Monson 1

Brittney Monson

Ms. Amanda Tibbitts

Language Arts 12

8 March 2019

Occupational Therapy

I recently had the opportunity to take the Occupational Therapy program on a college

campus during half of every high school day, for a semester. This career is really important to

me because of the beneficial factors that are accessible to people of all different backgrounds.

Occupational Therapists help people with their everyday activities. These can range from putting

a shirt on, to transferring from a bed to a wheelchair. OT’s help their clients set goals based on

their needs, and they work hand in hand with the family members to ensure the client benefits

from their goals. This paper will discuss an Occupational Therapist’s salary, being an OT in rural

vs. urban areas, and the general duties of an OT.

Occupational Therapists receive a specific amount of income based off of many different

factors. Richard Howe explains Occupational Therapist’s salaries. Occupational Therapists make

a certain amount of money per year based on where they work, and if they have a specialty in a

certain field of work. An example of a specialty would be a hand specialist. If one was to become

an OT then specialize in hands, they would only work with patients with hands that did not

function properly. This matters because it could determine whether someone would want to work

in this particular section of the medical field or not. If someone chooses to specialize, it involves

more schooling and more even more money than what a master’s degree would already cost.

Occupational Therapy is commonly confused with other jobs. Richard Howe states,
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“Finally, the hiring rate of new assistant professors in Occupational Therapy in the public studies

was lower than the hiring rate of ALL MAJOR FIELDS” Occupational Therapy is not a widely

known career. If one was to ask someone if he/she knew what it was, they most likely say no. It

is a common thought process that OT’s help people find a job, because of the word ‘occupation’,

however this is not true. It would make sense that the amount of people that got hired was less

than every single other job, because of the lack of knowledge about the career. This is of

consequence because it could be much easier to be able to secure a well paying job specifically

in OT than if one was to try for a different job in the medical field.

When in the Occupational Therapy program, make sure you are aware of all of your

options. According to Dione Brockwell, “ Rural therapists often have to manage larger and more

varied caseloads than their urban counterparts undertake administrative and management roles,

and regularly travel long distances.” ​This matters because even though it may be easier to get a

job in the rural areas, the OT will be over many more patients than if they were in the urban

areas. Because of lack of population in the countryside than the cities, they use less OT’s which

means that they will have to treat a variety of patients with completely different needs. This will

require a lot of patience, creativity, and determination. If this is one’s mindset, than they should

consider pursuing a career in that particular field of interest.

Occupational Therapy is proven to be an essential part of a medical team. The article

“Occupational Therapy Practice in Emergency Care” says that many different approaches were

used to determine if Occupational Therapy was “both established and needed” and it proved that

is was. This is of consequence since this is a career that is starting to get more and more popular,

and other medical professionals need to know if it will actually will benefit their patients. It also
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helps justify to potential OT’s that their future job will be of worth and useful to everyone who

they will come across while working.

Being willing to learn and enjoy the journey is an important aspect of becoming an

OTR/L (registered/licensed).“ Parallel to their clinical work, the OTs worked with on-going

development to find ways to improve their approaches” (Spang). Occupational Therapy

continues to improve daily. The reason this matters is because it could be very frustrating to

work with a client and not automatically know the perfect way to modify their way of living. It

takes trial and error, and one needs to have enough patience and willingness to do this job.

Future OTs need to realize that their job may take some work outside of one’s paid hours, and

they need to be willing to do this.

One of the things that OT’s focus on is ADL’s, which means activities of daily living. In

her blog, Sarah Lyon says, “These daily activities can include anything from bathing

independently to cooking a meal for your spouse.” These daily activities can also be described as

things people do everyday to take care of themselves or their loved ones. Occupational

Therapists help their clients modify their way of life based off of their needs. For instance, if

someone had shoulder surgery, the OT would teach them a new method of how to put a shirt on

by themselves using a tool as well as their arm that was useable. This is important because

creativity comes in handy when they will need to solve seemingly impossible problems.

Physical Therapy is the most similar career when compared to Occupational Therapy.

