During its March 24, 2025, meeting, ACOT’s Council voted in favour of acknowledging OTs’ ability to establish diagnoses once they have successfully completed a course of study on diagnosis that is approved by Council. The intent of the course will be to develop competence in establishing diagnoses, with a focus on risk management and safety. OTs who complete this course can then apply to be added to an ACOT roster, which will work similarly to how our current acupuncture roster works.
A diagnosis course advisory committee with associated working groups have been guiding this work since May, 2025. The committee includes registered OTs from a mix of practice settings across the province, ACOT Council and staff members, University of Alberta OT department and Continuing Professional Education (CPE) representatives. Our course developer, Dr. Miini Teng is a both a physician resident and an occupational therapist.
Part of the course development work may include identifying which diagnoses OTs who have successfully completed the course will be able to establish. We anticipate a pilot test for the course will run in spring of 2026, and if all goes as planned, the course will be available for enrollment in autumn of 2026. All timelines are subject to change at this point.
We are looking at a call out for between 15-30 pilot course participants in the spring, about a month or so before the pilot is ready to run. As we expect there may be a large number of OTs interested in participating in the pilot course offering, we plan to do a random selection of those who put their names forward to participate.
Keep an eye on your eNews for more information as the course development unfolds. Future communications will include more about course length, prerequisites if applicable, timing, pricing, etc.
If you have questions about these developments, please contact marianne.baird@acot.ca.