Occupational Therapy in Primary Care

Primary care is facing a crisis.  Canada’s population is aging, and chronic health conditions are now the leading cause of disability and death. While there has been significant transformation in the past 20 years, more than 6.5 M Canadians are without a primary care provider.   Interprofessional primary care teams are seen as a core solution to provide Canadians with increased access and ensure comprehensive and coordinated care across the lifespan (Canadian College of Family Physicians). Occupational therapists, as members of these interprofessional primary care teams, are poised to play an important role in supporting primary care across the country. Course overview The course provides occupational therapists with foundational knowledge about primary care and the services they can provide in this setting.  The module highlights the unique lens of occupational therapy in primary care, with the goal of building the capacity of the profession to practice in collaborative primary teams.  The module reviews evidence for occupational therapy services in primary care, along with assessments and interventions, within a culturally safer, equity oriented primary care context.

Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

1.         Define key characteristics of occupational therapy in primary care.

2.         Describe the varying scope of occupational therapy services in primary care.

3.         Examine and critically reflect on how culture, equity, and justice impact access to, and the provision of, occupational therapy in primary care.

4.         Identify the range of assessments and interventions that occupational therapists can use in primary care to support individual and community occupational participation. 

5.         Apply your understanding of occupational therapy in primary care to analyze a case study.

Target audience 

Occupational therapy learners and practitioners, as well as interprofessional health practitioners who are interested in primary care. 

 Time commitment 

Each module will take approximately between 90-120 minutes to complete. 

Language 

 English

Project Team 

This interprofessional collaborative project was funded by the Foundation for Advancing Family Medicine. The project team was led by Catherine Donnelly and Nicole Bobbette, Andrew Freeman, Lori Letts, Carri Hand, Pam Wener, Cara Brown, Lisa Diamond-Burchuk, Leanne Leclair, Kaarina Valavaara, Angie Phenix, Hélène Sabourin & Josée Séguin.

This purchase provides individual access to this online course for 120 days following purchase. Access the online course immediately following purchase by selecting this online course on My Dashboard on CAOT's learning management system (LMS), using your CAOT My Account login information. Please visit the Professional Development FAQ for additional information. If you have any questions, please contact CAOT's Professional Development team at education@caot.ca.