Occupational Therapy – Straight From The Student’s Mouth
I ran across a great blog posting from Patti, who is a fellow blogger and who just happens to be an Occupational Therapy student herself. She posted this blog in response to many questions that she receives from other students and future students about going to OT school. Many are questions that get emailed or phoned in to us all the time. She offers up some great first-hand knowledge and experience. Thanks for sharing with us, Patti!
"Throughout the semester I’ve received a bunch of emails from prospective occupational therapy students. Here are some of the Q’s & A’s I’ve compiled, hopefully it will help someone out!
So OT’s the same thing as PT, right?
Not exactly. When people ask me what occupational therapy is, I usually start off with something like "It’s a little like physical therapy…", just to get them in the right mindset. OT’s take a movement and make it functional and meaningful to their client/patient. For example, a person recently had a hip replacement. This may be the first time they’re using a walker and have ‘hip precautions’ which means certain things such as not flexing the hip past 90 degrees… so how do they maneuver around their small kitchen safely with a walker? and how do they get into their car without flexing their recovering hip? and if you can’t bend over, how the heck do you get your shoes/socks/pants on? That’s where occupational therapy comes in. We give people the strategies and tools necessary to adapt and compensate.
That’s just a simple example of OT for physical dysfunction… OTs are very much known for upper extremity rehab including splinting. OT’s help people with various diseases or disabilities who would like to live independent and meaningful lives. OTs take on so many roles, I’ll probably have to write a post just about the various aspects of OT. It’s pretty much awesome.
Schools are competitive, what should I do before applying?
First of all, decide the school/s that you’re applying to and get to know their prerequisites as early as possible. Some schools want the GRE, some don’t. Some want physics, others don’t require it. (Like mine, thank goodness!). The one thing that helped me the most was being in the field before I applied. Volunteer, observe, or get a job with occupational therapists. Really KNOW what OT is before you decide that you want to make it your career. Check out more than one setting. I worked at a rehab hospital that is primarily older adults and geriatrics and I observed in an outpatient pediatric clinic. Get to know the therapists you work with and see if one will be your mentor. I have a few and they’ve been my biggest supports and most valuable resource in school.Where can you work with a degree in Occupational Therapy?
Tons of places.
Hospitals, rehab hospitals (inpatient and outpatient), nursing homes, schools, correctional facilities, mental health facilities, group homes, home health, even in client’s workplaces."
You can also check out the American Occupational Therapy Association website for some great information on schools that offer OT programs, careers as an OT/OTA, etc.
~Josh
