“AOTA”- The American Occupational Therapy Association, formerly the American Occupational Therapy Certification Board (AOTCB).

“ACOTE” - The Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education.

“Aide”- Any individual who is not licensed by the Board to perform occupational therapy or limited occupational therapy and who provides supportive services to the occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant under direct supervision.

“Board” - The Maryland Board of Occupational Therapy Practice.

“Case Resolution Conference (CRC)” - A voluntary, informal, and confidential proceeding to explore the possibility of a consent order resolution of a disciplinary matter.

“Client”- A consumer, patient, or recipient of occupational therapy services.

“Competence”- An individual's capacity for performance in occupational therapy principles and procedures.

“Competency”- The demonstration of the pertinent knowledge of and performance skills in occupational therapy principles and procedures within the practice of occupational therapy and limited occupational therapy.

“Contact Hour”- One (1) hour spent in a continuing competency activity that meets the requirements of the Board and is approved as set forth in this chapter.

“Contact Hour Approval Request”- A form provided by the Board for the purpose of obtaining Board approval of contact hours.

“Continuing Competency Committee”- A committee established and appointed by the Board to evaluate continuing competency programs and activities.

“Continuing Competency Requirement Compliance Report” - A form provided by the Board for the purpose of summarizing completion of continuing competency requirements.

“Didactic Education”- An educational activity:

• That includes a method of evaluating and testing the knowledge of the licensee relative to electrical physical agent modalities; and
• Relevant to the practice of electrical physical agent modalities in occupational therapy.

“Direct Clinical Education” - Supervised instruction provided on a face-to-face basis by the educator during the application of electrical physical agent modalities to a client.

“Direct Supervision”- Supervision provided on a face-to-face basis by a supervisor who is a licensed occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant, during the performance of delegated client-related tasks.

“Educator”- An individual who has successfully met the competency requirements as set forth in this chapter and provides didactic or direct clinical education, or both, but does not need to be an occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant.

“Electrical Physical Agent Modalities” - Therapeutic modalities which induce heat or electrical current beneath the skin.

“Elective Nonrenewal”- Choosing to render one's license inactive.

“Evaluation”- The ongoing process of:

• Data collection by a licensed occupational therapist or an occupational therapy assistant; and
• Interpretation of the data by a licensed occupational therapist for purposes including, but not limited to:
• • The need for treatment; and
  • Plans for discharge.

“Expired License”- An individual’s authority to practice occupational therapy or limited occupational therapy which has not been renewed through the process of renewal or elective nonrenewal and is invalid.

“Licensed”- Formally authorized by the Board to practice occupational therapy or limited occupational therapy.

“Licensee”- An individual who is a licensed occupational therapist or a licensed occupational therapy assistant.

“Licensed Occupational Therapist” - An occupational therapist who is licensed by the Board to practice occupational therapy.

“Licensed Occupational Therapy Assistant” - An occupational therapy assistant who is licensed by the Board to practice limited occupational therapy.

“Limited Occupational Therapy”- The therapeutic use of purposeful and meaningful goal-directed activities in collaboration with an occupational therapy assistant and an occupational therapist during the treatment of individuals that:

• Have a disease or disorder, impairment, activity limitation, or participation restriction that interferes with their ability to function independently in daily life roles; or
• Benefit from the prevention of impairments and activity limitations.
• “Limited occupational therapy” means that the collaboration of the occupational therapy assistant occurs under the periodic supervision of a licensed occupational therapist.
• “Limited occupational therapy” means that the occupational therapy assistant is authorized to:
• • Conduct an initial screening;
  • Collect data for an evaluation that applies the principles and procedures of occupational therapy; and
• Participate in a treatment program that applies the principles and procedures of occupational therapy.
• “Limited occupational therapy” does not include:
• • Initiation or interpretation of evaluation data; and
  • Initiation of a treatment program before the client has been evaluated and a licensed occupational therapist has rendered a treatment plan.

“NBCOT”- The National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy, formerly the American Occupational Therapy Certification Board (AOTCB).

“Occupational Therapist”- An occupational therapist that is licensed by the Board to practice occupational therapy.

“Occupational Therapy”- The therapeutic use of purposeful and meaningful goal-directed activities to evaluate, consult, and treat individuals that:

• Have a disease or disorder, impairment, activity limitation, or participation restriction that interferes with their ability to function independently in daily life roles; or
• Benefit from the prevention of impairments and activity limitations.

“Occupational Therapy Assistant”- An occupational therapy assistant who is licensed by the Board to practice limited occupational therapy.

