Thanks a lot for your responses and encouragement. I can't tell you how helpful it is.
I'm not really turned off to the lack of recognition that OT receives. If anything, I welcome the challenge of educating the world and pushing it to the forefront of social recognition. Choosing OT has been a huge, soul-searching process for me (I'm sure all of you can relate, especially the mid-career changers), and if I do go that way (as it looks like I will), I'm in it whole hog, to absolutely throw myself into it with passion and do what I can to further the profession. Regarding the whole changing diapers thing, I understand not wanting to say "that's not my job" and waiting for the already overworked nurses to get around to changing your patient's diapers. I wouldn't want to put the patient through that. I think my overactive imagination may be building it up into a bigger thing than it is, really. At the same time I really would like to avoid being in a setting where that's routine (and not the exception), but from what Ron says it sounds like there's plentiful options due to the variety of OT environments and demand. Honestly part of me wants to dive into geriatric rehab and try to really help make significant contributions to those who I think are too often dismissed due to their age, but I guess changing their diapers comes with the territory. Ron, I've heard it's advantageous to be a male OT out of school from a couple of people. A female OT I spoke with mentioned that women often do it on a part time basis (juggling family and other responsibilities) while men tend to commit more to it full time, so employers tend to snap up men when they surface. Not sure how true that is, but you'd probably have some idea. Thanks folks! John -- Options? www.otnow.com/mailman/options/otlist_otnow.com Archive? www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
