Occupational Therapy Jobs- What does an OT do?
Occupational therapists help patients with disabling physical, mental, emotional, and developmental conditions. They care for people who are overcoming everything from strokes and spinal cord injuries to attention deficit disorder and muscular dystrophy. The ultimate goal for an occupational therapist is to help their patients recover or develop and maintain their daily living and work skills so they can have productive, independent, and satisfying lives. Occupational therapists help patients compensate for the loss of functions and improve reasoning, perceptual abilities, and motor skills for recently disabled individuals. OTs can specialize and work exclusively with certain age groups or specific disabilities. Different areas of focus include mental health, alcoholism, eating disorders, drug abuse, industry-specific injury, and pain management.

Experienced therapists are familiar with a wide range of activities that will be utilized throughout the course of a patient’s recovery. For example, manual art projects may be used for coordination problems or practical activities such as gardening can be used to increase strength and agility. Therapies may include facilitating the use of the hands, encouraging skills for listening and following directions, fostering social play skills, or retraining dressing and grooming skills. Occupational therapists teach patients how to control and maneuver adaptive equipment such as splints, wheelchairs, and other devices that allow those with limitations to maintain a measure of control over their environment.

Occupational therapy jobs allow a trained therapist to work with the patient to assess the home for risks and to identify environmental factors that contribute to accidents. Assessing and recording a patient’s activities and development is a vital part of an occupational therapist’s job. Accurate records are critical for evaluating patients, for billing purposes, and for reporting to physicians and other health care providers.