Do you work with people or paperwork?

[1Corinthians13]

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Hi, everyone! I'm back with more questions!🙂

If you haven't met me yet, I'm a high school Junior looking into a career in occupational therapy.

I work with special needs students 5 days a week, and I absolutely love it, so I originally hoped to pursue special ed. However, while shadowing a special needs teacher, I met an Occupational Therapy Assistant. While working with her, I was instantly hooked on OT. So fun and interactive, and I LOVE the one-on-one or small-group work setting of occupational therapy.

That leaves me with the questions....

1.) How often do OTs see their patients? Do you see the same people routinely, or just to diagnose and check-up occasionally on their progress.

2.) Do OTs focus more on diagnosing patients and then hand off the interactive "doing" to an OTA? I want to be a "teacher," not a "clinician." I want to build a relationship with my patients, see them more than once, and watch them grow.

3.) How much time do you OTs spend doing paperwork? (I don't mind a bit, but I prefer people over paper!)

4.) I don't want to sound selfish... but, from your experience what is the salary of an OT vs. and OTA? I'm sure if I can trust websites like payscale, or the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (From the looks of those websites, an OTA salary is about the same as that of a teacher- except teaching eventually requires a Masters degree!)

I don't know where or with that sort of population I hope to work. Although I love working with special needs students, I may just as well want to work in a nursing home. Any advice from any setting would be greatly appreciated!😀

 

[OT2Be2013]

Hi, everyone! I'm back with more questions!🙂

If you haven't met me yet, I'm a high school Junior looking into a career in occupational therapy.



That leaves me with the questions....

1.) How often do OTs see their patients? Do you see the same people routinely, or just to diagnose and check-up occasionally on their progress.

2.) Do OTs focus more on diagnosing patients and then hand off the interactive "doing" to an OTA? I want to be a "teacher," not a "clinician." I want to build a relationship with my patients, see them more than once, and watch them grow.

3.) How much time do you OTs spend doing paperwork? (I don't mind a bit, but I prefer people over paper!)

4.) I don't want to sound selfish... but, from your experience what is the salary of an OT vs. and OTA? I'm sure if I can trust websites like payscale, or the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (From the looks of those websites, an OTA salary is about the same as that of a teacher- except teaching eventually requires a Masters degree!)

I don't know where or with that sort of population I hope to work. Although I love working with special needs students, I may just as well want to work in a nursing home. Any advice from any setting would be greatly appreciated!😀

1. Every facility will be a little different, but OTs absolutely do see clients. I think it is so great that you are getting experience in the field at such a young age. Most of us here are just students still, so it would be a good idea to volunteer in the OT department of a nursing home both to see a different setting and to speak with an OTR. At least in my experience so far in mental health, peds, and geriatrics, the OT has a caseload and sees the same clients regularly until they are ready for discharge from a program.

2. I just want to clarify one thing about your question- OTs don't "diagnose"; they evaluate. Only a physician can diagnose a client. About teaching- teaching is a huge part of an OT's job!! It is especially emphasized in mental health settings, but client education is important no matter where you go... not just educating your clients either, but educating their family members as well. If you like to teach, OT is a great option for you.

3. I can't answer this yet as I am still a student. I can tell you though that documentation and paperwork is unfortunately a big part of the job as well. As they say, if it isn't documented, it didn't happen (and insurance doesn't reimburse for it...).

4. You don't sound selfish at all. It is smart to do your research. I wish I had been so mindful of the future at your age. You will make more as an OT- it depends on the area, though. From what I've seen, there is usually about a $20,000 difference between an OTR and OTA salary, if not more (take that with a grain of salt, though, because I don't know for certain).

As of 2007, to practice as a new OTR, you have to have earned a master's degree, as you probably know, and school can be very expensive depending on where you go. However, since you're so young, if you are absolutely positive that this is what you want to do, I would go for it! Life gets in the way later on and you might not have the time and resources to go back to school if you become an OTA and decide a few years down the road to complete your BS/MSOT.

Good luck to you!

 

[Penguinita]

Hi, everyone! I'm back with more questions!🙂

If you haven't met me yet, I'm a high school Junior looking into a career in occupational therapy.

I work with special needs students 5 days a week, and I absolutely love it, so I originally hoped to pursue special ed. However, while shadowing a special needs teacher, I met an Occupational Therapy Assistant. While working with her, I was instantly hooked on OT. So fun and interactive, and I LOVE the one-on-one or small-group work setting of occupational therapy.

That leaves me with the questions....

1.) How often do OTs see their patients? Do you see the same people routinely, or just to diagnose and check-up occasionally on their progress.

2.) Do OTs focus more on diagnosing patients and then hand off the interactive "doing" to an OTA? I want to be a "teacher," not a "clinician." I want to build a relationship with my patients, see them more than once, and watch them grow.

3.) How much time do you OTs spend doing paperwork? (I don't mind a bit, but I prefer people over paper!)

4.) I don't want to sound selfish... but, from your experience what is the salary of an OT vs. and OTA? I'm sure if I can trust websites like payscale, or the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (From the looks of those websites, an OTA salary is about the same as that of a teacher- except teaching eventually requires a Masters degree!)

I don't know where or with that sort of population I hope to work. Although I love working with special needs students, I may just as well want to work in a nursing home. Any advice from any setting would be greatly appreciated!😀

Hey 1Corinthians13! Ask away!

