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Email: ahcp@uwo.ca
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Upper Extremity Rehabilitation
Advance your health care practice.
Preparing occupational therapists and physical therapists for enhanced specialty care in upper extremity rehabilitation.
Offered fully online, with face-to-face clinical mentorship experiences, this interprofessional educational experience helps you develop clinical skills, research methodology, depth of knowledge, and the professional behaviours to assess and evaluate, and manage and rehabilitate complex upper extremity conditions. This unique program’s curriculum is mapped to the Certified Hand Therapist (CHT) exam.
Partners in Enhancing Patient Care
This program combines the academic, research and clinical expertise of Western University's Schools of Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy with that of the Roth McFarlane Hand and Upper Limb Centre, a world-renowned centre of excellence in education, research and the diagnosis, care and treatment of patients with complex conditions affecting hands, wrists, elbows and shoulders.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Click below for answers to commonly asked questions related to program content, structure, partnerships and credentialing.
Expanding Expertise
Designed for practicing occupational and physical therapists in search of advanced-level knowledge and skills in upper extremity rehabilitation, this program helps you develop the skills and knowledge to provide enhanced patient care for upper extremity injuries and conditions and to seek advanced accreditation and recognition nationally and internationally. The ideal candidates for the program are:
- Therapists who are interested in gaining initial experience and preparing for employment in upper extremity rehabilitation
- Experienced therapists seeking to advance their practice in upper extremity rehabilitation
- Those who have some direct practice experience in upper extremity rehabilitation who would like to prepare to challenge the Certified Hand Therapist Examination
Admission and Applying/Tuition and Fees
Program Structure and Course Offerings
With courses offered fully online, through synchronous and asynchronous virtual learning environments, this program allows students to achieve their learning goals while balancing the demands of their professional and personal lives.
The curriculum and course offerings of this program are built around the idea that specialized rehabilitation of the upper extremity reflects a synthesis of occupational therapy and physical therapy theory and practice that combines comprehensive knowledge of the structure of the upper limb with function and activity to inform evidenced-based rehabilitation.
Exposure to specialized practice will position graduates of the program to effectively manage the complexity of clinical presentations and enable best practice in upper extremity rehabilitation.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successfully completing the program, students should have the ability to:
- Critically analyze and integrate the principles underpinning upper extremity rehabilitation to inform interventions across the lifespan
- Evaluate clinical history and examination findings to inform individualized client-centred rehabilitation within a biopsychosocial and interdisciplinary framework
- Implement and justify evidence-informed rehabilitation interventions to optimize clinical outcomes
- Synthesize knowledge, skills and attributes to demonstrate advanced practice in upper extremity rehabilitation
- Develop research skills enabling active participation and competency in clinical research
- Communicate and apply ethical principles and practices in patient care and research activities
- Develop communication strategies that foster therapeutic alliance and shared decision-making with the client
- Develop iterative self-reflection skills and continued life-long learning