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If you are preparing for your fieldwork or are currently working in a level I or II setting, remember to use your experience to help you now and in the future on your NBCOT Certification Exam and with your future job.  Incorporating a journal is a wonderful way to remember the diagnoses you evaluated and treated, how you graded interventions, the client response to treatments, typical complaints about pain or functional status, collaboration with team members, and how you planned a discharge. 

Dedicate one notebook to your level I and II fieldworks.  Then, when you begin preparing for your NBCOT Exam, you can review everything you have seen in a clinical setting.  This is one step in the right direction to focus on what you know and need to review. 

Now, use your OT savvy and clinical reasoning.  This is where the difficult part of preparing for your exam and identifying your weak areas meet!  Envision the various conditions you have encountered, now review how those specific conditions are evaluated and treated across the continuum of care.  This is one of the hardest areas for exam candidates to overcome, honing in on weak areas and relating their knowledge across the continuum of care. 

Get a jumpstart on your NBCOT studies and showcase your experience when you begin preparing for your interviews by using a journal during your fieldwork rotations.  It is important to know, your success depends on the simplest tasks you do today.    

If you are a COTA or OTR exam candidate or will be soon, join a free research study group hosted and presented by OT-ADVANTAGE.COM!  Click the link below for more information:

Brain teaser!  Test yourself.  The answer is at the bottom.

An OTR is passively extending a client’s elbow while palpating the joint at the end range.  The individual is unable to fully extend and the clinician is able to sense the immobility by touch.

The OTR is assessing the ____   ____ to determine the type of actual end range.

Reviewing the right textbooks and journals is an integral part to your NBCOT Certification Examination studies.  How do you get on track and make sure you have the right material?  One step in the right direction is reviewing the 2008 NBCOT Textbook and Journal Survey.

NBCOT contacts U.S. occupational therapy programs to determine what students are using in the classroom.  The next step is incorporating the most recent edition resources to develop and revise actual exam questions for the COTA and OTR exams.

The best place to find this survey is to visit www.nbcot.org.  Once you navigate to the site, click on the useful links icon in the exam candidates section. 

Here are some picks from OT-ADVANTAGE.COM on great books to impact your studies and jumpstart your study plan!

OTR Exam Picks:

1. Occupational Therapy for Children 5^th edition
2. Pedretti’s Occupational Therapy 6^th edition
3. Willard & Spackman’s Occupational Therapy 11^th edition
4. Occupational Therapy for Physical Dysfunction 6^th edition
5. The Merck Manual
6. Introduction to Splinting: A Clinical Reasoning and Problem-Solving Approach 3^rd edition
7. Ethics in Rehabilitation
8. Psychosocial Occupational Therapy 2^nd edition
9. Vision, Perception, & Cognition 4^th ed

COTA Exam Picks:

1. Occupational Therapy for Children 5^th edition
2. Pedretti’s Occupational Therapy 6^th edition
3. Willard & Spackman’s Occupational Therapy 11^th edition
4. Occupational Therapy for Physical Dysfunction 6^th edition
5. Mental Health Concepts & Techniques for the OTA 4^th edition
6. Introduction to Splinting: A Clinical Reasoning and Problem-Solving Approach 3^rd edition
7. Physical Dysfunction Practice Skills for the OTA 2^nd edition
8. Ethics in Rehabilitation
9. Psychosocial Occupational Therapy 2^nd edition
10. Vision, Perception, & Cognition 4^th ed

Please note, these are suggestions on texts to incorporate into your studies.  These are not meant to substitute or limit your current choices.

*Answer to the brain teaser is end feel