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The mission of the Department of Occupational Therapy is consistent with that of Rush University Medical Center and that of Rush University. The Department of Occupational Therapy embraces the Medical Center's commitment to the practitioner-teacher-investigator model, which integrates patient care, education, and research. The Department supports evidence-based practice and outcome-based research in order to provide excellence in health care.
The faculty of the graduate program in occupational therapy emphasizes an educational approach, which integrates occupational therapy and didactic material with clinical application and practice. The faculty members are practitioners, teachers and investigators, a combination that enfuses the curriculum with a contemporary and scholarly perspective. Graduate courses are designed to build on past knowledge and experiences and encourage active learning. The philosophy is based on adult learning theories and the belief that the learner is active in the process of learning. Throughout the curriculum the student is engaged in constructive and reflective learning opportunities. The purpose of this educational philosophy is to allow the student maximum opportunity for the highest levels of integration of content and understanding of rationale for instruction. This philosophy is fostered through such concurrent sequencing of theory and clinically based experience that the student is able to relate to either or both environments depending upon which best facilitates the learning process. The early and continuous collaboration between the theoretical and the clinical learning environments allows for the development of a collegiality between faculty and students. Through such relationships, the student's personal growth and opportunities for independent thinking are fostered. Concern for the student as an individual, mirrored in the relationship with faculty, provides the student with a variety of individualized learning options and experiences within diversified work environments.
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