I'm worried about the future of the OT profession

[NATO]

I have been researching OT as a 2nd career for the past several months now. I noticed that OT was ranked 14th on CNN's Best Jobs in America 2009 list. I'm scheduled to do some OT shadowing next month to get a better idea of what OTs do as well as to figure out if this is definitely what I want to do as a second career.

However, I am worried about the OT field due to the health reform. Also, given the fact that the PT field is now assisting with ADLs, I wonder if OT is the way to go in terms of investment of my time and money. I'm in my 30s and cannot afford to waste time changing to a 3rd career IF my 2nd career choice is not a good fit or has a great chance of being phased out by other professions.

I do believe OT would be a better fit for me than PT; however, I can become a PT too...it would just take me 2 more semesters to get all the PT pre-req classes completed since PT requires more science courses. I've already read the Indeed Forums about OT and I really do not wish to be a ''glorified CNA'' so to speak.

This healthcare reform bill is making me really nervous and I'm not even in the medical field yet! 😳

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[JavOT10]

Seein as how CNA make $8 dollars an hour and they know nothing about therapy or psychology, and surely have not taken a gross anatomy course, occupational therapists are NOT on the level of a CNA. If you would like some correct information copy and paste this link http://www.aota.org/Students/Prospective.aspx

 

[superCOTA]

Glorified CNA

Yes, PT is definitely for you. Good luck in your future endeavors.

 

[sailing09]

Hi, I have the same concern myself. I am 33 and OT would be a second career for me. Do you know any resources of where to research that might have information on health care reform regarding OTs? I would rather do OT because it is less time than PT. Let me know how things work out for you.
Thanks!

 

[NATO]

Glorified CNA

Yes, PT is definitely for you. Good luck in your future endeavors.

I meant no offense. I was reading the OT Indeed Forums (Google 'OT Indeed forum' if you want to see what current OTs are complaining about) and, based off what I read from some OTs, it seems like half of them regret becoming an OT. An OT stated that she feels like a ''glorified CNA'' and that being an OT isn't a 'real' job; rather, it is a ''fluffy'' type of career that anyone can do.

 

[JavOT10]

With forums, just like this one everyone is stating their opinion. You have to take into account the number ot registered occupational therapists that are actually there. If there happens to be 50 OTs on that one forum that are unhappy about their career, that does not begin to add up to all the other OTs in the United States.

You also have to take into account the setting that they are practicing in. Whether they work at a hospital, home health, traveling home health, or with pediatrics. Yes, the health care reform is going to change some things, but all health care professionals are in high demand and will continue to be in high demand. We just might not get paid as much!

If OT was a job that anyone could do, there were NOT only be classes of 30 and it would not be so competitive to get into. OT is much more personal, one on one level with patient career. I would suggest that you do PLENTY of observation in different setting to see if you really want to become an OT.

 

[keyboardmouse]

With forums, just like this one everyone is stating their opinion. You have to take into account the number ot registered occupational therapists that are actually there. If there happens to be 50 OTs on that one forum that are unhappy about their career, that does not begin to add up to all the other OTs in the United States.

You also have to take into account the setting that they are practicing in. Whether they work at a hospital, home health, traveling home health, or with pediatrics. Yes, the health care reform is going to change some things, but all health care professionals are in high demand and will continue to be in high demand. We just might not get paid as much!

If OT was a job that anyone could do, there were NOT only be classes of 30 and it would not be so competitive to get into. OT is much more personal, one on one level with patient career. I would suggest that you do PLENTY of observation in different setting to see if you really want to become an OT.

well said

 

[alansda]

 

[Kidamnesiac]

Please take note: the Indeed forums are the WORST place to check the climate of OT. That forum is filled with the uninformed venom of disillusioned old schoolers. Beware.

 

[ExceptionalSea]

the reason why OT has lately been on top jobs list is because the demand for the profession is supposed to grow some 33% until something like 2028 (that may not be the exact figures or years, but look it up under the Bureau of Labor Statistics). the reason the profession is supposed to grow is due to an expected higher demand because 1. baby boomers will be getting older and 2. the healthcare reform. the healthcare reform seeks to get anyone without health insurance onto it. this means that with more people on health insurance, there should (theoretically) be a higher demand for health care services since people who previously couldn't afford health care services should now have better access.

