Therapy can help many aspects of a persons life. There are different injuries or birth defects that need to be treated to perform everyday activities. A variety of different therapy methods and treatments, depending on the personal weakness, can help improve someone’s everyday life.
“What if there was a job that allowed someone to have endless flexibility and creativity; a profession that is respected and is in overwhelming demand... Most importantly, wouldn’t it be nice to find a job in which you could make an impact, big or small, on the lives of each individual person you worked with? I found this job and that is why I decided to pursue a degree in occupational therapy" (Springer, J., 2015). This testimonial comes from a practicing occupational therapist who has found value in his life's work. Occupational therapy is not a job where "one size fits all"; there are many different demographics of people who need occupational therapy in different environments. Although, all occupational therapists have the same skills
Through experience, I learned how to interact with patients and family members as an occupational therapist in sub acute setting, espeicailly how to deliver message to family member professionally. I Also, I witness the necessity of cooperation in PT/OT/SLP and other health professionals to make optimal outcome of patients. I have learnd how restorative FOR, biomechanical FOR, rehabilitative FOR, PNF are being utilized into therapy sessions to patients with orthopedic, neurological conditions.
For my career exploration assignment I have chosen the field of occupational therapy. Not only am I a certified occupational therapists assistant, but I also have a passion for this field. Occupational therapy wasn’t something that I have always wanted to pursue, but once I got into college and observed an occupational therapist I fell in love with the occupation. Occupational therapy is the unique focus on occupation and daily life activities and the application of an intervention process that facilitates engagement in occupation to support participation in everyday life (American Occupational Therapy Association [AOTA], 1994). As therapists we are here to help our patients return to the highest level of independent physical function. Patients come to us in their lowest time, and it is our job to help build them up, and teach them how to be more independent, and to live their life to the fullest. Occupational therapists assistants do everything from increasing a patient’s standing/sitting tolerance and balance, safety with transfer training, dressing, bathing, grooming, and bed mobility. A lot of people always ask, “Physical therapy and occupational therapy are the same thing right?” That is not true. Physical therapy helps with the bigger movements, such as walking and lower extremity muscles, where as occupational therapy focuses on smaller, more fine motor movements, such as clothing manipulation, and grooming tasks. Occupational therapy helps to regain independence
Occupational Therapist enables people to engage and participate in everyday activities trough occupation. The latter role is not only applicable for individuals but also groups or populations. Eventually, with the increase of the aging population, expensive health care services, occupational therapists will have to incorporate health promotion practices into their actual roles.To cope with this phenomenon and to better meet older adult’s needs, the occupational therapist 's role would benefit from being enlarged.Expanding their knowledge and their practices in promoting health will facilitate their work in other domains.This will help them to shift from an individual to a population approach. To achieve that transition, therapists should be more involved in decisions taken by politicians regarding health and to develop services and programs that promote well-being, health, and quality of life. Also, collaboration with other fields such as schools, workplaces, industries, deputies and organizations will help them spread strategies that promote awareness and enable the population to control and maintain an independent healthy lifestyle. Also, therapists understand that the environment can be a crucial factor on health population. Therefore ,they can put pressure on the government to make public places more accessible to disabled people such as providing the subway of a wheelchair ramp and adapt crosswalks to the blind by adding pedestrian signals that include speakers at
Occupational therapy assistant is my dream career. They help people live a normal life again without any assistance of other people. The help people enhance, improve, develop, and recover the skills use for working or doing daily average tasks. OTA’s usually work under the direction of occupational therapists, and they still get involved with providing therapy for patients. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook, occupational therapy assistants help patients do therapeutic activities. For example, they help patients to stretch or do other exercises. OTA’s also help children who have developmental disabilities to play activities that helps stimulate coordination and learn to socialize. They teach disable people to use special equipment,
While shadowing occupational therapy professionals at Montgomery General Hospital, I gained much insight into the profession and the day-to-day duties and responsibilities of a COTA. The entire facility caseload consisted of geriatric patients, and many of the diagnoses were due to cognitive deficits or recent falls due to weak lower extremities. Diagnoses observed were dementia, CVA, a hip fracture, a total knee replacement, osteoarthritis of the shoulder, bilateral upper extremity/lower extremity weakness, and total blindness.
