Enhancing Lives through Evidence, Value, and Transformative Occupational Therapy in Hospital Care
Starting in 2023, the ELEVATE OT Hospital Care lab strives to advocate for the value in occupational therapy service delivery in acute care by
- Describing the functional outcomes and impact of occupational therapy service delivery
Evaluation of knowledge, abilities, and skills to support professional reasoning and readiness for OT service delivery in acute care.
Lab Overview
Lab Members
Current
Hannah Oldenburg, EdD, OTR/L, BCPR
Role: Principal Investigator
Project Name: Cognitive Evaluation Among Acute Care Practitioner in Trauma Level 1-5 Centers in the Midwest
Bio: Hannah Y. Oldenburg, EdD, OTR/L, BCPR is an Associate Professor at the Graduate Occupational Therapy Program at University of Minnesota. Hannah has spent over 10 years working in higher education teaching entry-level and/or post professional degree occupational therapy students. In her prior roles, she was the Academic Fieldwork Coordinator at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota. During her full-time clinical position at Mayo Clinic-Rochester she developed and sustained a collaborative fieldwork model in acute care with successfully mentoring over 60 Level II fieldwork students. In 2012, she graduated with her Master of Arts in Occupational Therapy from St. Catherine University. She completed her Doctorate in Education at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences in 2018 with a dissertation focus on professional reasoning development of occupational and physical therapy students completing a terminal clinical or fieldwork experiences in collaborative versus traditional models. She obtained her AOTA Board Certification in Physical Rehabilitation in Fall of 2019. Her research and scholarship endeavors are specific to professional reasoning development, student preparedness for acute care fieldwork, addressing cognition in acute care and discharge planning, and occupational therapy advocacy and role with mechanical circulatory implantation and cardiopulmonary populations. She also is the co-founder and editor-in-chief the Journal of Acute Care Occupational Therapy (JACOT), which is a peer-review, open access journal founded in 2018. In her spare time, Hannah enjoys spending time with her husband and two children as well as traveling and writing.
Amy Yule, OTS
Role: Occupational Therapy Student Researcher (Capstone)
Project Name: Cognitive Evaluation Among Acute Care Practitioner in Trauma Level 1-5 Centers in the Midwest
Clinical Partners
Tamra Trenary, OTD, OTR/L
Role: Co-Researcher
Project: Cognitive Evaluation Among Acute Care Practitioner in Trauma Level 1 -5 Centers in the Midwest
Project: Occupational Therapists Role in Standardized Cognitive Evaluation and Association with Readmission Rate with Hospitalized Generalized Populations
Payton Friend, OTD, OTR/L
Role: Co-Researcher
Site: HealthPartners (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Project: Cognitive Evaluation Among Acute Care PRactitioners in Trauma Level 1-5 Centers in the Midwest
Research
Sponsored Projects
Current
Title: Occupational Therapy Service Delivery and Cognitive Efforts with Hospitalized General Medicine Populations
Principal Investigator: Hannah Oldenburg, EdD, OTR/L, BCPR
Co-investigators: Tamra Trenary, OTD, OTR/L; Jessica Edelstein, PhD, OTR/L
Synopsis: Retrospective, cross-sectional design of electronic medical record data of occupational therapy services and cognitive evaluation efforts from 2021-2023 with hospitalized general medicine populations
Funder: Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation; Small Grants Project
Recent Publications
Oldenburg, H., Hake, M., Ozelie, R., & Rindflesch, A. 2026). I just had no warning”: Clinical educators’ perceptions of disability accommodations. Journal of Allied Health.
Oldenburg, H., Trenary, T., Harmsen, W., & Edelstein, J. (2026). Using standardized cognitive tools with general medicine populations and impact on hospital readmission. Occupational Therapy In Health Care, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/07380577.2026.2631716
Oldenburg, H. Y., Bergstrom, J., Kruse, T., Trenary, T., & McGee, C. (2026). From classroom to care: A pilot level I fieldwork experience building acute care self-efficacy. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education, 10 (1). Retrieved from https://encompass.eku.edu/jote/vol10/iss1/11
Oldenburg, H., Ozelie, R., Hake, M., & Rindflesch. A. (2026). “I just had no warning”: Clinical educators’ perceptions of disability accommodations for rehabilitation students. Journal of Allied Health.
McGee, C., & Oldenburg, H. (2025). Occupational Therapy Acute Care Self-Efficacy Scale (OTACSES): Development and Reliability Testing. Occupational Therapy International, 2025(1),https://doi.org/10.1155/oti/8848379
Oldenburg, H., Hake, M., Rindflesch, A. (2023). What students say to be ready for acute care: Implications for preceptors. The Clinical Teacher, e13638. http://doi.org/10.1111/tct/13638
Oldenburg, H., Snyder, K., Heinle, D., Hollman, J. (2021). A comparison of clinical reasoning among rehabilitation students during experiential learning. Journal of Allied Health. 49(4), 252-257
Oldenburg H., Lee, M., Mohabbat, N., & Newcomer, K. (2020). Educating medical students on the roles of occupational and physical therapy. Journal of Allied Health, 49(1), 3-7. PMID: 32128532
Polley, C.A., Oldenburg H.Y., Bergstrom J.L., Musselman, M.C., Pyfferoen, M.D., Privette, R.A., Pifer,., & Bellamkonda E. (2019). Total Artificial Heart: A retrospective descriptive analysis of functional improvement associated with postsurgical rehabilitation. Cardiopulmonary Physical Therapy Journal, 33(3), 113-122. DOI: 10.1097/CPT.0000000000000118
Oldenburg, H. (2018). Occupational and physical therapy outcome measures with a patient implanted with a Total Artificial Heart: A case report. Journal of Acute Care. Occupational Therapy, 1(1). 1-20.
