On a Friday morning in late August, 29 first-year Occupational Therapy (OT) students are getting a lesson in working with adult clients in a home setting.
Divided into teams of three, each team in succession sits around a table opposite a client to determine what assistance is needed to improve the client’s life.
The scenario is not real life, but it is as close to it as possible.
The students are in the simulated home environment in the Center for Healthcare Improvement and Patient Simulation (CHIPS) at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center. The state-of-the-art facility on the Memphis campus is a 45,000-square-foot hub for health care simulation and interprofessional education.
In this simulated apartment setting on the first floor, students can practice delivering in-home care. The space includes a kitchen with cabinets that are adjustable for patients who are standing or seated in a wheelchair. The bathroom is ADA compliant. A Murphy bed pulls out from one wall turning the den into a bed-care area.
The intentional design makes the space ideal for helping students learn how to assess patient needs in a home setting and care for them based on those assessments.
“It’s prepping our learners to be able to do things for home health care,” said Jamie Pitt, MMHPE, director of education for CHIPs. “We wanted it to look like someone’s home.”
Read more at our UTHSC news site.