An occupational therapist helps the clients to achieve a satisfied state in life. They design some purposeful activity or interventions to promote health, prevent injury or disability. They work with clients on a one-to-one basis and they design treatment programmers to suit each person's needs and lifestyle. The work could include programs like teaching an older patient recovering from a stroke how to dress, encouraging someone suffering from depression to take up a hobby or activity which they enjoyed earlier, helping clients adjust to permanent disabilities, etc.

Career Roles & Responsibilities

• Review patients’ medical history, ask the patients questions, and observe them doing tasks.
• Evaluate a patient’s condition and needs
• Develop a treatment plan for patients, identifying specific goals and the types of activities that will be used to help the patient work toward those goals
• Help people with various disabilities perform different tasks, such as teaching a stroke victim how to get dressed
• Demonstrate exercises—for example, stretching the joints for arthritis relief—that can help relieve pain in people with chronic conditions
• Evaluate a patient’s home or workplace and, based on the patient’s health needs, identify potential improvements, such as labeling kitchen cabinets for an older person with poor memory
• Educate a patient’s family and employer about how to accommodate and care for the patient
• Recommend special equipment, such as wheelchairs and eating aids, and instruct patients on how to use that equipment
• Assess and record patients’ activities and progress for patient evaluations, for billing, and for reporting to physicians and other healthcare providers

Career Education Path Summary

How to Become an Occupational Therapist

Important Facts

• Most colleges have eligibility criteria of a minimum of 50% aggregate marks in Class XII / and some of a minimum 60%.
• Must have passed class 12thor senior secondary examination with at least 50% marks including English.
• Some colleges/ universities also have an age limit (17 on 31st December of the year of admission).

 Leading Institutes

Top Occupational Therapy Institutes in India

Top Occupational Therapy Institutes in the World