Stoelzle, H., & Sames K.M. (2014). Disabilities act compliance of fitness facilities in an American metropolitan area. International Journal of Therapy and Rehabilitation. 21(4), 169-75.
Johnson, M.J., Stoelzle, H.Y., Finco, K.L., Foss, S.E, & Carstens, K. (2012). ADA compliance and accessibility of fitness facilities in western Wisconsin. Top Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation, 18(4), 340-53. PMID: 23459713 PMCID: 3584791 DOI:10.1310/sci1804-340
Editorial Review Publications
Bute, E., Kittleson, L., & Oldenburg, H. (2026). Supporting Community Reintegration After Burn Injuries. OT Practice, 31(4), 29-31.
Staggs, M., Castillo, A., & Oldenburg, H. (2025). Optimizing Discharge and Transition Planning: Occupational therapy’s role Client Education Development and Implementation, OT Practice,30(6), 22-27.
Oldenburg, H., Green, V., Trenary, T., Olson Rand, J., & Eggan, L. (2024). A model for bridging accommodation from classroom to fieldwork. OT Practice, 29(4), 20-24.
Oldenburg, H., Glaess, P., & Trenary, T. (2020). Addressing cognition in an acute care setting. OT Practice, 25(9), 16-21.
Bollman, E., & Oldenburg, H. (2017). Improving clinical education through student-educator collaboration. OT Practice, 22(1), 17.
Professional Chapter Books
Haertl, K, Oldenburg, H., & Stein, F (Eds). (Submitted Fall 2026). Pocket Guide to Intervention in Occupational Therapy, 3rd Edition; Routledge
Oldenburg, H., & Sames, K.M. (Submitted; In Review). Chapter 9: Mechanics of Documentation. In Documentation in Occupational Therapy. (3rd Edition). AOTA Press.
Holm, S. E., Smith-Gabai, H., & Oldenburg, H. (2024). Chapter 15 Cardiac System. In H. Smith-Gabai & S.E. Holm (Eds). Occupational therapy in acute care (3rd ed.). AOTA Press.
Oldenburg, H., & Trenary, T. (2024). Chapter 37 Energy Conservation. In H. Smith-Gabai & S.E. Holm (Eds). Occupational therapy in acute care (3rd ed.). AOTA Press.
Oldenburg, H., & Hamby, J. (2024). Chapter 46 Novice in Acute Care. In H. Smith-Gabai & S.E. Holm (Eds). Occupational therapy in acute care (3rd ed.). AOTA Press.
Oldenburg, H., & Graves, C. (2023). Chapter 3: Mentoring in Professional Best Practices During Level I Fieldwork Experience. (D. Hanson, Ed., E. Deluliis, Ed.). In The Fieldwork Educator's Guide to Level I Fieldwork (Book 1 of 2). Slack.
Graves, C., & Oldenburg, H. (2023). Chapter 7: Mentoring in Professional Best Practices During Level II Fieldwork Experience. (D. Hanson, Ed., E.Deluliis, Ed.). In The Fieldwork Educator's Guide to Level II Fieldwork (Book 2 of 2). Slack.
Oldenburg, H. (2023). Excerpt in Occupation in Action. (C.Christian, Ed. & K. Haertl, Ed.). In Occupation Focus in Acute Care.
Faculty Mentored Publications
Pawek, N., Olson-Rand, J., Ozelie, R., & Oldenburg, H. (In Press). Occupational Therapy Faculty Knowledge and Attitudes in Mentoring Students with Disabilities. Journal of Occupational Therapy Education.
Yule, A., Friend, P., Trenary, T., & Oldenburg, H. (2026). Instruments of Insight: Cognitive Tool Use by Occupational Therapy Practitioners at Midwest Trauma Centers. Occupational Therapy In Health Care, 1–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/07380577.2026.2622625
Friend, P., Trenary, T., & Oldenburg. H. (2024). Occupational therapy practitioners’ perceptions on addressing cognition in acute care: A national survey. Occupational Therapy in Health Care, DOI:10.1080/07380577.2024.2315487
McGuire, F., Hutson, J., & Oldenburg, H. (2022). Educating rehabilitation professionals on clinical skills for postural care services: A scoping review. Journal of Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies Engineering. 9, 1-9. DOI: 10.1177/20556683221114786
Opportunities
Undergraduate students and entry-level professional student
Dr. Oldenburg mentors promising undergraduate students and OTD students through research activities in the lab and community-based settings. Training varies depending on experience but is inclusive of topics such as data entry, ethical practices in human subjects research, managing flow of participants, protocol development, standardized assessment, and basic statistical analyses. Training for OTD students can occur throughout OTD didactics and/or during a research capstone experience.