State of Occupational Therapy in Chile

Introduction: This art icle aims to describe t he state of Occupat ional Therapy in Chile. Informat ion on t he training of undergraduate occupat ional therapists (study plans, enrollment, duration, costs, national coverage and accreditation) is collected and the graduates are characterized (number of graduates, gender distribution, academic degrees associated with the discipline and distribution regional). Methodology: Descriptive data were extracted from the profession between 2007 and 2014. The sources of information are the Colegio de Terapeutas Ocupacionales de Chile, Servicio de información de Educación Superior, Mi Futuro, Comisión Nacional de Acreditación and the Registro de Prestadores Individuales de la Superintendencia de Salud. Results: There is a significant increase in curricula both in universities and in professional institutes, with a high number of female enrollment and qualifications, with coverage in 11 regions of Chile. The average exit age of 26 years and with a real duration of 12.3 semesters. It has 20 of 42 accredited programs. There is a greater number of professionals in Santiago, Valparaiso, Araucanía, Biobío and Los Lagos. Conclusions: There is a sustained increase in the number of graduates, which could decrease future levels of employability. Program accreditation is low at the national and international level and it is still necessary to design ways to certify the quality of training. In continuous education, it is not possible to indicate in which the graduates are specialized and there is a need to have as a guild of tools to measure the training situation as a jo