AOTA

Faculty

Anne Dickerson, PhD, OTR/L, SCDCM, FAOTA, FGSA

Professor, East Carolina University’s Department of Occupational Therapy

Director of the Research for the Older Adult Driver Initiative (ROADI).

Greenville, NC 

Elin Schold Davis, OTR/L, CDRS, FAOTA

Practice Manager, Workforce Capacity & Engagement Community Access

The American Occupational Therapy Association

North Bethesda, MD

Earn:  .15 AOTA CEU’s (1.5 contact hours; 1.88 NBCOT PDU’s)

Description:

Many clients will not ask about driving.  They may think it is too soon.  They may not imagine it is possible.  They may be afraid to hear the answer. Some lack self-awareness or the judgment to know “when to stop”.  These individuals may attempt driving - using operational skills to operate the controls but lacking strategic and executive skills to manage the driving environment safely. 

As an OT practitioner It is your ethical duty to offer education, strategies and to address risks.  Your keen observational skills and ability to analyze activities creates your distinct value and team role as a practitioner able to articulate functional performance concerns effectively and offer valuable information about the levels of risk for those returning to driving. Understand that it is your job to inform - not to make the licensing decisions (the job of the licensing agency). You can inform, educate, and direct clients and families to appropriate services. Awareness and a referral can change a life.

This continuing education course will assist you in integrating the IADL of driving and community mobility into your practice to impact the lives of your clients. This course has been created for occupational therapy practitioners who understand the importance of client centered care and are invested in assisting clients in their return to valued and important tasks of daily living through enhanced safe mobility within the community.

Learning Objectives:

Following this course, the learner will be able to:

·         Describe the importance of the IADL of driving and community mobility to clients

·         Describe what is meant by the term “the medically at-risk driver”

·         Articulate the public health construct of driving disability

·         Explain how the data supports that aging drivers may be at increased risk for injury and fatalities in a crash

·         Demonstrate competency in determining treatment priorities

·         Describe the occupational therapy practitioner’s ethical role in meeting the client's needs and goals for the IADL of driving and community mobility

·         Compare and contrast driver services in terms of program models, outcomes, exploring typical services by provider knowledge and credentials

·         Articulate occupational therapy’s distinct value when addressing driving and community mobility