1.) How often do OTs see their patients? Do you see the same people routinely, or just to diagnose and check-up occasionally on their progress.
A: From my experience volunteering and shadowing, it's nonstop (which is great btw). I volunteered at 4 locations a little over 115hrs and I did not see one OTA. The OTs handled everything. In the pediatric setting the clients were seen daily at the same time (i.e. Johnny had therapy from 11am to 11:45 M-F). In the Geriatric setting I observed patients were seen on different schedules, some were seen daily at the same time, however others were seen twice a week, once a week or once every 2 weeks. In the outpatient center it was very similar to the geriatric setting. Some came daily, some came weekly (or bi-weekly). I also viewed a lot of group therapy in Pediatrics and Geriatrics.

2.) Do OTs focus more on diagnosing patients and then hand off the interactive "doing" to an OTA? I want to be a "teacher," not a "clinician." I want to build a relationship with my patients, see them more than once, and watch them grow.
A: Like I mentioned in the first answer, where I volunteered and observed the OTs were on their own. Maybe it's because of my area that OTAs are not common, but I did see lots of PTAs. Another factor could be that I was not able to volunteer in a hospital setting & mental health setting I imagine that there are OTAs there.

3.) How much time do you OTs spend doing paperwork? (I don't mind a bit, but I prefer people over paper!)
A: I think this is something every professional will experience. My mother is a pre-school and pre-k teacher and ALWAYS brings home some paperwork. The OTs I volunteered all received 2 hours each day dedicated to paperwork only. For example, at the home the OT hours were 8 - 4, 8-9 and 3-4 was dedicated to paperwork only. One OT did mention that if he doesn't finish what he wanted to do for that day he takes it home, otherwise it starts piling up.

4.) I don't want to sound selfish... but, from your experience what is the salary of an OT vs. and OTA? I'm sure if I can trust websites like payscale, or the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (From the looks of those websites, an OTA salary is about the same as that of a teacher- except teaching eventually requires a Masters degree! )
A: I honestly don't know the actual figures, from what I learned it varies. Some OTs work part-time or per-diem and earn a modest salary. While others, (like the OT who wrote my recommendation letter) earn a 6 figure salary. Factors like experience, degree, recognition and company will determine your pay and it can vary. The OT that earned 6 figures also owns his own staffing company of PTs, OTs, and SLPs (I'm sure there are other factors I can't think of right now). As for OTAs they do earn less than OTs, just like Teacher Assistants earn less than the Teachers themselves.

I hope this helps!

 

[Shelby029]

I don't think many people in this thread are actually OT's but I can give you my shadowing experience...

1.) How often do OTs see their patients? They saw them for the entire appointments allotted- 30,45,or an hour.

2.) Do OTs focus more on diagnosing patients and then hand off the interactive "doing" to an OTA? I think it depends on the clinic, the places I shadowed didn't even have OTA's, just OT's which did the entire evaluation, treatment, discharge.

3.) How much time do you OTs spend doing paperwork? I think they spend a good deal of time with it. Most of the PTs and OTs I saw carried around a clipboard and wrote as they went along, but still were able to focus on the patient plenty and talk with parents

4.) I don't want to sound selfish... but, from your experience what is the salary of an OT vs. and OTA? http://occupational-therapy.advanceweb.com/Article/ADVANCEs-2009-Salary-Survey.aspx
I think that is a pretty go representation of salaries, it was from 2009 but I don't think there has been that big of a change. It really depends on what area you want to work in, experience, and the place you live.

I would say since your young just go for OT, if you do OTA you'll limit your job options (some places dont hire OTAs or PTAs) and eventually you'll just want to do it all by yourself.

 

[superCOTA]

In schools and pediatric settings, OT's are hands on. There is not a lot of billing issues and so not a lotta paperwork.

COTA's are being marginalized with increased supervision regulations to the point where it's prohibitive to use them ... if an OT has to be in the room all day w/ the COTA, then why not just hire the OT? (yeah.. cota's kill their paitents on a regular basis... such BS.)

In a hospital OT's treat and do the evals, and hand some of their cases to COTA's as appropriate.

In a nursing home, there is a lot more paperwork for the OT to handle, and there are facilities that are 'mills' where the bottom line is looked at more closely. In these places, the OT's will do the paperwork and evals and hand off most to all of the cases to the OTA. Here the OT's often wish they worked w/ patients more. Sometimes these OT's crossed over to the nursintg home from peds or a hospital and they have had enough of treating and want to get into management, and are ok with this.

in NY ... in a 40 hour job at a hosptal to nursing home, yearly w/ benefits partially payed by an employer:
OTs: 55- 95K / OTAs: 35-60 .. 60K = if you never left and kept getting the COLA raise of 2-3% every year.

Merit raises are very hard to come by. Many a facility simply do not believe in them so negotaite well on the job interview.

Now... Google "advance, CMS medicare cut" and the Advance trade paper will have many articles dicussing attempts to cut pay... pay that hasnt really increased in a decade.... there's a lot of them and some states are worse than others.. it's enough to rethink what you want to do for a living .. sad. 😡 ... i watched a hospital manager respond to a whole department asking for a cost of living raise by saying .. hey - the country is broke, we dont know what the future holds, and it's tough out there... but let's all do our best while we are together ... so poetic .. 👎thumbdown👎thumbdown👎thumbdown👎 that was kinda his way of saying. . .. NO.