When I graduated from high school I originally planned on being an Athletic Trainer. After being accepted into not only Shenandoah University but the pre-admit AT program which is a three plus two program, I was going to graduate with a masters degree in five years. In my sophomore year at Shenandoah I realized that I did not want to be an Athletic Trainer. I began looking into what careers were out there that I could pursue with an Exercise Science degree. After talking my advisor, who was an athletic training for most of her career, she asked if I ever looked into Occupational Therapy. Once looking into the career I talked to my Aunt who worked in many fields as an Occupational Therapist and learning more about the career I was set on pursuing
The name of the society changed in 1923, due to hospitals wanting a national directory of qualified occupational therapists. There now was a minimal standard of training that had to be met before an individual was put in the directory (AOTA, 2009). The name was changed to the American Occupational Therapy Association. The American Medical Association worked with the American Occupational Therapy Association starting in 1933 on getting improved education programs for occupational therapists (AOTA, 2009).
To serve in the military is a noble act in one’s life to defend our nation and their freedoms. However, what does one do after the military to continue serving. This author states after serving 20 years in the United States Army as a human resources sergeant. He chose the profession of occupational therapy in a veteran’s hospital after he graduates as an Occupational Therapy Assistant (OTA) to serve the military and their families due to the fact that he is a veteran himself. After serving 3 tours in Afghanistan and understanding the effects of war does to Soldiers and their families. From reintegration after a deployment and transitioning out of the military and rejoining the civilian population. Find themselves under educated and unable
This scholarship is very important to me in many ways.This scholarship will help me physically and emotionally if I receive money. For instance, it will make me stress less about how I am going to be able to pay for my tuition and fees and not have debt. Also, it will give me a way to purchase my books for the classes I will take.Since I will not receive financial aid I will have to apply for more scholarships. I plan to go to Northwest Shoals to be able to get my basics done and further my education and transfer to Wallace State to be able to become an Occupational Therapist it has always been a desire to work with many people and help someone out if they needed it. Some of my college goals is to be able to maintain a high GPA and do the
My level 1 fieldwork II was assigned at Charleston Area Medical Center – Medication Rehabilitation Inpatient Services in Charleston, West Virginia. It was an Inpatient Rehabilitation which provides Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy and Speech Therapy services. My supervisor is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant for more than 3 years. My fieldwork started around 7:45am and ends at 4pm. My supervisor provides me with occupational profile of the patient, diagnosis and the treatment before interacting with the patients. They usually see 3 patients in a day for 90 mins therapy sessions.
I was surprised to see how competitive the field of occupational therapy was. The field is getting very popular so getting into the program is difficult. There is a chance that one must apply to several accredited schools numerous times to get accepted, not to mention that there are limited spots in a class (“Signs OT is Not Right For You, Johnson,” 2015). I was also surprised to learn that one participates in field work much like nursing students. I initially thought that field work is not necessary and all the training is done in the classroom. The limited number of accredited schools in California is also surprising! This revelation makes me feel a little concerned. I think there should be more schools that offer this program. Additional
A job in any type of therapeutic healthcare can be a rewarding and satisfying job. However, I believe that occupational therapy is a special and extremely rewarding field. A field in which I am over the moon passionate about and completely infatuated with. It is the thought of helping people who have been through horrible tragedies to turn everything around and live a happy healthy life that drives me the most. I feel very strongly as though this profession is where I am meant to work in and make a difference in patient’s lives. The more I research topics and studies of occupational therapy the more infatuated with the field I become because it is much more than just a job. To me, this career is a lifestyle
What intrigues me most in the field of Occupational Therapy is that I could make a positive impact in the lives of others. An occupational therapist can help a patient revitalize their physical, cognitive, or emotional disabilities, and develop or restore its functionality through continuous practice and effort. There is nothing more fulfilling for me than to see an individual achieving the greatest possible independence. This train of thought arose when I observed an occupational therapist working with my mother to return her arm to feeling normal again after her accident.