Career Overview and Salary of an Occupational Therapist
Occupational therapists assist patients in improving their ability to perform daily tasks at home or at work. They help individuals who are developmentally, emotionally mentally or physically disabled. Occupational therapists prepares treatments that will help a patient recover or maintain the usual work or duties they got used to. An OT doesn’t just help improve the patient’s basic physical function and reasoning skills but also recover from permanent loss of function. Occupational therapy aims to help patients be independent and live a productive life.
Occupational therapists assist clients in performing different types of activities. Activities such as using a laptop, self-grooming, food preparation and eating are part of the activities. Other activities like physical exercises is also part of occupational therapy. This is to promote strength and flexibility on the patient. There are also certain exercises that helps improve visual accuracy and short-term memory loss. An occupational therapists may also use computer games to gauge patient on how to decide better. There are patients who seeks help when it comes to decision making and money handling which is why most occupational therapists use computer programs. The advancement that we have in medical and science technology greatly helps patient who lacks the skills to decide for themselves by different computer games and programs designed to help occupational therapy patients.
Patients with permanent disabilities are given special instructions so they can master how to do their daily tasks. These individuals are given demonstrations on how to use adaptive equipment that will help them be independent in a daily basis. Occupational therapists also has the ability to create special equipments for their patients. Customized adaptive equipment are designed to match the specific needs of their clients. They teach their clients on how to use the equipment that will later on be their best tool to live a normal life as if they never had any form of disability.
An occupational therapist salary ranges from $32 to $52 an hour. The starting or entry level occupational therapist salary usually starts from $44,000 with the maximum of $57,000 a year. The income on this type of career greatly varies on the occupational therapists’ experience and specialization. However according to surveys the median salary of an occupational therapist in the United States is $68,000. Those who are working in a larger medical institution gets a higher salary compared to the reported median salary. Employment for this type of profession can be anywhere from a hospital set-up to a rehabilitation centre. An occupational therapist is not just limited to medical facilities because they can find a career in schools and home-service care.
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