Collection Development Policies: Occupational Therapy

COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT POLICY
Rehabilitation Sciences

Subject:  Occupational Therapy

Program Description

Occupational therapy provides directions for an individual’s participation in activities that are related to work and leisure for the purposes of promoting and maintaining health; preventing disability, evaluating and treating physical, social, and emotional disabilities; and regaining, retaining, and attaining maximum human function.  Occupational therapists analyze, select, and direct evaluation and treatment, choosing from a wide variety of activities that are creative, manual, educational, related to the care of oneself, recreational and vocationally oriented.  Services are provided in a variety of settings, ranging from medical facilities to community health agencies, schools, and private practice.

The program at the University of Texas at El Paso leads to a Bachelor of Science in Occupational Therapy and the professional course of study is 28 months in length.   Graduates of the program will be able to sit for the national Certification Examination for the Occupational Therapist, Registered that is administered by the national Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT).  Successful completion of the NBCOT examination leads to certification by the NBCOT and allows the graduate to use the letters “OTR” (Occupational Therapy Registered).

Beginning January 2007, ACOTE will only accredit post-baccalaureate programs.  Consequently, the UTEP Occupational Therapy program will not admit students into the baccalaureate degree program after 2004.  The program is in the process of transitioning to a post-baccalaureate program.  

The Occupational Therapy department currently offers an entry-level Master's of Occupational Therapy (MOT) degree.

In 2004 the college approved a doctoral degree in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences. The Ph.D. in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences is designed to respond to the growing national shortage of doctoral-trained professionals in health-related fields and to address significant health research needs related to communities in the U.S.-Mexico border region.  This degree encompasses classes taught by faculty from the various disciplines within the College of Health Sciences.  Disciplines include Nursing, Physical Therapy, Health Promotion, Occupational Therapy, Speech-Language Pathology, Kinesiology, as well as Public Health.  Graduates from this program will have research skills, core knowledge in health sciences, and knowledge in their areas of specialization.

Students are introduced to the following topics:  Functional and Applied Anatomy, Pathophysiology, Basic concepts in Occupational Therapy, Therapeutic Media, Medical Terminology, Human Neurosciences, Clinical Psychiatry, Biomechanics, Legal/Ethical Issues in Health Care, Work and Human Occupations, Management Skills, Developmental Approaches, Evaluations, Psychosocial Approaches, Neurodevelopmental Approaches, Upper Extremity Orthotics and Prosthetics,  and Research.

Description of Existing Collection
NCIP Code: 2

Materials are located using the Library of Congress call numbers:

R 723-724, RA 645, RA 776, RC 435-571, RC 952-953, RD 559, RJ 53, RJ 135 RJ 506, RM 695-893; RM 930-931; RM 950, TX 652

The “Selected List of Books and Journals in Allied Health Sciences” by the late Alfred N. Brandon and Dorothy R. Hill, Journal of the Medical Library Association.  Vol. 91, No. 1, January 2003, pp 18-33, was used to check the holdings of the library.

The library was found to have 78% of the books recommended by the Brandon Hill “Selected List of Print Books and Journals in Allied Health Sciences” in the following area: 18 of 23 titles for Occupational Therapy.

The library provides access to databases that contain journals pertaining to Occupational Health.    These databases include Science Direct, PubMed, Academic Search Premier, Health Reference Center Academic, and Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL).

Current Collecting Intensity
NCIP Code: 2

Current and retrospective material is sought to satisfy the needs of the students and faculty in occupational therapy. Research material for the faculty and graduate students is also searched and obtained. Most of the selections are in the English language.

Desired Collection Level
NCIP Code: 3

With the introduction of the doctoral program in Interdisciplinary Health Sciences, more research-based material is needed.

The Library will need to subscribe to additional journals, purchase more extensively from recommended lists, and update texts and reference materials now owned in order to collect at the 3 level.

Locally, the Texas Tech Health Sciences Center Delia Montes-Gallo Library of the Health Sciences in El Paso supplements the University of Texas at El Paso collection with medical texts and journals not being purchased by the university. Other libraries available to the faculty and students are the El Paso Community College libraries, the El Paso Public Library, the medical library of the Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez in Juarez, Chihuahua, and the libraries at New Mexico State University in Las Cruces, New Mexico.

 The Interlibrary Loan Department of the library provides materials not available in the area.

The library is a charter member of the Del Norte Biosciences Library Consortium which meets regularly to dialog.

Last updated:  4/18/2006