OTAs & Assessments

We were recently asked the question….”Should OTA’s be allowed to perform assessments on pediatric clients?” My answer to this would have been different 2 years ago than it is today. When I started thinking about going back to school for OT I did my research about the differences between OT and OTA programs beyond the obvious Masters vs. Associates degree. What I kept hearing and seeing was that OTAs basically can do everything but the initial evaluations. I knew there had to be more it than that.

As I continued my research, I understood it that the OTs were directing the patient care, intervention planning, interpreting data, writing goals, determining the need for services and much more. OTAs role is to help carry out this process. Yet I still had this belief that OTAs cannot be a part of the evaluation/assessment process and that made sense to me!

Well I started the OTA program and within the first 2 semesters I hear more about assessments and find that we even have a class called Assessment Skills! I really had to take a step back and figure out the rules and regulations of OT/OTA practice. The first thing I had wrong was that I thought the words assessment and evaluation were one in the same. The words are sometimes used synonymously in the field, but have different implications for OT practice. Assessments are more often than not standardized tests with specific instructions for administration and scoring. An evaluation is the columniation of many assessments or gathered information which is interpreted so that the client may receive the appropriate plan of care. As I understood more of what those terms meant, I started to get a better grip of the role of the OTA.

According to the North Carolina Board of Occupational Therapy, “The OTA contributes to the evaluation process by implementing specifically delegated assessments for which service competency has been established and documented.” Service competency is defined as, “the determination, made by various methods, that two people performing the same or equivalent procedure will obtain the same or equivalent results. In test development, this is known as interrater reliability. The same concept can be applied to professionals working together in the service provision process. It stems from the assumption that he OT employs currently acceptable practices. (American Occupational Therapy Association, 1990)

So according to state laws, in collaboration with the OT, OTAs are permitted to perform assessments as long as service competency has been established and documented.

Being a student, I have yet to experience official service competency during fieldwork practices and I’m interested to see how it works. I’m sure we will experience this during fieldwork II in the spring semester when we are hands on with patients. Until then, I will keep learning as much as I can so the process will be smooth when I get there J

Click on the title for the official roles and supervisory documents from North Carolina Board of Occupational Therapy…