Salary and Outlook
According to the US Department of Labor, there are 133,900 people employed as occupational therapists in
the United States.
The median annual salary is $85,570.
Entry level employees earn approximately $60,680 per year and senior employees earn approximately $123,840
per year.
Estimates do not include other potential benefits such as health insurance, overtime, or retirement benefits that may be offered by employers.
Job Duties
- Lay out materials such as puzzles, scissors and eating utensils for use in therapy, and clean and repair these tools after therapy sessions.
- Consult with rehabilitation team to select activity programs or coordinate occupational therapy with other therapeutic activities.
- Design and create, or requisition, special supplies and equipment, such as splints, braces, and computer-aided adaptive equipment.
- Recommend changes in patients' work or living environments, consistent with their needs and capabilities.
- Develop and participate in health promotion programs, group activities, or discussions to promote client health, facilitate social adjustment, alleviate stress, and prevent physical or mental disability.
- Provide training and supervision in therapy techniques and objectives for students or nurses and other medical staff.
- Help clients improve decision making, abstract reasoning, memory, sequencing, coordination, and perceptual skills, using computer programs.
- Conduct research in occupational therapy.
- Advise on health risks in the workplace or on health-related transition to retirement.
- Provide patients with assistance in locating or holding jobs.
- 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.
- Plan and implement programs and social activities to help patients learn work or school skills and adjust to handicaps.
- Select activities that will help individuals learn work and life-management skills within limits of their mental or physical capabilities.
- Evaluate patients' progress and prepare reports that detail progress.
- Train caregivers in providing for the needs of a patient during and after therapy.