Sponsored by:
Assemblyman STERLEY S. STANLEY
District 18 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Updates requirements for licensure in occupational therapy.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning licensure requirements in occupational therapy and amending and supplementing P.L.1993, c.85.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Section 3 of P.L.1993, c.85 (C.45:9-37.53) is amended to read as follows:
3. As used in P.L.1993, c.85 (C.45:9-37.51 et seq.):
Client means a person, group, or population that receives professional services rendered by a licensed occupational therapist, a licensed occupational therapy assistant or a temporary licensed occupational therapist or assistant in medical, health, mental and behavioral health and educational, vocational, social, or community settings.
Continuing competence and professional development means a requirement, as a condition of licensure renewal, to provide evidence of participation in, or completion of, educational and professional activities relevant to the practice or area of work of a licensee. This shall include the continuing professional development process of maintaining and documenting the application of knowledge, skills and behaviors required to function effectively, safely, ethically, and legally through ongoing self-assessment, development, and implementation of a personal professional development plan and subsequent self-reassessment.
"Council" means the Occupational Therapy Advisory Council established pursuant to section 4 of P.L.1993, c.85 (C.45:9-37.54).
"Director" means the Director of the Division of Consumer Affairs in the Department of Law and Public Safety.
LGBTQIA+ means a member of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, pansexual, transgender, genderqueer, queer, intersex, agender, asexual, questioning, and other non-heterosexual-identifying community.
NBCOT means the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy.
Occupational performance means the performance of life skills, roles and functions, within all areas of occupation, including activities of daily living, instrumental activities of daily living, health management, rest and sleep, education, work, play, leisure, and social participation that are affected by sensory, motor, perceptual, cognitive, psycho-social, or mental and behavioral health abilities.
"Occupational therapist" means a person licensed to practice occupational therapy pursuant to the provisions of P.L.1993, c.85 (C.45:9-37.51 et seq.).
"Occupational therapy" means the evaluation, planning, and implementation of a program of purposeful activities to develop or maintain functional skills necessary to achieve the maximal physical or mental and behavioral functioning, or both, of the [individual in the person's daily] client for optimum occupational performance. The tasks of daily living may be threatened or impaired by physical injury or illness, developmental disability, sensorimotor disability, psychological and social disability, the aging process, poverty, or cultural deprivation. Occupational therapy utilizes task oriented activities adapted to prevent or correct physical or emotional disabilities as well as to minimize the disabling effects of those disabilities on the life of the [individual] client. [Occupational therapy services include the use of specific techniques which enhance functional performance and include, but are not limited to, the evaluation and assessment of an individual's self-care, lifestyle performance patterns, work skills, performance related cognitive, sensory, motor, perceptual, affective, interpersonal and social functioning, vocational, and prevocational capacities, the design, fabrication, and application of adaptive equipment or prosthetic or orthotic devices, excluding dental devices, the administration of standardized and nonstandardized assessments, and consultation concerning the adaptation of physical environments for persons with disabilities. These services are provided to individuals or groups through medical, health, educational and social systems.]
"Occupational therapy assistant" means a person licensed pursuant to the provisions of [this act] P.L.1993, c.85 (C.45:9-37.51 et seq.) to assist in the practice of occupational therapy under the supervision of or in collaboration with an occupational therapist on a regularly scheduled basis for the purpose of the planning, review, or evaluation of occupational therapy services.
Occupational therapy services means the use of specific techniques to enhance the occupational performance of a client, including, but not limited to, the evaluation and assessment of a client's self-care; lifestyle performance patterns; work skills; performance-related cognitive, sensory, motor, perceptual, mental, behavioral, affective, interpersonal and social functioning; and vocational and prevocational capacities. Occupational therapy services also includes the design, fabrication, and application of adaptive equipment or prosthetic or orthotic devices, excluding dental devices; the utilization of physical agent modalities; the administration of standardized and non-standardized assessments; and consultation including recommendations for the adaptation of physical environments. Occupational therapy services may also be provided in traditional, non-traditional and emerging areas in line with occupational therapy practice including, but not limited to, parental health; womens health; pelvic health and intimacy; LGBTQIA+ issues; sports and concussion management; environmental and climate sustainability; and population health management. The services shall be provided to individuals, groups, or populations through medical, health and wellness, educational, community, and social systems.
"Purposeful activities" means acts and occupations of craftsmanship and workmanship, as well as creative, educational, or other activities, which in whole or in part are used to correct, compensate for, or prevent dysfunction in the tasks and activities of everyday living, and which simultaneously incorporate personally and culturally relevant biological, psychological, and social elements that produce positive adaptation and motivational behavior.
"Supervision" means the responsible and direct involvement of a licensed occupational therapist with an occupational therapy assistant, a temporary licensed occupational therapist, a temporary licensed occupational therapy assistant, or an occupational therapy student fulfilling the required fieldwork component of educational training for the development of an occupational therapy treatment plan and the periodic review of the implementation of that plan. The form and extent of the supervision shall be determine