i had not heard of PTs doing ADLs, but i am pretty certain the OT field is strong and is working very hard on strengthening their position within the healthcare field. if you look at aota.org's website you can find that they have within recent years begun offering fellowships and things of that nature to groom leaders in the field. although PTs may be doing ADLs in some places, there are still a wide variety of settings and practice areas that just would not be covered by PTs - not to mention they wouldn't have the time to do them, or are trained to do them - for example, no PT is going to be helping a developmentally disabled kid learn how to stay focused longer in class, teach a mother the proper way to feed her baby, or help an elderly woman with a bad memory figure out the best way for her to remember to take her medication - that's just not within their scope. in my opinion, your fears of OTs becoming obsolete are stemming from the fact that you probably need to do some more observing and research of both the OT field and the PT field to really get a sense of what each profession does. in a nutshell, the best way for me to describe the difference between PT and OT is PT will give you your gross motor movements back...but OT will actually help you figure out how to live independently. i hope i'm not making a terrible analogy here but PTs teach you how to fish...OTs teach you how to prepare, cook, and eat that fish after you get it.

i strongly encourage you to continue researching and observing. only you can tell if the career will be a good fit for you!

 

[7461]

I think PT's are kind of or doing some ADL's now because my bf is in PT school and some of the stuff he has to do is what I thought OT's were responsible of. I still don't think they will phase out OT though. It would be too much responsibility for PT's. IMO, plus I feel like OT's tend to approach things differently than PT's.

 

[Kidamnesiac]

I'm sorry. I hope you didn't think I was being rude to the questioner. It was not my intention. I think that:
1- healthcare reform leads to more, not less insured people, we don't have a major need to be alarmed at the effects of the ACA on OT.
2- The person should go out there and shadow, she/he will quickly learn that an MOT is not like being a home health aid.

I hope I didn't come off seeming rude or impolite, truly not my intention.

I don't know if the apology was intended for me, but there is none needed. I agree wholeheartedly. 🙂

I just wanted to point out to the OP that the Indeed forums are a bastion of complaint against OT...mainly by a handful of jaded ex-OT's. Not that their opinions aren't wholly unfounded...like you said, no field is without its negatives. But 2 or 3 posters on Indeed brought an agenda to those forums that makes OT seem like all we do are ADL's, that jobs are drying up left and right, that OT is unethical or a sham, and that school doesn't prepare you at all for what you face. In all, generalizations that I found to be entirely false when I asked OT's in person.

When I started to look into OT, I also started on Indeed, and then I found studentdoctor.net. I think that this site might have the other end of the spectrum in terms of optimism, but it also has posters that are competing to get into good OT programs across the nation. That's a different crowd of interlocutors than people searching Indeed for new jobs.

 

[gottabeOT]

Occupational therapy has a completely different base, perspective and understanding of health and humans beings than any other health care field -- and that's why I love it! Sure, PT's take more "hard science" courses, as you mentioned, but virtually all OT's take courses in anthropology, sociology, psychology IN ADDITION to challenging "science" courses like A&P. These courses provide practicing therapists with the ability to do what I feel like professionals in other career fields like PT and medicine with a heavier focus on the medical model -- no offense! -- are not well-equipped to do. OT's are able to look at the whole person in their unique environment and learn to structure and design treatments that incorporate the most meaningful aspects of their lives. The anthropology courses I took taught me about the importance of understanding culture in treatment and the sociology courses gave me the ability to consider all kinds of problems from multiple perspectives. Not to say that people in other fields can't have this kind of knowledge, but the fact that OT makes the understanding of a client's unique culture, goals and experiences central to treatment makes it unlike any other.

Ultimately, I agree with others who have encouraged you to not only observe and shadow OT's, but to ASK THEM directly about their role and their training and their skills to get an accurate picture that the extremely biased and poorly informed writers on the Indeed forums have clearly not been able to give you.

And as far as OT being phased out as a career, I'm currently volunteering in a clinic where the OT wait list was over 50 kids long at its height. The therapists all see kids during the full work day and one goes between the hospital and this private clinic because of the need. So no worries about OT being taken over by other people, especially CNA's, who actually aren't trained in the same skills, therapeutic modalities or treatment methodology at all.

 

[CurlyHairedGirl]

Over in the PT forum they are claiming that PTs are becoming more holistic and looking at root causes. Which has been part of my issues with experiencing PT as a patient 5 times for the same injury. If I'm not getting better doing the exercises the PT Assistant is showing me, then the problem must be with me.

I'm in Physical Therapy now, with a fairly young DPT, and getting more of a whole body functional approach. This time I was very specific about what I wanted, and got more response.

