OT Potential Podcast | Occupational Therapy CEUs

Through OT Potential, we’ve released over 94 episodes all exploring new influential OT research. As we enter 2025, it’s time to reflect on the research and ask:  What trends are we seeing in OT? How is new research enriching how we think about our practice?  In this 1 hour-episode, we’ll talk about new trends, with a particular focus on what commonalities we see leaders in our field doing in their...

Artificial intelligence is ushering a new era of healthcare tools. These range from ambient listening to streamlined practice management. But, the AI-supported that I believe will truly transform occupational therapy is:  Clinical Decision Support.  To be honest, it often feels like we have more clinical decision barriers than we have support. Our EMRs currently give us a set number of checkboxes,...

The Epley maneuver is a 💎 rare gem 💎 in the OT toolkit. A patient can walk into our treatment room, and they can walk out cured. They can walk out with instant relief. (Yes, there is nuance to this. Sometimes the maneuver needs to be repeated. Sometimes it simply doesn’t work. There are important contraindications.) But, the other thing that makes this a GEM is that more so than any other condit...

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is the most common cause of non-traumatic disability in people aged 18-65 years.  As rehab professionals, we know that exercise is one of the mainstays of treatment for these clients.  Though not definitively established, exercise has the most potential promise to be disease modifying if started early in the course of disease. But, alongside exercise there are other importa...

As occupational therapists, many of us have witnessed the wonder of motor learning in neuro rehab.  Yet despite years of research attempting to identify the most effective post-stroke interventions, the reality is that our understanding of how to improve recovery of function remains incomplete.  The article we are reviewing today serves as an update on the state of the science in how new theories...

Unfortunately, research on the lived-experience for those with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome shows us that we as a profession need to be doing a better job. People with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome report: A lack of reliable information for themselves Social stigma from peers. Lack of awareness of EDS in the healthcare community As occupational therapy professionals, there is much we can contribute to supporti...

In 50 years, you will look back on your occupational therapy practice and see a clear line in the sand between pre-AI augmented documentation and today.  Ambient AI augmented documentation is going to:  ✅Make documenting QUICKER ✅Make your notes HIGHER QUALITY ✅And, transform how you interact with clients  And, if we harness this technology correctly, it will improve👏 client  👏outcomes. 👏 To...

The population of the United States is older than it has ever been.  And, by 2050 the older adult population (>65 years) is projected to increase another 47% (from 58 million in 2022 to 82 million by 2050). This will transform many aspects of our society—and one change we need to prepare for is: The safety of older drivers.  Because by 2050 the older adult population (>65 years) will make up...

In our OT work with individuals, there can be a feeling of futility.  As there is a growing collective consciousness around what we, as OT professionals, experience day in and day out:  The communities in which we live have such a profound impact on our health.  And, we can fail individuals by focusing only on their individual choices—and not the larger driving forces of their lives.  I think this...

Children with emotional disability (also known as emotional disturbance) are significantly more likely than children with other disabilities to: NOT be integrated into regular classrooms Experience a disciplinary removal Drop out of school Over the years, multiple social-emotional learning (SEL) interventions have been developed to support children with emotional disabilities. But, New York City P...

Interoception is having a moment.  The popularity of the 8th sense is likely due to the fact that it gives words to sensations that we all experience, like: hunger, fatigue, heart rate, and pain. But, even though these sensations seem universal the reality is that there are vast differences in how and to what degree we experience the components of interoception. We are beginning to be able to corr...

If you have not been paying attention to recent statistics on drowning, you need to be.  After decades of decline, deaths by drowning are on the rise .  Groups already at higher risk have seen the greatest increases in drowning deaths. This includes adults ages 65 years and older of all races and ethnicities, as well as Black people of all ages.  But today, we’ll focus on an especially high-risk g...

Functional neurological disorder (FND) has been called a “silent epidemic,” a “crisis” in neurology, and psychiatry’s “blind spot.” And, I have to admit it has been a huge personal blind spot for me.  Luckily, others in the OT community have been hard at work standardizing care for these patients. Multidisciplinary treatment, including referral to OT is a best practice for these patients. And, tod...

