Entry-level OTD Level I Fieldwork (LIFW)

Public schools and nursing homes, hand clinics and correctional facilities, homeless shelters, rehab units, and early intervention centers within the greater Boston area provide Boston University students with a wealth of opportunities to gain clinical experience in a wide variety of settings and roles.

Beginning with Level I Fieldwork – your introduction to OT practice – we encourage you to explore the many areas of practice in order to help you discover your own professional interests. In each of the academic semesters of the program, you’ll participate in a semester-long LIFW experience.

During your first year, you’ll complete two part-time fieldwork placements at BU-affiliated sites across the greater Boston area. During the second year, you’ll co-lead occupation-centered groups in various practice settings and work with standardized patients in our Simulation Center , which brings to life the cases presented in our OT 502 course. These LIFW experiences are a part of the curriculum’s Integrative Seminar sequence, where sharing examples from fieldwork enriches classroom discussions and helps you make strong connections between course-based learning and clinical practice. Supervision is provided by qualified professionals—including occupational therapists, psychologists, teachers, nurses, physical therapists, speech-language pathologists, and social workers—reflecting the interprofessional nature of contemporary healthcare education.

Objectives for the Fieldwork Experience

Boston University’s general objectives for Level I Fieldwork experiences are congruent with the vision, mission, philosophy, and curriculum design of the occupational therapy program. Students are expected to meet these general objectives as they reflect on and apply didactic learning to the particular fieldwork setting to which they have been assigned. These general objectives are:

• Begin to establish and self-monitor professional behaviors and gain comfort interacting with supervisor, program staff, and classmates.
• Gain a deeper understanding of the role of OT in a variety of intervention settings while becoming familiar with the client conditions inherent to each setting.
• Provide opportunities for direct observation of OTs involved in the full range of intervention process: assessment, goal setting, intervention planning and implementation, and discharge planning.
• Begin to develop comfort interacting with clients within a therapeutic setting while engaged in conversation, assisting with activities, and assisting with group leadership.
• Enhance understanding of the professional reasoning process, and integration and application of use of theory and evidence.
• Demonstrate adherence to safety precautions and institutional policies and procedures while upholding the ethical standards outlined in the AOTA Code of Ethics.
• Demonstrate respect and appreciation for clients and populations from diverse backgrounds by recognizing the psychological and social factors that influence engagement in meaningful occupations.
• Develop a deeper understanding of the scope of OT practice while identifying the roles and contributions of various disciplines within the interprofessional care team.

Sargent Clinical Education Office

To help students arrive at their clinical placement well prepared, BU Sargent College has a dedicated Clinical Education Services office right in the building in room SAR-218. To learn more, please visit Boston University’s Clinical Education website for students (requires a BU Kerberos login).