Diversity in OT

In previous courses, we’ve discussed that one of the primary ways we can improve our care, as OT professionals, is to increase the diversity of our workforce—with the ultimate goal of having our workforce’s diversity mirror the diversity of the populations we are seeing.  This goal will ensure we have the multiple perspectives needed to respond to the needs of our clients.

But, until now, we’ve mostly talked about this theoretically.

So, what do the actual numbers have to say about the current diversity of our workforce?

It’s a mixed bag.

In today’s 1 hour CEU course, we’ll look at a report from JAMA that estimates racial/ethnic representation in 10 U.S. healthcare professions.

To give you a taste of the positive news: the percentage of Black OTs is better than in PT and SLP. But startlingly, the authors specifically call out OT for having a smaller percentage of Black OT students than is in our workforce. In other words, this measure of diversity showed shrinkage.

There is so much to unpack from this data, and we are excited to welcome back to the podcast a guest from one of our most popular episodes: Arameh Anvarizadeh OTD, OTR/L, FAOTA.

1. You will be able to identify where OT compares to other professions in terms of the diversity of our workforce.

2. You will be able to recognize what the metrics of our student pipeline indicate for the diversity of our future workforce.

• Intro

• Breakdown and analysis of journal article

  • Intro

  • OT Potential Podcast Intro

  • Intro to the research

  • Why is this research important?

  • What’s missing from the research?

  • Intent of the research

  • Methods

  • Article Conclusion

• Discussion on practical implications for OTs

  1. Intro to Arameh Anvarizadeh

  2. How Arameh was persuaded to join OT

  3. Article impressions

  4. Transparency around diversity statistics in education

  5. Holistic admissions

  6. Transparency around diversity statistics in our national association

  7. Promoting OT versus protecting it

  8. What can I as an individual do?

  9. Closing thoughts

Primary

• Estimation and Comparison of Current and Future Racial/Ethnic Representation in the US Health Care Workforce

Additional

• Developing workforce diversity in the Health Professions: A Social Justice Perspective

• Holistic Admissions: Strategies for Increasing Student Diversity in Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy, and Physician Assistant Studies Programs

Supplementary Materials

• Mullan Institute - Health work force diversity tracker

It is the policy of OT Potential to disclose any financial and non-financial interest the provider or instructor may have in a product or service mentioned during an activity. This is to ensure that the audience is made aware of any bias of the speaker.

OT Potential pays guest speakers an honorarium for their participation, either directly or to an institution of the speaker's choosing at their request. We invite guests whose expertise often comes from practices, programs, or building products in their field. Where a speaker has a financial interest in the subject of a course, we disclose it below so you can weigh it for yourself.

OT Potential's interest in this topic: We have no financial stake in this topic.

Speaker interests: Arameh Anvarizadeh has no financial interest in this topic to disclose. She serves as Vice President of the American Occupational Therapy Association, is founding member and chair of the Coalition of Occupational Therapy Advocates for Diversity (COTAD), and developed the holistic admissions process at the USC Chan Division of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy.