Professional Activity Resources
Community Outreach Toolkit
Courtesy of the American Board for Certification
Professional Activity
Each resident regardless of their chosen program type and track must complete a professional activity. There are 2 acceptable ways to complete the professional activity: deliverer an O&P awareness presentation or volunteer for an O&P organization (professional or humanitarian). Documentation of completion will require materials used to participate in the activity (such as presentation slides) and contact information for a person at the organization where the presentation or volunteer activity was performed.
O&P Awareness Presentation
The purpose of an O&P Awareness Presentation is to promote the O&P profession to those outside the profession. It encourages the resident to develop public speaking skills and gain confidence interacting with others in a professional environment. This presentation should integrate current information that can be found at any of our partner O&P organizations.
Potential Audiences:
- Youth oriented programming (Ex: Boys and Girls Clubs of America, local youth groups)
- School based audiences (STEM groups, science classes or career day activities in Elementary to Secondary schools)
- Your own undergraduate program or secondary school science or STEM classes or groups
- Local Career Fairs, Health Profession Fairs or STEM activities
- Community service organizations (Ex: Rotary International)
For more ideas and resources for career outreach, check out ABC’s Career Awareness web page.
Volunteer for an O&P Professional Organization
There are numerous NGO and not-for-profit organizations that could benefit from a resident practitioners insight and effort. Volunteering for an O&P organization enables the resident to see the value that is provided to multiple stakeholders including practitioners, the local community, and the patients we serve. A wide variety of volunteer roles and responsibilities are acceptable.
Example Volunteer Activities:
- Fund-raise for a not-for-profit organization
- Coordinate a used component drive for an international O&P care organization
- Assist with a career day hosted by the Academy or AOPA designed to educate local high school students about the O&P profession
- Attend a pro-bono clinic and assist credentialed practitioners in providing clinical services
For more ideas and resources for career outreach, check out ABC’s Career Awareness web page.
NCOPE – POP Awareness Information
Discover how the POP Career Awareness campaign can help support your professional activity requirement as well as learn how you can be involved in your community.
Are you having trouble identifying if a specific activity could be counted as a professional activity? The chart below should be helpful in guiding the resident and director/mentor in making an appropriate determination.
