German Association of Occupational Therapists

German Association of Occupational Therapists ; (DVE)
legal form	Registered association
purpose	Professional association of occupational therapists in Germany
Seat	Karlsbad - Ittersbach
founding	October 1, 1954
place	Carlsbad
Board	Andreas Pfeiffer, Birthe Hucke, Bettina Kuhnert, Julia Schirmer
executive Director	Wolfgang Schränkler
Manager	Anja Esther Baumann
Members	12,000
Website	dve.info

The German Association of Occupational Therapists e. V. (DVE) is the professional association of all occupational therapists in Germany. Its more than 12,000 members include primarily occupational therapists with their own practice, in the clinic, as an employee as well as future professionals in training.

Association

The association was founded in 1954. The consistent expansion of competencies and skills in this medical profession resulted in the renaming of the professional title to occupational therapy in the early 1990s . Since then, the Association of German Association of Ergotherapists has called itself . In this way, occupational therapy stands out significantly from treatment methods that mainly or exclusively take mechanical and / or physical aspects into account.

The association represents the interests of its members in politics, authorities, ministries, health insurance companies and other partners in the health sector and thus contributes to the safeguarding and further development of the profession it represents. The DVE is internationally networked and a member of the European Association of Occupational Therapists (COTEC) and the World Association of Occupational Therapists (WFOT).

aims

The association secures and expands the importance of occupational therapy as a medical remedy by actively helping to create the framework for high-quality therapeutic services. Quality assurance and development of occupational therapy are its objectives. The DVE may a. actively promoting a common professional identity, strengthening the reputation of occupational therapy in politics and society, the academization of training, appropriate remuneration for occupational therapy services, the promotion of evidence-based practice (EBP) as a quality standard for occupational therapy work, the effects of demographic change through therapeutic work and preventive measures, the support and implementation of an inclusive society taking into account the goals of the UN-CRPD (Action Plan of the DVE)

The association supports its members in treating people individually and in the best possible way according to the current state of science and in supporting and promoting their habilitation, rehabilitation, participation and / or reintegration in society / working life in a targeted manner.

history

The roots of the association from 1950

In 1950, the first therapists who, with the support of the British Red Cross, have completed a twelve-month course as occupational therapists, set up a working group. Just three years later, the Lower Saxony ministry published the decree on the establishment of state-approved schools for occupational therapy. The first training course began in 1953 at the new occupational therapy school at Annastift in Hanover. On October 1, 1954, the association of state-approved occupational therapists was founded from the existing working group. In the following years the most important areas of responsibility for the young association emerged.

Job description and recognition of achievements

In 1958, a new version of the state recognition and examination regulations for occupational therapists in Lower Saxony came into force. In 1965 an application was made for state recognition of occupational therapists at the federal level. In the years that followed, a controversial discussion broke out internally about the occupational profile of the occupational therapist or the occupational and occupational therapist. The association threatened to split itself into two parts on this issue. In 1971, after one year of collective bargaining, occupational therapists were classified in the BAT ( Federal Employees' Collective Agreement) for the first time . In 1977 the law on the occupation and work therapist came into force. In 1979 the services of occupational and occupational therapists were recognized by the health insurance companies. In 1990, after the inner-German border disappeared, the association was also open to colleagues from the former GDR. In 1991 there was a breakthrough in negotiations with the health insurance companies. For the first time, a differentiated price-performance catalog was drawn up with the Association of Employee Health Insurance Funds. V. ( VdAK ) agreed. Tariff talks are started with the ÖTV trade union . In 1992 the association changed its name to German Association of Occupational Therapists (Employment and Work Therapists) e. V. In 1994, the general assembly of the professional association passed the professional ethics of occupational therapy and thus established standards for professional practice and guidelines for professional action, work and behavior. In 1999, the change in the professional title to occupational therapist came into force. In 2005 the first occupational therapy practices were certified according to IQH Excellence for quality assurance.

Initial and continuing education

In 1953 the occupational therapy school started at the Annastift in Hanover . In 1961 the first issue of the journal Occupational Therapy and Rehabilitation appeared. In 1963, the first school and training leaders' conference was convened in Berlin. 1983–1988, standards for training to become occupational and work therapists were set in several steps. In 1990 400 participants from the new federal states came to Berlin for the annual training conference. Their training was assimilated to that of West Germany. Occupational therapy developed and specialized in various fields. In 1995 the first advanced training course for occupational therapists for psychiatry and psychosomatics started. In 1996 the Association of German Occupational Therapy Schools (VDES) was founded. In 1997 the first further education course took place at the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences. This created the basis for the scientific justification of the therapeutic work. In 2003 the first professorship for occupational therapy was filled at the Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences. With the entry into force of the model clause in 2009, German occupational therapy was given the opportunity for the first time to implement basic academic occupational therapy training in model projects, which concludes with both a university degree and professional license. Whether the time-limited model clause (the clause expires on December 31, 2017) will be brought to life depends largely on the countries.

