Second-year UAB occupational therapy students reported significant gains in confidence for acute care practice after participating in Outside Hospital, a daylong interprofessional simulation. The recent study, published in the Journal of Occupational Therapy Education (JOTE), examined three student cohorts from 2023 through 2025. Confidence improved significantly in two cohorts, though findings for interprofessional readiness were less consistent.
Acute care is among the most demanding fieldwork settings for occupational therapy students, who often report feeling anxious and unprepared for its challenges. Outside Hospital is designed to help them succeed in that setting by replicating its fast pace and complex demands.
Unlike shorter, single-patient simulations, Outside Hospital requires students to manage multiple patients and increasingly complex situations throughout the day. Second-year occupational and physical therapy students work together to assess patients, prioritize care, manage equipment, communicate with other providers, and make decisions about safe discharge.
The simulation uses existing teaching spaces, lab equipment, and first-year students as simulated patients, offering a relatively low-cost model for experiential learning. Although the study measured self-reported confidence rather than subsequent fieldwork performance, results suggest that extended, multi-encounter simulations may be a promising approach to preparing students for acute care fieldwork.
Outside Hospital is led by Valley McCurry, PhD, MBA, OTR/L, assistant professor of occupational therapy, and Tara Pearce, PT, DHS, professor and director of clinical education in the Department of Physical Therapy. They are co-authors of the JOTE study, along with UAB colleagues Chris Eidson, PhD, OTR/L, associate professor of occupational therapy, and Patty Perez, PT, DScPT, associate professor, director of student affairs, and interim DPT program director in the Department of Physical Therapy.
