Entry-Level Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy

OTD

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Doing things we want to do, need to do and love to do allows us to live life to the fullest. As health professionals, occupational therapists work with individuals and populations to enhance, support and help restore meaningful engagement in valued activities that may otherwise be compromised by health, age, injury, illness or circumstances. Through doing, occupational therapists promote health and participation for people across the lifespan. Examples include engaging in play and developing social skills among children; building resilience and learning life skills as adolescents; returning to productive work and leisure pursuits after an illness as adults; and maintaining safety and independence in one’s home and driving as older adults.

A student teaching first graders about backpack fitting and safety to avoid injury and prevent physical complications

Program Overview

Our Entry-Level Professional Doctor of Occupational Therapy (E-OTD) program is built on a foundation of 50 years of academic excellence promoting clinical leaders within the OT field. The program is a 3.25 year, 10-semester program divided into 3 tiers of integrated curriculum content. The program is designed for a 12-month schedule.

Our curriculum consists of 3 integrated tiers:

OT Foundations: Dynamic lectures and seminars integrated with laboratory and immersive clinical experiences.
Fieldwork or Clinicals: Two 12-week, full-time fieldwork experiences designed to prepare students for entry-level practice.
Doctoral Capstone: A 14-week doctoral capstone experience combined with a scholarly project that represents in-depth knowledge in occupational therapy.

The Entry-Level Professional OTD program is a full-time, intensive program designed to be completed in 10 semesters or 3.25 years (fall, spring, summer). Didactic coursework is delivered using a combination of face-to-face and online/hybrid learning.

Program Statistics

1st Breaking New Ground

This is the first entry-level professional doctorate program in Connecticut, built on 50 years of tradition and excellence in OT education at Quinnipiac.

5 AOTA Fellows

Being an American Occupational Therapy Association fellow provides these faculty with a vast network of information and resources for keeping pace with an evolving profession.

Top 17 Nationally Renowned

U.S. News & World Report ranks the Quinnipiac occupational therapy program No. 1 in Connecticut and No. 17 in America — this puts the program among the top 10% of ranked programs in the country. (2020)

School by the Numbers

99% Success Rate

Percentage of our 2019 graduates who are either employed or furthering their education within 6 months of graduation.

+15% Job Growth

Projected job growth of health care occupations through 2029. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2020)

100% Pass Rate

8 of our programs with licensure exams reported a perfect first-time pass rate in 2019, and all of our programs scored above national average pass rates.

Bobcats in Action

Alumna earns Super Bowl ticket for her tireless efforts to fight COVID-19

February 6, 2021

Katherine Chinnici ’16, MOT '18, OTD '22 has worked diligently at Tampa General Hospital to help countless COVID-19 patients get back on their feet throughout the past year — even donating her own plasma. For her tireless efforts, she earned the ultimate 27th birthday present: a ticket to the Super Bowl on February 7.

The Mission of the Department of Occupational Therapy at Quinnipiac University is to provide high-quality education to develop occupational therapy practitioner-scholars as well as OT scholar-leaders at both entry and advanced practice levels. In all programs, students will gain the broad-based knowledge and skills needed to influence meaningful change in the health and functioning of individuals, populations and communities.

We are recognized for programs that are models for innovative occupational therapy education; faculty who are role models of excellence in practice, service leadership, teaching and clinical scholarship; and graduates who are forward thinking, compassionate, inclusive and competent occupational therapists. We strive for excellence and endeavor to educate our students to meet and exceed our program learning outcomes.

Graduates of the occupational therapy program will demonstrate competency in:

Advocacy: Advocate for the distinct value of occupational therapy to clients, families, other professionals, community stakeholders, legislators, and national and international organizations.
OT Process and Reasoning: Apply occupational and client-centered principles and effective competency-based legal, ethical and creative reasoning to complete and evaluate the quality of the occupational therapy process for individuals, communities and populations within broader systems.
Systems and Practice Contexts: Demonstrate effective collaboration and verbal and written communication with systems stakeholders, competent performance in needs assessment, and program development using creative, mindful problem-solving for articulating and performing occupational therapy roles across traditional and emerging settings.
Evidence-Based Practice and Knowledge: Evaluate and synthesize evidence that translates to best practice for occupation-based treatment and program development.
Leadership and Professionalism: Commit to the ongoing development of leadership skills with an OT professional identity within the context of interprofessional practice.
Synthesis of Core Knowledge: Synthesize and articulate the integral relationship among occupation, health and participation.

Accreditation

The Quinnipiac University Entry-Level Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) degree program has applied for accreditation and has been granted Candidacy Status by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 6116 Executive Boulevard, Suite 200, North Bethesda, MD 20852-4929. ACOTE’s telephone number c/o AOTA is 301-652-AOTA, and its web address is acoteonline.org.

As a program with Candidacy Status, Quinnipiac University may admit students into the Entry-Level OTD program according to the approved timeline and may proceed to the preaccreditation review step of the accreditation process. The program must have a preaccreditation review, complete an on-site evaluation and be granted accreditation status before its graduates will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for occupational therapists administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be an occupational therapist, registered (OTR). In addition, all states require licensure in order to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT examination. Note that a felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT examination or attain state licensure.