Political activities

In 1974 the association worked on the committees of the Federal Ministry for Family and Health. In 1990 the associations of a total of seven medical-related professions came together to form the working group of medical specialist and assistant professions (AG MFA). The aim of this joint representation of interests in politics and practice was the further development of education and training, the quality of service provision, working and career conditions and performance remuneration. In 1991, the Working Group for Medical Professions in Therapy and Obstetrics (AG MTG) was set up with the aim of academicising training and professionalising the profession. In 1993, in the concerted action in the health system (for cost containment), the medicinal product associations were represented. The Federal Working Group of Medicines Associations e. V. (BHV), today's umbrella association of therapeutic products providers (SHV), was founded in 1997 as an umbrella organization to contact politics, doctors' representatives and health insurance companies. The expert's report on the needs-based justice and economic efficiency of the health care system in Germany was published in 2001 and gave health policy, like all those involved in the German health system, a clear direction in the following years.

Legal regulations such as the Therapeutic Products Directive (2011), the introduction of a model clause in the Occupational Therapists Professional Law (2009), the flat rate per case (2002), budgeting and benchmarks (2006), the UN-CRPD and the paradigm shift from the disease consequence model on the bio-psycho-social model, which found its way into social legislation with the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health (ICF, 2001), had a lasting effect on patient care. The DVE positioned itself with the DACHS project (2007) on the subject of needs-based justice and economic efficiency and was actively involved in the design of a flat-rate remuneration system in the field of psychiatric care (2010). The establishment of the database for evidence-based practice, or EBP database for short, on the association's homepage was an important step for research, science and training, but also the basis for observations on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of occupational therapy and occupational therapy-relevant interventions. As part of the UN Disability Rights Convention, the DVE adopted its action plan in 2012. The database for bachelor's and master's theses that was set up in 2014, in which all graduates post their work and all occupational therapists can view them, should also make an important contribution to science orientation and networking.

internationalization

In 1958, the German Federal Association of State-Recognized Occupational Therapists became the 12th member of the World Federation of Occupational Therapists, WFOT. In 1982 the Organizing Committee hosted the World Congress in Hamburg. In 1988 the association took over the deputy chairmanship of the European Council of Occupational Therapists for the European Countries (COTEC) founded in 1986. In 1995, COTEC initiated the establishment of a European network of occupational therapy training centers, the European Network of Occupational Therapy in Higher Education (ENOTHE). The tasks of the network are to ensure the further development of the training curricula and their standards and to enable mutual academic recognition. In 1999 there were already 13 German member schools among the approximately 70 member schools affiliated with ENOTHE. The requirements of the World Association of Occupational Therapists (WFOT) were largely incorporated into the standards for occupational therapy training of the DVE, which were first developed in 1984; these came into force on January 1, 2005. On the basis of a recommendation by the European Parliament and the European Council on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework (EQF) , which came into force on April 23, 2008, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the Conference of Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs (KMK) agreed to do so in 2006 to develop a German Qualifications Framework (DQR). This was introduced in May 2013. He should u. a. Make qualifications from all areas of education both in Germany and in Europe comparable and easier to understand. Further consultations and the likely final decision on the individual classifications are planned for January 2017.

organs

The General Assembly (MV)
The board with the chairman, the board member for standards and quality, the board member for care and health insurance and the board member for education and science
The Assembly of Delegates (DV) decides on rules of procedure, appoints the Advisory Board and develops and resolves recommendations for the actions of the Board of Directors.
The regional groups (LG) deal with professional policy issues at the regional level, perform tasks that require a local presence or specific regional contacts and knowledge, and ensure the flow of information top down. The state groups are divided according to the state borders of the federal states.
The specialist committees (FA) aim to improve the quality of occupational therapy in terms of content and method, and to adapt it to current developments on a professional and social level. There are currently the following specialist committees: Labor and Rehabilitation, Employees, Geriatrics, Teachers, Neurology, Orthopedics / Traumatology / Rheumatology, Pediatrics, Prevention and Health Promotion, Psychiatry, Self-Employed and Technical Media and Resources
The advisory board supports the association with tasks or projects on a political level as well as in public or social life in order to contribute to the fulfillment of the goals of the DVE.

Other bodies

The training committee (AA) is a partner of the training centers for occupational therapy and contributes to ensuring the quality of training.
The Federal Schoolchildren and Students' Representation (BSSV) represents school and student members and their interests in the association.
The Federal Negotiation Commission (BVK) conducts all treasury negotiations at federal and state level.
The COTEC and WFOT delegates represent the DVE in the international occupational therapy associations. Your main task is to establish and maintain contact as well as to network the occupational therapists organized in Europe (COTEC) and worldwide (WFOT).
In addition, there are working groups in the DVE that deal with certain topics or specialist areas in which occupational therapy has so far been little represented. They also provide information to the association members, advise and are in contact with various decision-makers from health policy.

All DVE committees work on a voluntary basis.