Are you looking at a career in the healthcare sector but want to steer away from medicine (physician, nursing, physician assistant, etc.)? Why not consider a career as an occupational therapist (OT)?

Working as an occupational therapist allows you to help people improve their ability to live their day-to-day lives as normally as possible. A job as an OT will see you helping people who have experienced a mental, emotional, developmental or physical disability recover or keep the skills needed to get along in the physical world (dressing, bathing, eating, even working, etc.) And, while the idea is to help a person regain the ability to do something, another part of an OT’s job may be to teach someone how to use alternative skills.

Some of the different types of OT jobs:

1) If you enjoy working with children, consider a career as a pediatric OT. You’ll work with youngsters to help function with their disability in a classroom or social setting. You will work with children one-on-one, or in a group setting (with children who have similar challenges).

2) Our population isn’t getting any younger. Baby Boomers started turning 65 this year and it’s expected that the elderly population will have more than doubled in size from 2005 through 2050 (according to the Pew Research Center). So if you enjoy working with the elderly, you’ll more than likely be very much needed as our country ages. As an OT working with seniors, you’ll help individuals live independent lives for as long as possible. You also could see yourself working with individuals who have suffered a stroke or other age-related disabilities.

You could find yourself working in a nursing home, where OTs help residents regain the ability to live independently before returning home after an accident or illness. You also will be recommending what type of equipment, if any, your patient can use at home to help him or her in daily life (walkers, wheelchairs, handrails, etc.) as well as making the home safe (removing obstacles that could cause a slip and fall, for example).

3) You also could choose to take your OT skills and work with the mentally disabled. You’ll work with individuals with mental or emotional deficiencies to help them develop job skills or function better within society. You could help these patients become better at such “simple” tasks as time management, shopping, personal hygiene, budgeting and taking public transportation.

4) Many OTs enjoy working as a traveling OT, moving about the country or region to different hospitals and rehab facilities and working with a vast variety of patients. Some occupational therapists work as a travel therapist for a short time (a few months), while others make a career out of it.

If you’d like more information about travel occupational therapy jobs, contact Centra Healthcare Solutions. We’d love to discuss the benefits working as an OT brings you. We look forward to hearing from you!