Occupational Therapist Responsibilities
Occupational Therapist help people of all ages to fully engage in their daily lives, from work and recreation to activities of daily living like getting dressed, cooking, eating and driving. They help people with disabilities, injuries or illness recover and cope through everyday tasks. Occupational Therapist work with a variety of different patients. They could be elderly, working with autistic children, disabled or injured to use eating tools. Occupational Therapist are in contact with parents, caregivers, passing along recommendations for the patient and their progress report.
The skills and responsibilities for an Occupational Therapist are communication and observations skills, the ability to think outside the box and work under pressure, decision-making skills, assessment and report writing skills. A major responsibility would be organizing and planning skills and also the ability to explain, encourage and build confidence, and develop rapport with a range of people. A driver’s license is required to be able to travel between hospital sites and to patient homes during the day. Relevant work experience is very helpful in securing a spot in more competitive areas of occupational therapy, such as pediatrics, after graduation. They also need to have good creative and practical …show more content…
skills, also need to have enthusiasm when working with kids and sensitivity and patience when dealing with patients. I have very good people skills, I am very well organized. Explaining things for me is not a problem.
Occupational Therapist often have to move heavy equipment due to patients not having enough strength to move heavy objects. They also may have to lift their patients to move them. The working conditions depend on where you work, if you work in a Doctor’s office then you more than likely will have normal hours. If you were to work in a hospital then you would have irregular hours, like working on weekends or even on holidays. Occupational Therapy is a very physical demanding job.
I plan on attending the University of Central Oklahoma and getting my Master’s degree in an accredited Occupational Therapy program. There are programs that require you to have spent time working in an Occupational Therapy setting before they will accept your application. There isn’t a training that you have to go through, but you do have to get licensed before you can work anywhere. Most businesses require you to have 1-2 years experience before that will accept you. You also have to get a volunteer certification also.
The salary for an Occupational Therapist is $78,810 as of May 2014. Occupational Therapist salary depends on where they work. If i were to work in a Nursing facility i would make $86,690 on average every year. Working at an elementary or secondary school you could make $68,250 a year. The lowest 10% made less than $52,670, the highest 10% made $112,950 a year. Most Occupational Therapists work full time. The job outlook for an Occupational Therapist is growing an average of 27% from 2014 to 2024. Employment in 2014 was at 114,600, the projected employment for 2024 is 145,100.
Occupational Therapist can work in hospitals, clinics, day and rehabilitation centers, home care programs, special schools, industry and private enterprises. Most Occupational Therapist work in private practice. They also can chose to work as an educator and a consultant. I would want to work in a hospital, because then i could see more than one patient a day and be able to help improve their daily life. Hospital situations are a little bit more challenging but I like having challenges.
The good things about being an Occupational Therapist is that you will leave work knowing that you have made a significant difference in someone’s life.
There will be times where people will get emotional about the progress that they have made and it’s heart warming. Patients will enjoy coming to therapy every day because you made such a difference in their life. There are a few bad things about being an OT as well. Sometimes you will not be able to help a patients, no matter how successful their surgery was. You will come across heart-breaking situations, whether one of your patients cannot continue or one of your patients pass away do to the severity of their
situation.
The skills and responsibilities for an Occupational Therapist are communication and observations skills, the ability to think outside the box and work under pressure, decision-making skills, assessment and report writing skills. A major responsibility would be organizing and planning skills and also the ability to explain, encourage and build confidence, and develop rapport with a range of people. A driver’s license is required to be able to travel between hospital sites and to patient homes during the day. Relevant work experience is very helpful in securing a spot in more competitive areas of occupational therapy, such as pediatrics, after graduation. They also need to have good creative and practical …show more content…
skills, also need to have enthusiasm when working with kids and sensitivity and patience when dealing with patients. I have very good people skills, I am very well organized. Explaining things for me is not a problem.
Occupational Therapist often have to move heavy equipment due to patients not having enough strength to move heavy objects. They also may have to lift their patients to move them. The working conditions depend on where you work, if you work in a Doctor’s office then you more than likely will have normal hours. If you were to work in a hospital then you would have irregular hours, like working on weekends or even on holidays. Occupational Therapy is a very physical demanding job.
I plan on attending the University of Central Oklahoma and getting my Master’s degree in an accredited Occupational Therapy program. There are programs that require you to have spent time working in an Occupational Therapy setting before they will accept your application. There isn’t a training that you have to go through, but you do have to get licensed before you can work anywhere. Most businesses require you to have 1-2 years experience before that will accept you. You also have to get a volunteer certification also.
The salary for an Occupational Therapist is $78,810 as of May 2014. Occupational Therapist salary depends on where they work. If i were to work in a Nursing facility i would make $86,690 on average every year. Working at an elementary or secondary school you could make $68,250 a year. The lowest 10% made less than $52,670, the highest 10% made $112,950 a year. Most Occupational Therapists work full time. The job outlook for an Occupational Therapist is growing an average of 27% from 2014 to 2024. Employment in 2014 was at 114,600, the projected employment for 2024 is 145,100.
Occupational Therapist can work in hospitals, clinics, day and rehabilitation centers, home care programs, special schools, industry and private enterprises. Most Occupational Therapist work in private practice. They also can chose to work as an educator and a consultant. I would want to work in a hospital, because then i could see more than one patient a day and be able to help improve their daily life. Hospital situations are a little bit more challenging but I like having challenges.
The good things about being an Occupational Therapist is that you will leave work knowing that you have made a significant difference in someone’s life.
There will be times where people will get emotional about the progress that they have made and it’s heart warming. Patients will enjoy coming to therapy every day because you made such a difference in their life. There are a few bad things about being an OT as well. Sometimes you will not be able to help a patients, no matter how successful their surgery was. You will come across heart-breaking situations, whether one of your patients cannot continue or one of your patients pass away do to the severity of their
situation.