John, I have been an OTR for 14 years so my answer is somewhat biased. I would 100% recommend becoming an OT. It is a very rewarding field and with many different practice areas to choose from. I caution you though, to not think of OT as a "all set and done" profession where change and challenges will not take place. Our profession need advocates and practitioners who are willing to speak-up and defend-create-recreate our ever evolving practice areas. As a mature professional you could face opportunities to provide occupationally relevant treatment to patients or you could find yourself "stuck" with a handful of physical dysfunction treatment tricks ( which feels safe initially), yet not much occupationally based interventions. These depend of course of the setting you are in. I work in a nursing home so YEAH many times to get a treatment done you need to start with getting the patient ready to receive treatment ( bathroom tasks are usually what you will encounter...there is no aid around and it is either you assisting the client to get it done or him/her waiting longer with increased risk of fall/ skin breakdown, etc from a soiled undergarment/diapers. If you have self care goals related to toileting or clothing management you could make the intervention relevant by applying techniques, verbal cues, extra time to respond, neuro facilitation to normalize movement, in other words, skilled interventions, to obtain the safest and most independent response from the client. If your treatment goals are not self care related but about factors such as core stability, balance, bed mobility, standing tolerance, postural control, etc, the same task can be utilized to enhance those skills and make the client work on those to facilitate your care tasks. The ideal situation is to schedule the session and have nursing take care of that but sometimes it is not possible. Wow, sorry for the lengthy response ...Best of luck with your school ☺ Carmen> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected]> Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:05:39 -0800> Subject: [OTlist] Conflicted> > I'm currently a student completing the prerequisites to pursue a > Master's in OT. This is a career change for me in my early 30s, and I > should be in the program in 2009. I chose OT because it seemed a > stable field (growing demand), and because it focuses on psychological/ > social skills to a high degree, which really appeals to me. > Considering it now requires an MA to practice, I imagine if anything > the demand will increase. And, of course, it is helping people in an > immediate sense, and rewarding beyond it's decent compensation.> > I struggled initially with OT vs. PT, and in the end it was the > heightened focus on cognitive areas of OT that trumped PT for me; > psychology and the brain are more interesting to me than physics. At > the same time, there are factors that keep making me second-guess my > choice:> > 1) There's generally twice as many PT jobs available than OT, from > what I can tell. So both availability and pay scale seems to be a > little more on the PT side of things.> > 2) I keep sensing frustration among OTs and hearing about burnout, > lack of recognition, and being threatened as PT gradually extends its > sphere of learning into OT areas of expertise (although I think it's a > positive thing that the two should learn and develop from each others' > strengths). Will OT and PT be the same position eventually?> > 3) A couple of times I've heard of OTs doing nurse activities. Helping > someone learn to transfer themselves into a shower is one thing, but > cleaning their diaper just seems like something I wouldn't expect an > OT to have to do, and certainly something I'd never want to do. Is > this something that all OTs have to do from time to time, or does it > depend on their area of expertise (i.e. someone in hand therapy would > not run into this)?> > Am I totally getting the wrong picture of OT here? I'm only going by > impressions, and I'm sure my thoughts will be cleared up to a degree > after I actually get some experience volunteer-working in a rehab > facility with PTs and OTs.> > Many of you have the benefit of knowledge of having worked as OTs for > years, and can provide valuable insights. I feel like OT is more my > natural area, but little doubts keep creeping into my mind from what I > hear and see.> > Thanks a lot for your thoughts. I just discovered this website and > have been perusing it quite a bit the past couple of days.> > John> > -- > Options?> www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com> > Archive?> www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] _________________________________________________________________ Need to know the score, the latest news, or you need your Hotmail®-get your "fix". http://www.msnmobilefix.com/Default.aspx -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com
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