Things Only Ots Want You to Know
Are y'all or someone you lot're close to interested in becoming an occupational therapist?
Later being a U.s.a.-based occupational therapist for over six years now and having worked in multiple developed-based rehab settings, I desire to share with you vii things I wish I knew before becoming an occupational therapist.
This list isn't meant to scare you lot away from becoming an OT! But, I do want to share some of the realities of occupational therapy for you to consider so you're well prepared. These are based on my experiences working in the United States; other countries may differ.
ane. Existence an occupational therapist tin can be stressful.
Occupational therapy is not e'er the "sunshine and rainbows" that you read near in the countless news articles touting its frequent rating in the superlative 10 happiest and to the lowest degree stressful jobs.
Almost every OT setting has productivity requirements, with some settings having less strict standards than others. And so while you do become to provide meaningful treatments and assistance people attain their goals, you lot will probable accept to bargain with the struggle of meeting your productivity on a daily footing.
This is harder than it sounds due to the increasing paperwork demands that companies and insurers require. Considering of this, any time that you aren't treating (or fifty-fifty when yous are treating) you're doing a lot of paperwork.
Unrealistic productivity demands and some unethical companies and managers tin be the biggest factors for burnout, so after graduation, I advise you to practise your due diligence on these factors before taking your start job.
ii. Condign an occupational therapist is expensive.
If you're going for the OTR (Master's or Doctorate) route, you can expect to pay anywhere from $40,000 to well over $100,000 for your caste.
Less expensive state schools are harder to become into, then y'all may have to choose a private school and pay an boilerplate of $80,000+ for your Master's degree, and over $100,000 for your Doctorate.
To rub salt in the wound, many Occupational Therapy Master's programs (MOT degrees) are transitioning to solely Doctorate (OTD) degrees, which bumps upwardly the price of tuition considerably compared to OT Primary's programs.
If you lot're thinking almost becoming a Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant (COTA) you will pay much less in tuition equally information technology is at present an Associate's degree, simply proceed in mind this may be transitioned to a Bachelor'due south caste in the well-nigh future. This will also increment tuition considerably, without any foreseen comparable pay raises for either OTRs or COTAs with these pricier degrees.
While the Agency of Labor Statistics states that the boilerplate bacon for OTR's is $86,280, the average for new grads is quite a bit less (tens of thousands of dollars less). For a more than realistic look on OT salaries, exist sure to cheque out our comprehensive commodity, Occupational Therapist Salary: Information From 2,322 OTs and COTAs. Our results indicated that the average salary among the participants was actually $lxx,732.
This is important to consider when your pupil loans from OT graduate programs alone might be well over $100,000, not including interest.
3. Some big cities are already saturated with OTs and COTAs.
Because more people are wanting to become occupational therapists and occupational therapy administration, schools in bigger cities are creating more programs and pumping out more than and more new grads every year.
More new OTs does non automatically equal more than positions existence created to meet the need, so many new grads are faced with the fact that they might take to move to some other city to find a job.
Fortunately, almost rural parts of the country have a desperate need for occupational therapists. You can certainly find a position, whether permanent or travel, but you might have to brand the choice to leave a bigger metropolis.
If you lot're wondering if your city is saturated, check Indeed.com regularly and encounter if new job postings are listed, in add-on to seeing how many OT and OTA programs be in the metropolis.
4. Getting into occupational therapy school is HARD.
I can't speak for occupational therapy assistant (OTA) programs. But as someone who has experienced the stresses of applying to OT school, I can tell you: Both Primary's and Doctorate programs are very competitive.
Cohorts typically have 20-twoscore students per program, and schools are getting 300-500+ applicants each wheel.
Because of this, your application has to be really potent to stand out amidst the massive number of applicants. Each program has dissimilar requirements, and so when y'all're applying, exist certain you're going above and beyond the basic requirements.
In improver, I recommend applying to as many schools every bit y'all can reasonably afford to (preferably at least three or more). This is volition amend your odds of getting into a programme.
5. After graduating, yous might not go to work in your dream setting correct away.
Because of the over-saturation previously mentioned, your platonic setting might not accept any openings when yous're washed with OT schoolhouse and boards. I constitute this to be the case when I graduated, and ended up in a setting I wasn't crazy about. I did larn a lot from the setting and it gave me the feel I needed to become my dream job in inpatient rehab.
If you're open to other types of settings later on graduation, this won't be a huge downside. You might find your second or 3rd choice is actually a great fit for you.
six. You are always explaining what yous practise as an OT.
Almost daily I'm rehearsing my OT lift pitch, educating someone (patients, doctors, nurses, my ain family!) what rehab occupational therapists do. No, we actually don't work on getting people jobs. That's vocational rehab!
I don't mind educating the full general population on what nosotros do at all, simply I imagine after doing this for your unabridged career information technology could get tiring.
I've institute that, at work especially, I'k besides having to explicate that no, I'm non the physical therapist, and what we do is like but different, and I go into the reasons why.
I find that providing a brusque, concise description of my role as an occupational therapist is the best fashion for medical professionals and patients to actually understand what I'm telling them. This PDF from AOTA is a peachy educational handout you can also give to patients and medical professionals when you're in this predicament.
7. Many occupational therapy settings are physically demanding.
And lastly, I want you to be aware of the physical demands of beingness an occupational therapy practitioner. Almost OT settings, from pediatrics to adult rehab settings, crave a considerable corporeality of concrete exertion.
With rehab-based occupational therapists and COTAs, a large focus is transfer preparation. This tin can range from working with patients who crave very little concrete assist to patients that are dependent. This sometimes requires a lot of lifting throughout the twenty-four hour period which can be taxing on your trunk, even with proper torso mechanics and equipment.
Many settings also involve long periods of continuing when yous're not doing transfer training. If you piece of work in pediatrics, yous volition also be doing a lot of physical move with crawling, kneeling, jumping, chasing, and handling, oftentimes on the floor or mat.
If you don't think you lot can handle the physical requirements that many OT settings demand only notwithstanding are passionate about becoming an occupational therapist, you can look into outpatient settings like driving rehab, mitt therapy, or working in mental health. These settings volition typically have considerably less physical demands.
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These are some of the realities I've discovered after condign an occupational therapist. Would I personally change my career choice? Absolutely non!
Every career has its ups and downs. With OT, you're helping people achieve their goals and increase their independence and life satisfaction, which far outweighs the downsides.
I can't imagine doing anything else. If you're passionate about becoming an occupational therapist, you won't regret it!
The chore flexibility and multifariousness of job options combined with knowing you are truly making a difference in peoples' lives makes it a great career option as long every bit you're prepared and you know the potential drawbacks you might run across.
For even more on the realities of existence an occupational therapist, be sure to likewise check out these informative weblog posts:
five Things to Consider When Deciding on a Career in Occupational Therapy (Mama OT Blog)
Is Occupational Therapy Stressful? (My OT Spot)
Is Occupational Therapy a Practiced Career? (St. Catherine University)
This mail service was originally published on May 24, 2018 and updated on January 26, 2022.
Source: https://www.myotspot.com/tips-before-becoming-an-occupational-therapist/
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