By Rebecca Storey, OTR/L, CHT
As Occupational Therapy (OT) month comes to an end, we would like to take a minute to reflect on our highly skilled OT staff and what they bring to our orthopedic practice. Over the past year, our hand rehabilitation department has grown with the addition of one hand surgeon in June of 2021 and a new OT in November of 2021, making our entire staff consist of 3 hand surgeons, 5 Occupational Therapists (3 of them being Certified Hand Therapists (CHT)), and 1 Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant (part-time). Our therapy staff alone has over 20 years’ experience working in the OT/Hand therapy profession.
As we continue to navigate this crazy COVID-19 world, we continue to face many challenges that affect our growth as clinicians. Once the college courses are completed and the diploma has
been earned, the learning does not stop for the therapist. We are required additional learning in order to maintain our licenses and specialized credentialing. As you can imagine, these past couple of years have made this very difficult to achieve with the restricted classroom/group gatherings and various travel restrictions. Most groups and organizations have tried to accommodate as best as they can by providing distance learning opportunities, but nothing compares to the in-person, hands-on learning experience, and meeting with other therapists and physicians from across the country who share in the same area of interests.
Here is just a small breakdown of what is required to maintain our license and credentialing as Occupational Therapists:
- Oklahoma Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision – requires OTs to renew their medical license every year and provide 20 hours of attended continuing education units every 2 years.
- National Board of Certified Occupational Therapist (NBCOT) – our national registration board requires renewal every 3 years and 36 hours of continuing education units.
- Hand Therapy Commission and Certification (HTCC) – requires renewal every 5 years with a minimum of 2,000 practice hours and 80 hours of continuing education units specifically focused on upper extremity.
This does not include additional training therapists do each year to stay up to date and provide the skilled therapy required to meet the standard of care provided by our clinicians here at Tulsa Bone & Joint.
We are happy to start getting back to the “new normal,” and the therapists are excited to return to hands-on learning. Over the past year, one of our OTs has been able to travel to Tucson, AZ and learn about Dry Needling. Tulsa Bone & Joint was able to host an in-person 1 CEU event for fellow hand therapists in the community. We were able to open our doors to OT students, allowing them the opportunity to learn from our highly skilled therapists. Just this last week, two of our therapists traveled to Indianapolis, Indiana for the Hand Care Conference, which was finally able to meet in person again after being cancelled in 2020.
When you are a hand patient here at Tulsa Bone and Joint, you are receiving the best possible care from our highly skilled therapists, who take the time to learn and provide the most up-to-date treatment approaches and skill interventions available.
If you have questions or would like to schedule an appointment to see one of our hand physicians or OT hand therapist, please call 918-392-1400 or click here.
