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Occupational Therapists

Also called: Certified Hand Therapist (CHT), Occupational Therapist (OT), Pediatric Occupational Therapist (Pediatric OT), Registered Occupational Therapist (OTR)

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What they do:
Assess, plan, and organize rehabilitative programs that help build or restore vocational, homemaking, and daily living skills, as well as general independence, to persons with disabilities or developmental delays. Use therapeutic techniques, adapt the individual's environment, teach skills, and modify specific tasks that present barriers to the individual.
On the job, you would:
  • Test and evaluate patients' physical and mental abilities and analyze medical data to determine realistic rehabilitation goals for patients.
  • Complete and maintain necessary records.
  • Plan, organize, and conduct occupational therapy programs in hospital, institutional, or community settings to help rehabilitate those impaired because of illness, injury or psychological or developmental problems.

Knowledge

Health
  • therapy and counseling
  • medicine and dentistry
Math and Science
  • psychology
  • biology
Business
  • customer service
Arts and Humanities
  • English language

Skills

Basic Skills
  • keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements
  • listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions
Social
  • looking for ways to help people
  • teaching people how to do something
People and Technology Systems
  • thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one
  • figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it

Abilities

Verbal
  • communicate by speaking
  • communicate by writing
Ideas and Logic
  • make general rules or come up with answers from lots of detailed information
  • notice when problems happen
Attention
  • pay attention to something without being distracted

Personality

People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking.
They do well at jobs that need:
  • Integrity
  • Dependability
  • Concern for Others
  • Cooperation
  • Self Control
  • Adaptability/Flexibility

Technology

You might use software like this on the job:

Word processing software
  • Crick Software Clicker 4
  • Microsoft Word Hot Technology
Computer based training software
  • Text reader software
  • Text to speech software
Medical software
  • Bizmatics PrognoCIS EMR
  • Lexrotech LxPediatric

Education

Education: (rated 5 of 5)
master's degree or
bachelor's degree
usually needed

Get started on your career:

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Job Outlook

Bright Outlook
New job opportunities are very likely in the future.
Salary
$85,570
$60,680
$123,840
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Explore More

See more details at O*NET OnLine about occupational therapists.