Any career in medicine or the sciences is a noble profession. It allows you to assist people who need it the most, as well as bring you incredible career prospects. There are many jobs in this industry. You will find more information on the sciences if you read a little more about Brad Schaeffer MedComp Sciences.
However, the role of an occupational therapist encapsulates many areas of medicine, and assists people to get back to their former life. It gives them confidence and better health as they continue their journey to recovery. The occupation of occupational therapist is a very diverse profession – not only because you can work in such different places of work, but also because every day is different from the previous one.
Working with people
In all professions in which you have a lot to do with people, you should be flexible, empathetic, open-minded and patient. The well-being of your patients is very important to you and their health is your goal. You will develop an individual treatment plan for each patient. In addition, you get to know the patients better in conversation, listen to their wishes and ideas, but also their fears and worries. You use movements to observe their deficits. You will determine if they are physical, or use exercises, for example memory training or tasks. This will test orientation and concentration. You can assist them with mental illnesses, development deficits or disorders of social behavior. If you work in a clinic, you work in close contact with doctors and other therapists. As a team, you develop an individually tailored therapy concept for each patient.
Biological-medical expertise
The medical specialties in which you will work as a future occupational therapist are:
- Neurology: For example, you treat patients after a stroke and train them with simple everyday movements. Many people have to relearn due to a temporary failure of the brain’s musculoskeletal system. You will also endeavor step by step to reintegrate your patients into everyday working life.
- Psychiatry: You work with people who suffer from mental illnesses in a playful way. To help them perceive others and yourself and train social-emotional skills. These may have been lost or are less pronounced in children with developmental delays.
- Geriatrics: You also treat aging people. For example, you can arrange activities in old people’s homes. These can be those that stimulate movement in order to maintain everyday skills or memory training to prevent dementia.
- Pediatrics: You also treat children, for example with developmental deficits in the sequence of movements (motor skills). Or, for example, with neurological disorders such as ADHD. You support school children in planning their everyday school life. You are in close contact with the parents and give tips on how to cope with everyday activities. Through targeted training of fine motor skills, for example, the child learns to write cleanly and legibly.
- Orthopedics and rheumatology: In the event of paralysis or amputations, you train with patients to perform movement sequences. Also, for example, to do without body parts by having other body parts take over these functions.