); Tetanus; Influenza (annual); TB (annual).
  • Health Forms
• National criminal background check
• Current major medical health insurance

As part of professional behavior and professionalism on Fieldwork I and II as well as community learning experiences, students in the OTA program should expect to incur additional expenses beyond tuition and fees.

• Occupational-Therapy-observation-hour-time-sheet (PDF)

FIELDWORK EDUCATOR RESOURCES

Fieldwork Manual 

Level I Fieldwork

• Student Performance Evaluation Level I : Performance
• Student Evaluation of the Fieldwork experience Level I Student Performance Evaluation: Level I Student Evaluation
• Fieldwork Criteria Form Level I Fieldwork Criteria Form : Criteria
• Fieldwork Objectives Collaboration Level I FW Objectives Collaboration Form : Collaboration

Level II Fieldwork

• AOTA Performance Evaluation AOTA FW Performance Evaluation
• Student Evaluation of the Fieldwork Experience
• Supervisor Qualifications : Qualifications
• COE Guidelines for an Occupational Therapy Fieldwork Experience Guidelines

AOTA website has an abundance of resources to help program coordinators and clinicians develop education programs and the necessary skills to provide fieldwork education and supervision. We encourage fieldwork educators to review and utilize the many tools available.

AOTA

• Steps to Starting a Fieldwork Program – Starting a Fieldwork Program
• Recommended Content for a Student Fieldwork Manual – Content
• Sample Level II Site Specific Objectives – Objectives
• Incorporating EBP into Fieldwork Education – EBP
• Fieldwork Educator Self-Assessment – Self Assessment Tool for Fieldwork Educator Competency – Competency
• Understanding the OT/OTA Fieldwork Performance Evaluation (FWPE) – Understanding

Student Supervision

1. OT/OTA Student Supervision and Medicare Requirements – must log in as a member, to AOTA website to access this content Supervision
2. Fieldwork Educator Certificate Workshop – Workshop

Resources

1. Fieldwork Resources : Resources
2. Student Supervision : Student Supervision
3. Site Specific Objectives : Site Objectives
4. Time Sheet : Timesheet

At its meeting on April 22-23, 2023, ACOTE reviewed the Report of On-Site Evaluation (ROSE) regarding the Occupational Therapy Assistant Baccalaureate Program at Trinity Washington University, Washington, DC. All Standards were found to be compliant and ACOTE voted to Grant a Status of Accreditation for a period of 7 years. The Report of the Accreditation Council (RAC) is viewable at https://acote.aota.org//programs/2901/report.

Occupational Therapy Assistant Bachelor’s Degree Program Graduation Rates

This chart indicates students who graduated within the program’s published academic terms of four semesters.

NBCOT Pass Rates
Trinity Occupational Therapy Assistant program results from the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) can be found online at https://www.nbcot.org/Educators-Folder/SchoolPerformance.

Mission
Trinity Washington University’s Occupational Therapy Assistant Program strives to educate students to be competent, ethical, and committed occupational therapy practitioners who promote health and well-being of all people as they engage in everyday activities called occupations.  Through dynamic classroom, clinical and community experiences, OTA students graduate prepared to meet the ever-changing occupational needs of society and address social justice and occupational justice issues locally and globally.

Vision
Within Trinity’s founding traditions, we envision the occupational therapy assistant program as a center where the occupational therapy assistant and the occupational therapist can study the process of adaptation and its effect on occupational performance as it relates to the person’s search for meaning and fulfillment as occupational-beings.

Occupational Therapy Program Philosophy
The OTA program’s philosophy reflects occupational therapy fundamental ideals in that it is based on the profession’s belief that humans are complex beings who are continuously engaged in their environment. Learning is an active and social process where learners discover principles, concepts, and facts through interactions with each other and with their environment.  The Philosophical Base of Occupational Therapy (AOTA, 2011) provides the foundation for the Trinity Washington University OTA Program.  The organizing philosophical framework of the OTA curriculum is derived from the belief that engagement in occupations can positively influence the health and well-being of individuals and populations. Through engagement in occupations, we can find meaning and balance in our lives.

The OTA Program philosophy is guided by two major areas: occupation and the process of occupational adaptation, and the professional curriculum and teaching-learning style.

Our Fundamental Beliefs about Human Beings: Humans are complex beings that are constantly interacting with the physical, social, temporal, cultural, psychological, spiritual and virtual environment through their actions. We are active beings who have the ability to adapt, modify and affect the quality of our life by engaging in the things we want and need to do called occupations. “Participation in these occupations influences their development, health, and well-being across the lifespan. “ (AOTA Commission on Education, 2011, p. S65) However, when a person is faced with an occupational challenge because of impairment, disability or a stressful event, the innate process of human adaptation may become impaired (Schultz, 1992 and Schultz & Schkade, 1992). Through occupational therapy intervention, the occupational therapy practitioner’s “therapeutic use of self”, management of the environment and use of “occupations as tools” promote the client’s ability to adapt to life’s challenges for successful occupational performance.

Our View of Learning: Learning is an active and social process in which learners learn to discover principles, concepts, and facts through interactions with each other and with the environment in which they live (Brown 1989; Ackerman 1996). Trinity acknowledges learners are unique individuals with unique needs and diverse backgrounds while being complex and multidimensional. Using a constructivist viewpoint to guide the learning process, we see that the responsibility for learning resides with the learner; motivation for learning strongly depends on the learner’s confidence in his or her potential to learn (Prawat and Floden 1994); and instructors are facilitators that create guidelines and set the stage within the environment for learning. The learning experience is shaped by the instructor’s as well as by the learners’ values; culture and background are shared and respected (Ernest 1991; Prawat et al. 1994). The faculty of Trinity’s OTA program demonstrate support for students to become effective and critical thinkers through the “beyond the comfort zone” academic challenge (Vygotsky 1978) that will also translate into critical thinking and reasoning skills in the OT practice setting through use of activities as interventions.