Any Occupational Therapists/Assistants here?

[skylizard]

If so, do you love your job? What kind of schooling did you get?

 

[chiefmickeymouse]

If so, do you love your job? What kind of schooling did you get?

I'm not one, but I'm interested in this field too! Hope you get some answers.

 

[lisaviolet]

My cousins are both OTs. They both did a four year university degree in Occupational Therapy.

My cousin just told me at Thanksgiving that the best thing about being an OT and not a PT or nurse is that she doesn't have to be the bad guy re: really pushing the clients' boundaries as hard.

Also, I notice a great thing about their job is they can have a varied schedule. They're been FT at times in their life and PT. And another good point is such varied choices within the career.

I volunteered for an OT business. And got to see visitations by the OT. It's something to be such a crucial and intimate part of healing/coping. I was company/relief for a older man who has aphasia and had terminal cancer for quite awhile. He obviously passed so I can only imagine that that is a hard part of the career. But certain personalities could handle that better, for sure.

 

[mousefanmichelle]

I am not one myself but I have worked in the OT dept for 13 years at my hospital (outpatient). I can tell you that what an OT does goes way beyond what you might think a therapist does. OT's help patients care for themselves and their daily activities (toileting, cutting up veggies, writing in their checkbook and seeing their checkbook). OT's in Michigan have to have a masters degree and are licensed now. Our COTA's or assistants work mostly inpatient due to payer regulations. They can't treat on their own too much in outpatient. I think being an OT is a wonderful profession and has so many opportunites to do different things (hand therapy, vision therapy, workability, etc). Good luck!

 

[lisaviolet]

Oh and on the assistant note. After university, I was an Educational Assistant for years and then I taught ESL.

It can be hard to be one's assistant. Sometimes it's wonderful and sometimes it's a living, well can't type the next word here. It really depends on the person you are working with/for.

 

[mariolatry]

I got my occupational therapy degree in 1997 and have worked in almost every setting you can work in! It's really hard work but I always loved my job. I worked primarily with adult patients in traumatic brain injury, stroke, spinal cord injury, and multiple trauma diagnosis units but I've also worked in pediatric medical, nursing homes, joint replacements, chronic pain programs, inpatient psychiatric programs, pediatric play programs (a little bit), and vent hospitals. It's so much more than it looks. The job offers tremendous variety, especially if you're flexible.

OTs receive training in psychology, perception, activity analysis, and cognition, which means we learn about why people do things and how to help them. Sometimes other members of the healthcare team aren't always aware what's going on "upstairs" to cause a patient's behavior and what can be done to fix the problem. It's nice to be able to work on that!

Depending on what setting you work in, it can be a lot of lifting and can be hard on your back. Wherever you work, they'll always be bugging you about working Saturdays or holidays. However, working with someone everyday during the most traumatic months of their lives, only to see them emerge more independent on the other side is incredibly rewarding.