“The key difference is that OT focuses more on the improvement of daily activities while PT

focuses more on specific improvement of body movement(s)” (Lyon) There is a saying that goes,

Physical Therapists get people to walk down the hall, but Occupational Therapists help them to
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not do it naked. The meaning behind this is that PT’s help more with muscles and strengthening

them, while OT’s teach the clients how to more utilize the knowledge into their daily activities of

life. These two occupations work hand in hand along with nurses and other medical professionals

to help the patients on their goal to be able to recover more fully.

Not only do OT’s help people learn how to fully utilize their body after something

abnormal happens, but they make goals with their patients and how they plan to achieve them. If

someone got hurt while playing a sport that they enjoy, then​ ​“While recovering, you could meet

with an OT to get to the root of why you look forward to playing each week... Your OT will help

you to accomplish your goal” (What’s the Difference?). This matters because if someone

chooses this path they need to understand that it is a very sociable job. They will be working not

only with their clients, but their families as well. If a spouse in a married couple loses a limb,

they will need help adjusting to their new way of life. Their spouse will be able to help with a lot

of their needs, but in reality they are not always going to be there. The OT will take this into

consideration and sit down and talk with the couple and make goals on what they want the client

to be able to do independently.

OT is a demanding job for multiple reasons. The Bureau of Labor Statistics declares,

“​About half of occupational therapists work in offices of occupational therapy or in hospitals.

Others work in schools, nursing homes, and home health services. Therapists may spend a lot of

time on their feet while working with patients.” This is critical information because this job is

very physically demanding.

The most important thing that I learned from this research is that it will take a lot of both

physical and mental capacity, as well as motivation to not only finish the schooling, but to be
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able to do the job properly. My opinion of the career has changed to a little more on the negative

side. Even though I love people, and all I want to do is to be able to help them, I feel as if I

would rather be an Occupational Therapy Assistant rather than an actual OT because of the

amount of schooling, especially if I wanted to specialize in something. One of the locations that I

got to job shadow had two male Occupational Therapists. I had the opportunity to chat with one

for a little bit. He told me that this job is very hard on the body and there are other jobs that do

not require as much physical activity. This information is critical because I may not be able to do

this job fully the more I age. I still have a few questions after conducting this research. I am

curious to know the difference in pay between an OT and an OTA. I am also wondering about

the different colleges that offer this program, other than the ones in the state of Utah. Overall I

think this would be an excellent career for a very dedicated and motivated person who is willing

to follow ethical standards while being able to benefit their client to the best of their ability.
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Works Cited

Aota.org​, ​www.aota.org/About-Occupational-Therapy/Professionals.aspx​.

April 1, 2017Philadelphia. “Occupational Therapy Code of Ethics (2015).” ​American Journal of

Occupational Therapy​, American Occupational Therapy Association, 1 Nov. 2015,

ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=2442685.

Brockwell, Dione, et al. “Four Years after Graduation: Occupational Therapists’ Work

Destinations and Perceptions of Preparedness for Practice.” ​Australian Journal of Rural

Health,​ vol. 17, no. 2, Apr. 2009, pp. 71–76. ​EBSCOhost​,

doi:10.1111/j.1440-1584.2008.01020.x.

Howe, Richard D., et al. ​Salary-Trend Study of Faculty in Occupational Therapy for the Years

1997-98 and 2000-01.​ 1 Jan. 2001. ​EBSCOhost,​

search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED456761&site=ehost-live.

Lyon, Sarah. “OT Potential • Occupational Therapy Resources.” ​OT Potential • Occupational

Therapy Resources​, OT Potential • Occupational Therapy Resources, otpotential.com/.

Spang, Lisa, and Kajsa Holmqvist. “Occupational Therapy Practice in Emergency Care:

Occupational Therapists’ Perspectives.” ​Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy​,

vol. 22, no. 5, Sept. 2015, pp. 345–354. ​EBSCOhost​,

doi:10.3109/11038128.2015.1033455.

St. Catherine University Online OTA. “Occupational Therapy and Physical Therapy: What's the

Difference?” ​St. Catherine Online OTA,​ Blog for the Online OTA Program at St.

Catherine University, 23 May 2018,

otaonline.stkate.edu/blog/fields-occupational-therapy-and-physical-therapy-whats-differe
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nce/.

“Summary.” ​U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics,​ U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 13 Apr. 2018,

www.bls.gov/ooh/healthcare/occupational-therapists.htm​.