An occupational therapist, also called an OT, is a health care worker who assists individuals with physical, emotional, mental and developmental disabilities in adapting to the tasks and challenges required by their daily home and work environments.
Becoming an occupational therapist requires successful completion of a bachelor of science’s degree prior to being admitted into a master’s degree program offered by an accredited occupational therapy program. The American Occupational Therapy Association is an excellent resource for finding qualified occupational therapy schools and occupational therapy programs throughout the country. In addition, an OT must successfully pass the certification exam administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT) in order to obtain a license to practice in this field.
Because occupational therapists are expected to be in high demand in the health care field through 2016, occupational therapists can earn anywhere between $50,000 and $68,000 in annual salary depending upon where they practice.
Although most occupational therapists work in the fast paced and high-pressure atmosphere of medical and surgical hospital settings, there are numerous other career options available to them. These include out patient clinics, home health agencies, nursing care facilities, community care centers, private medical practices, government agencies, public elementary and secondary school districts, as well as in the offices of audiologists, physical therapists and speech therapists.
Successful occupational therapists must enjoy working one on one with individuals who often need ongoing encouragement and support. Patience and creativity are also required if an occupational therapist wants to succeed at helping their patients adapt despite disabilities. A certain degree of physical strength and agility is required. Being on one’s feet for most of the day can be expected rather than sitting behind a desk or working on a computer.
A typical day for an occupational therapist may involve helping a patient with physical exercises, assisting a patient with routine daily activities, training a patient with permanent disabilities to use adaptive equipment or new programs, designing a rehabilitation plan for a patient healing from recent surgery or injury, and designing or adapting equipment that is needed for the patient to accomplish their daily routines either at work or at home.
Occupational therapy is such a fast growing field that unlimited career options also exist for occupational therapy assistants. These positions require less schooling than occupational therapy. Once the candidate has received their associate degree, they receive additional on the job training working under the direction of a registered occupational therapist.
The increasing demand for both occupational therapists and occupational therapist assistants make the job outlook and earning potential, on both a full time or part time basis, very promising for this health care specialty.
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