The Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) Program is a three-year graduate program housed within the Department of Occupational Therapy.
| Program Summary |
|---|
| 108 credits |
| 3 years (9 terms including 3 summer terms) |
| Program starts summer term only (first Monday in June) |
The OTD Program includes fieldwork education, an experiential preceptorship and a capstone project.
The OTD Program has applied for accreditation and has been granted Candidacy Status by the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE) of the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), located at 4720 Montgomery Lane, Suite 200, Bethesda, MD 20814-3449. ACOTE's telephone number c/o AOTA is 301-652-AOTA and its Web address is www.acoteonline.org.
The program must have a preaccreditation review, complete an on-site evaluation, and be granted Accreditation Status before its graduates will be eligible to sit for the national certification examination for the occupational therapist administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). After successful completion of this exam, the individual will be an Occupational Therapist, Registered (OTR). In addition, all states require licensure in order to practice; however, state licenses are usually based on the results of the NBCOT Certification Examination. Note that a felony conviction may affect a graduate’s ability to sit for the NBCOT certification examination or attain state licensure. Additionally, to become licensed, many states inquire as to whether the applicant has been convicted of a misdemeanor, a felony, or a felonious or illegal act associated with alcohol and/or substance abuse.
Projected Timeline for OTD Program Accreditation Activities
The following table includes the tentative target dates for the steps leading to accreditation of the OTD Program.
| Date | Status | |
| Letter of Intent | Submitted March 2016 | Accepted by ACOTE April 2016 |
| Candidacy Application | Submitted May 2016 | ACOTE granted Candidacy Status with approval to admit first class June 2017 |
| Report of Self-Study | Due March 1, 2019 | |
| ACOTE Decision on Preaccreditation Review of Self-Study | August 2019 | |
| Initial On-Site Evaluation | August - November 2019 | |
| ACOTE Review of Report of On-Site Evaluation (ROSE) and Accreditation Decision | December 2019 | |
| First OTD Class graduates | April 2020 | |
| First OTD Class Graduates eligible to sit for the NBCOT Certification Examination | 2020 |
The OTD Program requires that students complete fieldwork education, and an experiential preceptorship at facilities external to the University of Pittsburgh. PLEASE NOTE: All OTD students are required to obtain the following annually - PA criminal record check, PA child abuse history clearance, PA DHS and PA DOE fingerprint background checks, personal health insurance, health screening, drug screening, influenza vaccination, CPR/AED training, and first aid training.