 

[a0pitre]

Being an OT has made me a better PT in looking at the pt as a whole and not approaching the pt with blinders. It's actually quite amusing and laughable when I come in contact with a "high sprung" PT. (Tangent)

Anwho...although there is a ton of overlap between the two disciplines, the perspectives are quite different. I loved the fish analogy given above by ExceptionalSea. When my PT hat is on, yes I'm working to improve things like ROM, sitting/standing balance, UE/LE strength, ambulating, core stability, etc; however, as an OT, I eval and treat all limitations/impairments that may hinder a person from performing such tasks as dressing, bathing toileting, driving, grooming, managing home, leisure and play, cooking, (I can go on). Now...these impairments may be, i.e. decreased ROM and strength (preventing an individual from donning their shirt) decreased balance (preventing a person from being able to groom or toilet while standing) functional mobility (preventing a person from getting to toilet due to poor endurance) pain, cognitive deficits (preventing a person from managing home). Again overlap...different perspective.

In regard to being a "glorified CNA" it's pretty sad that an OT would think that of their profession. Working in a variety of settings as an OT, in particular SNF setting, I've never cleaned one soiled brief, but have recommended assistive devices and worked on components leading up to that task that may allow a pt to be more independent with that aspect of his life. That is what separates us as OTs from the average joe. Cleaning a pts poop, bathing/dressing a pt, etc that requires total assistance isn't even a skilled service and shouldn't be billed by an OT.


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[CurlyHairedGirl]

I did most of my observation hours with one OT over a couple of weeks, and got to see patients come in and progress. The OT was providing a lot of assistance with the ADLs. With a one time visit, it would be hard to tell that they were pushing the patient to do as much as possible. Or the amount of mental work, assessment, and figuring out appropriate progression that was going on.

I think that if I had dual certification, my natural instinct would be to assess primarily as an OT perspective, but then treat as a combination. I shadowed a PT for a day, but found that when the PT was saying "touch my hand" and the patient was apathetic, I wanted to say "give that woman a hairbrush"

 

[ExceptionalSea]

how did this thread get revived? lol i just noticed the OP posted this back in 2009

 

[narrowback]

Being an OT has made me a better PT in looking at the pt as a whole and not approaching the pt with blinders. It's actually quite amusing and laughable when I come in contact with a "high sprung" PT. (Tangent)

Anwho...although there is a ton of overlap between the two disciplines, the perspectives are quite different. I loved the fish analogy given above by ExceptionalSea. When my PT hat is on, yes I'm working to improve things like ROM, sitting/standing balance, UE/LE strength, ambulating, core stability, etc; however, as an OT, I eval and treat all limitations/impairments that may hinder a person from performing such tasks as dressing, bathing toileting, driving, grooming, managing home, leisure and play, cooking, (I can go on). Now...these impairments may be, i.e. decreased ROM and strength (preventing an individual from donning their shirt) decreased balance (preventing a person from being able to groom or toilet while standing) functional mobility (preventing a person from getting to toilet due to poor endurance) pain, cognitive deficits (preventing a person from managing home). Again overlap...different perspective.

In regard to being a "glorified CNA" it's pretty sad that an OT would think that of their profession. Working in a variety of settings as an OT, in particular SNF setting, I've never cleaned one soiled brief, but have recommended assistive devices and worked on components leading up to that task that may allow a pt to be more independent with that aspect of his life. That is what separates us as OTs from the average joe. Cleaning a pts poop, bathing/dressing a pt, etc that requires total assistance isn't even a skilled service and shouldn't be billed by an OT.


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a0pitre, do you have a dual PT/OT degree? How are you able to practice both therapies?

 

[ashleemuffins]

The one thing I worry about in OT is being bilingual. I live in San Diego and lacking in speaking Spanish can cost you a job, if you want to work around people. That’s why I purchased Rosetta stone.

 

[a0pitre]

a0pitre, do you have a dual PT/OT degree? How are you able to practice both therapies?

Yea I am dually licensed. I work mostly OUTpt and is able to take a more holistic approach to pts as either a PT or OT. As an OT I treat spine, LE, cranial, etc--just whatever is affecting a pts day to day living. The body isn't split in half as I've observed in many places. I see hands, wrist, pathology, fabricate splints, teach compensatory strategies if needed, and recommend assistive devices when appropriate. At certain parts of the year caseload floats up and down for both disciplines and it's convenient for me to be either/or based on the caseload. The most difficult thing is making sure the documentation is separate throughout the day (which isn't that difficult) I do make it a HIGH priority to not see one pt for both disciplines in the same day to avoid documenting issues. I suppose I can but I just don't. I do wear both hats every day at any time throughout the day. I also work in SNF setting, home health, and ALF.


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