The world desperately needs OT leaders. It needs leaders that can think holistically. It needs leaders that understand both individual level change and systems level change. It needs storytellers, collaborators, and compassionate thinkers.  And, these are the qualities of an occupational therapy professional.  Today, we’ll explore a paper on best practices in OT leadership curriculum development....

In a massive 53 page treatment guideline on Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), the authors state: “Occupational therapists are the ideal therapeutic leaders in the functional restoration process…” And, go on to devote 2 pages to what this OT care can entail.  In this one hour course, we’ll pull out important implications for OT practice from the entire guideline. As you’ll see, when it comes t...

In a rapidly changing world,  we as OT professionals need collective mobilization like never before.  But, it feels like our systems of advocacy are all underfunded and difficult to navigate.  Against this backdrop, which can feel discouraging, I think it is critical to shine the light on what I consider one of the greatest OT triumphs of the past decade:  The breakthrough of OTs into pelvic healt...

The idea of AI transforming occupational therapy stirs both hopes and fears.  Will it help us revolutionize our broken systems? Will it augment the best of our care?  Or will it bolster inequality and threaten our jobs?  This is a story we are actively writing—and have the power to shape. In this one hour course, we’ll talk to two leading voices on the adoption of AI and OT, Alyson Stover MOT, JD,...

There is a growing public consciousness around the power (and difficulty) of habit change, especially as the impact of chronic conditions soars.   And, as we’ll see in the featured scoping review on OT and habit change/health promotion, we’ve been addressing habits since 1912, it is a core part of our 2020 practice framework, and is increasingly embedded in OT research.  On this OT Potential Podca...

The number of OT entry-level doctoral (OTD) programs has been expanding rapidly. In 2017 there were 7 programs. As of 2023, there are 95, with an additional 76 in development.  The article we'll cover in this course presents early stage research on the doctoral capstone experience and employment opportunities . It backs up what I have now personally observed through mentoring a student: that...

I’ve been surprised as my own kids enter elementary school to anecdotally find that constipation is a common reason to miss activities.  But, this aligns perfectly with the research we look at today, and the growing concern that constipation has become a public health concern.  As many as 32% of kids (0-18) experience constipation. And, a growing number of occupational therapy professionals are se...

It takes an average of 17 years for evidence to make its way into practice.  The fields of knowledge translation and implementation science are seeking to change this. And, today we are looking at a scoping review of knowledge translation research in rehab.  To be frank, I think the article is pretty convoluted. (Which is funny since it comes from researchers interested in knowledge translation.🤔...

The art and science of digital prosthetics is rapidly advancing.  Yet, many people with amputated fingers do not wear a prosthetic.  Part of the problem may be our own fault as health providers. We may be stuck in old stereotypes of poor outcomes and limited options related to digital prosthetics.  In this one-hour podcast-base course, we’ll look at a research article that explores the experiences...

In previous courses, we’ve discussed that one of the primary ways we can improve our care, as OT professionals, is to increase the diversity of our workforce—with the ultimate goal of having our workforce’s diversity mirror the diversity of the populations we are seeing.  This goal will ensure we have the multiple perspectives needed to respond to the needs of our clients.  But, until now, we’ve m...

Through OT Potential, we’ve released over 70 episodes all exploring new influential OT research. As we enter 2024, it’s time to reflect on the research and ask:  What trends are we seeing in OT? How is new research enriching how we think about our practice?  In this 1 hour-episode, we’ll talk about new trends, with a particular focus on what commonalities we see leaders in our field doing in their...

Since this keynote address from the World Federation of Occupational Therapy Congress was published in 2019, it has been cited so many times that it made our list of the 100 most-cited OT journal articles .  It’s easy to see why this has become such a popular read. The article stitches occupational therapy together with global trends, in particular growing inequality.  The author challenges us to...