Question 1

What is a peer review?

Accepted Answer

A peer review is an evaluation of a person's work by others with similar qualifications in the same field.

Question 2

How many Professional Development Units (PDUs) must a certified occupational therapy assistant (COTA) obtain to renew certification?

Accepted Answer

A COTA must obtain 36 PDUs within the three-year certification period.

Question 3

You have been working at your first job for a year and a half in several small public school districts. You do not see your OT department co-workers on a regular basis. What methods are acceptable for you both to participate in a supervisory meeting?

Accepted Answer

Since you have more than one year of experience as a COTA, once per month face-to-face meetings, teleconferences, and video conferences are all acceptable methods for you and your OT department co-workers to conduct supervisory meetings.

Question 4

How can you access professional research articles in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy?

Accepted Answer

You can access professional research articles in the American Journal of Occupational Therapy through your membership in AOTA. When you become a member of AOTA, current issues of the American Journal of Occupational Therapy are mailed to your home, and you can access back issues of the journal through AOTA's Web site.

Question 5

You would like to gather information on the effectiveness of weighted vests. You have located several articles, but you are confused by the research methods. You would just like to know the results of the studies. Where could you look to quickly find the results of the studies?

Accepted Answer

You can quickly find the results of the studies in the abstract for each article. The abstract contains a brief summary of the study's purpose, methods, results, and conclusions.

Question 6

Your student, Haley, is responding well to the Wilbarger brushing protocol. Her teacher questions the effectiveness of the technique, as it takes up time during the school day to complete it. What could you do to convince the teacher of the effectiveness of the protocol?

Accepted Answer

To convince the teacher, you could present him/her with several research studies that support the effectiveness of the protocol. If you present him/her with case studies from the school, he/she may view these as biased. You do not need to refer this task to the OT department. You can locate and present research to the teacher as evidence that the protocol is effective.

Question 7

You have obtained your first job at a rehabilitation facility. What kind of supervision must you receive from your OT department?

Accepted Answer

The OT department must provide you with close supervision because you have less than 12 months of experience.

Question 8

What is close supervision?

Accepted Answer

Close supervision means that the supervising OT department provides initial direction and daily contact during 50 percent of the OTA's direct patient care hours per month.

Question 9

A new Medicare patient has been placed on your schedule for the afternoon at the nursing home where you work. Your OT department has not yet finished the treatment plan for this patient. But the rehabilitation director is pressuring you to provide treatment to this patient to count toward Medicare reimbursement. How do you respond to the rehabilitation director?

Accepted Answer

You tell the rehabilitation director that you cannot provide treatment to the patient until the OT department has established the treatment plan. COTAs may not establish the treatment plan and may not initiate treatment without a treatment plan in place.

Question 10

You and your OT department are discussing your patients when the nursing home administrator brings a family into your office. They are touring the facility. What should you do?

Accepted Answer

You and your OT department should stop talking about your patients and welcome the family as visitors to the OT department. Continuing to talk about your patients in front of the family violates the confidentiality of the patients. Asking the family to leave, however, would be bad for the nursing home's public relations efforts. To keep your jobs in good standing, you welcome the family and continue your conversation after they leave.

Question 11

A COTA in your department has been out of school for six months. She is having difficulty providing activities that follow the treatment plan of her supervising OT department. What does her OT department decide to do?

Accepted Answer

The OT department decides to provide direct supervision while the COTA provides treatment to patients. Direct supervision means that OT department co-workers are present in the room while the COTA is providing treatment and can observe what the COTA is doing with patients.

Question 12

The OT treatment plan expires after 30 days. What must your OT department do after 30 days if treatment is to continue with a patient?

Accepted Answer

Your OT department must revise the existing treatment plan and send it to the physician, who will recertify it for another 30 days. Under Medicare guidelines, OT treatment plans must be recertified by a physician every 30 days.

Question 13

What device should you always use when transferring patients to or from a wheelchair?

Accepted Answer

You should always use a gait belt when transferring patients to or from wheelchairs. The belt gives you a place to put your hands when lifting or steadying the patient.

Question 14

You have a student with you in the OT room at your school. A teacher asks you to assist another student. What do you tell your student in the OT room?

Accepted Answer

You either tell the student in the OT room to come with you while you help the other student or you tell the student to go back to class. Students may not remain unsupervised in the OT room. If a student would experience an injury while alone in the OT room, the school would be liable.

Question 15

What devices does your nursing home use to prevent falls in the Alzheimer's unit?

Accepted Answer

your nursing home uses chair alarms to prevent falls in the Alzheimer's unit. All of the other devices listed are considered restraints, and their use is prohibited by federal regulations.

Question 16

What is one way you can determine if your OT department's treatment plan is effective for a patient?

Accepted Answer

To determine if your OT department's treatment plan is effective for a patient, you can record objective data regarding the targeted skill of each short-term objective and measure the change in the data from week to week. This method is objective in nature, rather than subjective, and will confirm whether or not the treatment plan is effective.

Question 17

What is one way a rehabilitation department can measure the effectiveness of the services it provides?

Accepted Answer

A rehabilitation department can measure the effectiveness of the services it provides through outcomes measures. These tools measure the actual rehabilitation outcomes of the patient who received services from the department over a given period of time, rather than measuring satisfaction.

Question 18

Your OT department feels that you and some of the other therapists in the rehabilitation department are not utilizing physical agent modalities correctly. What is done to fix this issue?

Accepted Answer

Your OT department requests an in-service on the use of physical agent modalities. Providing an in-service to staff will insure that all staff members are utilizing the modality units correctly.

Question 19

Can a COTA discharge a patient from treatment?

Accepted Answer

A COTA may not discharge a patient. A COTA may contribute to the discharge plan of a patient, but the actual discharge is the responsibility of the OT department.

Question 20

You have a high caseload on the rehabilitation unit, and your therapy aide is assisting you with treatment sessions. Where must the therapy aide be to provide therapeutic activities in a legally appropriate manner?

Accepted Answer

The therapy aide must be within your direct line of vision to provide therapeutic activities to patients under your supervision.

Quiz 3: Professionalism