Occupational Therapy Assistant Salary

Medical careers have always been very grateful to people who have opted for it. The field of medicine not only gives you a good career opportunity but also a great salary package which is good enough to make your family live a comfortable life. An additional advantage of medical jobs is the feeling of personal satisfaction, which comes to you when you help out people who are in need. It's the people of the health care that make sure you are healthy and living a better life. In this article we discuss the salary of an occupational therapy assistant. However, first let's learn something about occupational therapy

Occupational therapy is one of the most recommended and effective therapy treatments which are provided to people with emotional or mental disorders. Occupational therapy is basically given to people who feel a mental block in expressing themselves emotionally or physically. Most of us believe that it's only for adults but it's also very helpful for kids teaching them to live independently. A child's main concern is playing and performing well at school activities and occupational therapy for children helps you to do just that. So let's learn something more about job description and about certified occupational therapy assistant salary.

Job Description

Occupational therapy assistants work right under professional occupational therapists. They assist the therapist to provide reconstructible services to people who have faced with some mental, physical or emotional trauma. Patients opt for physical therapy with just one goal; improvement in their occupational health. For instance; an occupational therapy assistant will help an injured boy's hand and teach him again how to throw a ball or how to hold a bat by improving his gross motor skills with the help of occupational therapy exercises. They also help individuals with learning disabilities to learn some basic skills. Occupational therapy assistants work with all kinds of patients. Most of them work with the elderly who have developed physical problems with their old age. They use different types of procedures and equipment to perform their daily tasks. They treat patients by using massage, exercises, taking them out in fresh air and going for long walks with them. They also keep medical records and patient history in order for future references.

Education

You require an associate degree or a certificate from an accredited college or medical school which offers courses in occupational therapy. Assistants receive their full training on the job once they get placed. In the first year of education they learn basic things about medicine, their terminologies, anatomy and physiology. The second year gets a little tough when you learn more about medicine and human body and its disabilities. Students who want to build careers in occupational therapy are required to complete a 16 week of field work in a clinic. To make sure that you get placed in reputed hospitals and big clinics, it's recommended you get good grades and also have good interpersonal and communication skills.

Salary

The pay package usually depends upon the number years you have worked, your education and your grades. Mostly occupational therapy assistants are paid on hourly basis. Your pay structure also depends on the work place. The salary of an occupational therapy assistant working in a hospital will obviously be more than an assistant working in the clinic. According to information from the Labor Department, the salary range starts from USD 40,541 to USD 57,000 annually.

Needless to say that the career of an occupational therapy assistant is bright and lucrative. In coming years there's going to be requirement of more than 10,000 occupational therapy assistants, with these reports it's very clear that occupational therapy assistant salary is going to increase in the near future.