UAMS, UA Consider Joint OT Doctorate Program

The University of Arkansas College of Education and Health Professions and the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences Northwest campus are in talks to offer a joint occupational therapy doctorate degree program.

The program received a positive reaction from the UAMS Council of Deans in Little Rock and awaits a nod of approval from Joseph Steinmetz, who took over the role as UA chancellor on Jan. 1, before it can be taken to the UA Board of Trustees. 

The proposed program would represent the first partnership between the two campuses and would fill a widening gap the leaders of the institutions say exists in the region.

UAMS vice chancellor Peter Kohler, who works at the Northwest campus in Fayetteville, says occupational therapy is an education field that is “badly needed in this area.”

The two schools recently conducted an occupational therapy needs assessment, surveying health care facilities within a 100-mile radius of Fayetteville. 

Of the 34 health care facilities that responded to the survey, half reported a current opening for an occupational therapist.

Seventy-six percent of those who have had an opening within the past five years reported that filling the occupational therapist positions was either extremely or moderately difficult.

The assessment also cited a recent CNN Money report that shows the estimated unemployment rate of occupational therapists is 2 percent, and a survey of education program directors by the American Occupational Therapy Association shows 99 percent of occupational therapy graduates were able to secure jobs within eight weeks of graduation.

It also cited data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services that show occupational therapy is among the fastest growing professions in the nation. 

Between 2012 and 2022, the growth in the number of occupational therapy positions in the U.S. is expected to increase by 29 percent, comprising an addition of 32,900 more nationwide, according to the bureau.

In Arkansas, the growth in demand during this same period is projected to increase by 19 percent, adding about 200 additional occupational therapists, according to DWS.

“Occupational therapy is a growing field,” said Tom Smith, dean of the UA health professions college. “There is a high demand for occupational therapy now, and our projections suggest it will be a rapidly growing profession.”

Local colleges and universities have been growing the whole gamut of rehabilitative service training offerings lately.

This fall, the regional UAMS campus launched a three-year physical therapy doctoral program.

During the planning stage of that program, the campus’ leadership also began exploring the idea of adding occupational therapy, and Smith, who serves as a UAMS Northwest advisory board member, expressed a similar idea brewing at the UA college. 

“Since we don’t have physical therapy or occupational therapy on our campus, we thought it would be very important for us to get into preparing individuals for those two roles,” Smith said. “Then, UAMS Northwest started planning for a physical therapy program, and so we opted to get into occupational therapy, so as not to get into competition with that program.”

Once it was clear the two campuses’ interests were aligned, talks of a partnership started.

“We think it would be a very good thing for the two campuses to start working together on joint degree programs,” Smith said.

If all goes to the plan, the joint occupational therapy three-year doctorate program will welcome its first students in fall 2017.

The program would start with 24 students, building up to a class of 32 by 2023, said Susan Long, associate dean for academic affairs in the health professions college at UAMS.

But first, it has to be approved. Long said the UA Board of Trustees will likely review the proposal in May, and the plan is to put it before the Arkansas Department of Higher Education in the fall.

“It’s a high priority of the [UA health professions] college,” Smith said. “We hope it’s a high priority for the campus, because we have to have support from the provost and the chancellor’s office.

“I think it’s very important, because it is the first joint degree program, between the UA and UAMS Northwest,” he added. “It’s going to open the door for a lot of collaboration. We do a lot of things on this campus that UAMS Northwest doesn’t have the resources to do, and vice versa, so I think it will be a very good marriage.”