The Pacific Northwest University of Health Sciences Master of Science in Occupational Therapy (MSOT) program is a mere nine months old, having matriculated its first cohort in August 2023. Yet, the program is already climbing in the US News and World Report rankings for best occupational therapy programs and was placed in the top 35% of OT programs in the United States.
“Our program is not even a year old, and we are outranking programs that have been around much longer, are better resourced, are certainly better known, and so on,” said Dr. Fritz. “Our success in the rankings thus far is based primarily on other people around the country recognizing the names of the people involved in our program, understanding what caliber of a team we have, looking at our curriculum and what we say we’re going to do, and then having the belief that our team is well equipped to do it. I expect we will move up even further in the rankings once we show we are delivering on all those things.”
Many factors influence program rankings including the caliber of the faculty, the quality of the curriculum, and innovativeness of the program. The PNWU program has already proven to be a tour de force when it comes to innovating occupational therapy education.
The program is one of only a handful in the country to practice barrier free admissions. For example, the program has eliminated prerequisite coursework as part of the admissions process. Moreover, the curriculum fully embraces the PNWU mission of educating healthcare professionals with a desire to serve rural and medically underserved communities.
One way the program embodies that mission is through three Integrated Clinical Educational Experiences (ICEEs), each of which brings innovative and much needed healthcare to rural and medically underserved members of the community. The ICEEs are designed to reinforce content the students learn in the classroom and expose them to working with rural and medically underserved individuals. The ICEEs also provide opportunities for students to conduct original research, and they serve as clinical rotations sites for students to refine their clinical skills.
Behavioral Health
Dr. Jennifer Pitonyak, Professor, leads an ICEE collaboration between the OT program and Triumph Treatment Services, a community-based behavioral health provider. Occupational therapists (OT) are behavioral health providers, yet there are no OTs staffed in community-based behavioral health settings in the Yakima Valley or surrounding area. The PNWU program tackled the challenge head on. PNWU was awarded 264K in grant funding from Yakima County Mental Health Sales Tax Behavioral Health Fund to establish an OT service line. The services will be focused on developing the life-management, socio-emotional, and parenting skills of pregnant and parenting women and their children while they receive residential treatment for substance abuse disorders. The ICEE research project intends to demonstrate the value of OT in behavioral health by examining the recovery process as a complex life occupation.
Pediatrics
Dr. Sara Wyckoff, Assistant Professor, leads an ICEE which recruits children and young adults from the community. The demand for young adult transition services and early school readiness services in Yakima County and the surrounding area is greater than the supply. Dr. Wyckoff provides group-based skills training to children and young adults with a focus on developing skills needed for transitioning to the next phase of life, be it going to kindergarten or taking on more household management such as meal planning, cooking and clean up. Those socio-emotional, cognitive, and motor skills are fostered through purposeful activity in a social setting.
Older Adult Care
Dr. Heather Fritz, Associate Professor and Program Director, leads the ICEE collaboration between the OT program and Yakima Valley Farmworker’s Clinic (YVFWC). OTs play a valuable role in primary healthcare delivery, yet utilization of OTs in primary healthcare setting in the US is rare and there are no OTs staffed in primary healthcare settings in the Yakima Valley or surrounding area. The program is establishing an occupational therapy service line in one YVFWC primary care clinic which will focus on addressing the complex need of older adults with multimorbidity. The ICEE research project intends to demonstrate the value of OT in the primary care setting by examining how OT services benefit older adults with multiple and complex chronic conditions.
All three ICEE experiences help address gaps in access to skilled occupational therapy services while providing students hands-on, real-world training. To find out more about PNWUs innovative MSOT program, visit pnwu.edu/start-your-ot-mission.