AOTA member spotlight: Jodi Winship, PhD, OTR/L

Jodi Winship, PhD, OTR/L, is Assistant Professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. She spoke with Julie Malloy, MOT, OTR/L, PMP, CPHQ, AOTA Director of Quality, about how she saw an opportunity to improve quality care during the pandemic.

Like many other occupational therapy practitioners, Dr. Winship was looking to give back to her community during the pandemic. While volunteering recently at a local COVID-19 vaccination clinic serving a community in need, she noticed something she could help with. While the team putting the vaccination clinic together did a great job of planning for the vaccine distribution, the clinic itself was not optimized to meet the needs of the clientele, many of whom were elderly with comorbidities and other health care challenges.

Dr. Winship took action and started to make the changes needed to ensure client safety. She rearranged furniture to ensure safe paths during check-in and through the different stations of the clinic. She ensured there was seating for those who were waiting, that the chairs were socially distanced and sturdy, and that clients could get out of them independently. The team noticed her actions, and Dr. Winship became the safety advocate for the community-based COVID-19 vaccination clinics run through the VCU Health System.

While Dr. Winship cannot be at all of the vaccination clinics, she has developed a checklist the teams use to ensure a safe and efficient setup for vaccine distribution in other locations. In addition, she is training health professional students in these procedures.

We thank Dr. Winship for her innovation and for sharing her skills during the pandemic.

For questions or comments, or if you have a story about occupational therapy innovation and quality, please contact quality@aota.org.