“Occupational Therapy Principles” - Include:

• The use of therapeutic activities that promote independence in daily life roles;
• Remediation or restoration of performance abilities that are limited due to impairment in biological, physiological, psychological, or neurological processes;
• In order to enhance performance, the adaption of task, process, or the environment, or the teaching of compensatory techniques;
• Methods and techniques for preventing disability that facilitate the development or safe application of performance skills;
• Health promotion strategies and practices that enhance performance abilities; and
• Education, instruction, and research in the practice of occupational therapy.

“Occupational Therapy Procedures”:

• Developing, improving, sustaining, or restoring skills in activities of daily living, work, or productive activities, including instrumental activities of daily living and play and leisure activities;
• Developing, remediating, or restoring sensorimotor, perceptual, cognitive, or psychological components of performance;
• Designing, fabricating, applying, or training in the use of assistive technology, splinting, or orthotic devices, including training in the use of prosthetic devices;
• Adapting environments and processes, including the application of ergonomic principles to enhance performance and safety in daily life roles;
• Applying physical agent modalities as adjuncts to or in preparation for purposeful activity with appropriate training, as specified;
• Promoting safe, functional mobility in daily life tasks;
• Providing intervention in collaboration with the client, the client's family, the client's caregiver, or others;
• Educating the client, the client's family, the client's caregiver, or others in carrying out appropriate nonskilled interventions; and
• Consulting with groups, programs, organizations, and communities to provide population-based services.

“On-Site Supervision”- Supervision provided by a supervisor who is:

• A licensed occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant; and
• Immediately available on the premises to provide direct supervision, if needed, when client-related procedures are performed or as otherwise necessary.

“Periodic Supervision”- Supervision provided by a supervisor who is a licensed occupational therapist on a face-to-face basis, for each client who is being treated by the licensed occupational therapy assistant supervisee, occurring the earlier of at least:

• Once every 10 therapy visits; or
• Once every 30 calendar days.

“Provider”- A college, university, institution, organization, association, or individual that offers workshops, seminars, conferences, college-level courses, graduate-level courses, telecommunication network courses, or video-taped presentations that maintain or improve professional competency.

“Reevaluation”:

• The data collection by a licensed occupational therapist or an occupational therapy assistant; and
• Interpretation of the reevaluation data by a licensed occupational therapist after the initial evaluation, for the purpose of determining:
• • A client's response to treatment;
  • Changes in the client's status;
  • The need for treatment modification; and
  • Plans for discharge.

“Reactivation”-Revalidating a license previously rendered invalid by the process of elective nonrenewal.

“Reinstatement”- Revalidating a license previously rendered invalid.

“Renewal”- Validating an active license for an additional term.

“Screening”- A cursory determination by an occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant of the need for more comprehensive evaluation and treatment.

“Supervision”- The provision of clinical aid, direction, and instruction, by either a licensed occupational therapist or an occupational therapy assistant, to ensure the competent delivery of occupational therapy services.

“Supervisor”- An occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant, excluding temporary licensees, who is licensed by the Board and has the responsibility of clinically supervising the provision of occupational therapy treatment services.

“Superficial Physical Agent Modalities” - Therapeutic modalities including, but not limited to:

• Hot packs;
• Cold packs;
• Paraffin;
• Fluidotherapy; and
• Icing.

“Temporary Occupational Therapy Assistant Licensee” - An individual licensed by the Board on a temporary basis, who:

• Except for completing the required certification examination, has met all other licensure requirements of this chapter; and
• Is licensed to practice under the on-site supervision of a licensed occupational therapist or occupational therapy assistant.

“Temporary Occupational Therapist Licensee” - An individual licensed by the Board on a temporary basis, who:

• Except for completing the required certification examination, has met all other licensure requirements of this chapter; and
• Is licensed to practice under the on-site supervision of a licensed occupational therapist.

“Treatment Program”- A therapeutic intervention plan designed by a licensed occupational therapist that outlines the selected approaches and types of intervention to be used to enable the client to reach identified targeted outcomes or treatment goals.

“Verification”- Proof of licensure, certification, registration, or continuing education:

• Confirmable by the Board based on documentation provided by the applicant;
• Obtained from a verification service provider approved by the issuing entity and accepted by the Board at its discretion; or
• Obtained from the entity by which the applicant is licensed, certified, registered, or educated.

Reference

MD Code, Health Occupations, § 10-101

COMAR 10.46.01.01

COMAR 10.46.04.02

COMAR 10.46.06.03