Case Studies

The case studies listed below cover some of the common questions or challenges occupational therapists may face in their practice.

Use them to test your understanding of Practice Standards, guide discussions with your colleagues, and reflect on your own practice.

If you’ve experienced a professional challenge or situation you feel would be a relevant case study for other occupational therapists, we’d like to hear about it. Email us with your ideas at practice@cotbc.org.

Professional Development Case Studies

Case Study: Is it Occupational Therapy?

Focus: a tool for considering emerging practices

Use this tool to help you reflect on if a given activity, task or intervention would be considered something an occupational therapist can perform in British Columbia.

View Case Study

Case Study: Capacity to Consent

Focus: Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD)

Consider a scenario in which an occupational therapist is asked to assess the cognition of a client who has requested a medically assisted death and there are questions about their capacity to consent. How should the OT proceed? What information should guide their decision?

View Case Study

Case Study: New Certification Requirement

Focus: Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)

Walk through a scenario that explores the new mandatory online training and certification program required by the developers of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). These questions were developed for the Annual Continuing Competency Review (ACCR).

View Case Study

Conflict of Interest Cases

Case Study: “Gracious Appreciation”

Focus: gifts from clients

Is it ever appropriate to accept a gift from a client? Even something as simple as a box of chocolates can come with a degree of risk. Before accepting a gift, consider some of the questions explored in this case study.

View Case Study

Case Study: “Convenient Vendor”

Focus: offering choices

Assess your ability to avoid a potential conflict of interest when recommending medical equipment vendors to a client. This case study presents a specific scenario and includes several courses of action to choose from.

View Case Study

Case Study: “Moonlighting OT”

Focus: explaining the potential conflict of interest if follow-up services are provided privately

How should you respond when a client requests private OT work, outside the scope of your existing arrangement? This case study examines a specific scenario and how to avoid potential conflicts of interest.

View Case Study

Case Study: Accessing “Inside Information”

Focus: establishing boundaries with family members who request favours

Is it ever appropriate to share a client’s personal and medical information with family members? What if those family members are also medical professionals? This case study explores potential conflicts of interest in such a scenario.

View Case Study

Case Study: “Best Deal”

Focus: purchasing equipment for a client

As a professional OT, you may have access to competitive pricing on certain medical equipment. This case study explores how that access can lead to conflicts of interest when it comes to assisting clients to purchase equipment.

View Case Study