Doctoral Capstone Experience: Acute Care Occupational Therapy Neurological Vision Rehabilitation

Abstract

This paper focuses on an occupational therapy student’s Doctoral Capstone Experience (DCE) at a large, level I trauma hospital in the neurological rehabilitation department. The site lacked an occupational therapy vision rehabilitation protocol among staff and lacked the time to develop such a protocol. Neurological injuries often result in visual deficits, with 85.7% of participants in a study on strokes and 90% of people with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) reporting changes in vision (Norup et al., 2016; Robert's et al., 2016). Occupational therapy focuses on providing neurological vision rehabilitation in the setting of functional deficits. Participants consisted of 14 occupational therapists. The capstone student collaborated with site mentors and the Indiana University Occupational Therapy (IUOT) department to develop educational materials and a survey measuring the improvement of participant understanding of vision OT. The participants improved in all portions presented, including assessments, interventions, and referrals, with the most improvement in their knowledge on appropriate interventions. The project is sustainable long term via access to the materials digitally and in print.