<p>sacchi, in addition to acute care hospitals you can also try nursing homes or assisted living facilities, your local school district who frequently contracts with agencies to supply PT,OT, ST’s, and local private practices. This would give your DD a better overview of the different settings an OT/PT can work in. I am a PT and through out my career have worked in an acute care hospital, private offices, rehab facilities, schools, day program for the developmentally disabled, and home care. I have had a lot of flexibility with good pay and still love what I do 25+ years later. I work with OT’s in home care and know they work in schools, private practices, can be hand specialists who make splints ect. There are a variety of sub-specialties that PT’s and OT’s can pursue including research and teaching in their fields. The educational requirements have gotten greater and harder especially for PT’s. I wonder when enough is enough but the schools sure do make out.</p>
<p>This reply is to sacchi who asked about observation hours. D is finishing up a DPT program. When she needed to find a place to get in the “observation hours” required for admission, she contacted (via email, then phone) the Rehabilitation Medicine department of a pediatric hospital in our area and arranged to observe during a summer she was home between sophomore/junior years in college. She was put in touch with the head of the PT side of things and everything was set up from there. She arranged it in the late winter for that coming summer. Her hours were during the day, and they were flexible so she could attend a couple of summer school classes. It turned out to be an inspiring experience and is directly responsible for her interest in specializing in pediatric physical therapy. </p>
<p>I think the observation hours requirement is an excellent way to get an up-close and personal look at how this profession works. And most importantly, it can help a potential graduate student be more sure of the choice before spending the big bucks for the degree.</p>
<p>sacchi: I would expect that if you called most any PT or OT setting and spoke directly to the rehab director/PT/OT/director rather than the hospital voluteer office most places would be willing to allow observation and would help get something set up I would suggest checking a variety of settings.</p>
<p>It is perfectly reasonable for you to ask the question of the difference of people in the field. I had the same dilemma when I was making my choice and at that time the education requirements were equal, there were just some different prerequesites. Oddly enough I made my choice for the wrong reasons but never regretted it. The differences are different in specific facilities and sometimes in my 30+ years of practice there have even been rivalries over who has which territory. I will tell you with lower functioning individuals, that is babies, small children and older folks in coma it is at times difficult to tell which therapy is which. In fact some early childhood programs have gone to call their PT’s and OT’s movement therapists and they are interchangable. In some facilities I have seen the differences delinieated as OT’s work with upper extremities and PT’s with Lower. Both are sufficiently educated to work with the whole body but OT’s will most often be most skilled with fine motor skills and hand function and PT’s with Lower extremity function and gait. There are however PT’s that have their entire practice revolve around hand therapy so again there really isn’t a distinct line. OT’s do have a specialization in psych facilities which PT does not have. I am a PT but I have been told by OT’s that I am part OT and that is probably because I am somewhat artistically oriented and enjoy working with materials which is in some settings less common for PT. I believe that if it is a difficult choice and if one does not gravitate to one or the other they should not worry. There are enough similarities in both fields that they are likely to be happy in either field.</p>
<p>spectrum2, thanks for that post. D wants to be an OT, she spent part of the spring of her senior year in hs observing an OT in an outpatient setting as part of her Senior Project, but even after that she was having trouble differentiating between OT and PT. She said she saw a lot of overlap. Basically, she went with OT because it seems to require less lab science than PT (not her strength) and more Psych (which is more her strength) and requires a 2 year MS instead of a 3 year DPT. She had originally thought she wanted to be a psychologist or counselor, and OT seems to be closer to that.</p>
<p>My son just graduated and will be attending ECC this fall. His plan was to transfer to WKU next year for their PT program. Then last night he informed us that he decided that he was going to EKU for their OT program instead. We were getting ready to go out of town so I didn’t have the chance to talk to him about it but I’m afraid that this change is because two of his friends are going there. I know having friends at this time makes things easier and also helps with housing costs but as his parent I want him to do what’s best for his future. He played basketball all through school and is very athletic and talked about doing something in sports med. My question to you is what are the pros and cons for PT and OT? And is there a website that can help him decide? It would be great if you could e mail me.
Thank you</p>
<p>I am a ST ( SLP) who has spent 25 years working with PTs and OTs. I have worked in hospitals, nursing homes, rehab centers, schools ( pre-k through middle school), private practice, early intervention and preschool special ed alongside these therapists. My job changed depending on my family situation ie: I spent 15+ years doing home care for EI/ preschool special Ed when my kids were little because of the flexibility. Unfortunately there have been major cutbacks over the past few years in EI/ preschool special Ed home care and getting work in PT/ OT / ST has been challenging, at least in my state. My OT and PT friends currently work in schools ( contract work) and private practice. I was fortunate enough to land a school job a few years ago but have recently signed on with some home care agencies with the hope of getting one or two EI cases. The rate of pay continues to go down but is still decent ( they like to balance state budgets by reducing ei, unfortunately… But that’s another issue). My friend’s daughter just graduated from PT school and had 4 job offers within a week. You really need to see where your interests lie and let that guide you.</p>
<p>My PT is more like a massage therapist, only my insurance will pay for physical therapy but it won’t for a lmt.
She earned her liscense right before it went to a DPT.
To be a liscensed massage therapist can take as little as 600 hours, I think in our state, although many have much more.</p>
<p>I would agree with other posters that there is some overlap.
The therapist that walked me around the halls in the hospital was an OT.</p>
<p>I am a PT with 30 years experience in various settings - hospital, outpatient, preschool, and school system. The flexibility and wide choice of work options is one of the things that first helped me to choose PT as a career. After all these years there has never been a shortage of work in my area of the country (northeast). In fact, I still frequently get letters and cold calls from agencies looking to hire full or part-time therapists. I agree that the best thing to do would be to shadow therapists in as many varied settings as possible to determine the best fit. There are definitely aspects of each job that are better suited to different personalities, despite the overlap. Good luck! I am lucky to have found a job I still enjoy after all these years!</p>
<p>I work at a preschool. We have OT’s coming to work with kids there on a regular basis.</p>
<p>^ I agree that there are many jobs available, but one area that has declining job opportunities is early intervention home care ( this is true in my northeast state, but maybe not all states). It is much harder to qualify for services, the pay rate has gone down and is now lower than it was when I first began over 15 years ago, and your pay check does not come on a regular basis. PTs/ OTs/ST/Special educators etc who do EI in my state are still waiting for their April pay checks. When the economy tanked I went without pay for four months- this is why I now work in a school. That being said, I agree with you 100% that there are many job opportunities in the field. I also continue to get cold calls and postcards in the mail, primary from rehab facilities.</p>
<p>A friend’s daughter who prior to beginning her UG studies was intent on becoming either an OT or PT. She began in a pre-PT program, but was so excited by some of her pre-req. classes in speech disorders, that she declared as a BS in Communications Disorders and Sciences and will go on to an MS in Speech-Language Pathology.
She says that the market for geriatric audiologist is booming, but she hopes to work with autistic children and language processing.</p>
<p>Geriatric audiology is booming, but now you need a doctorate to become an audiologist. Working with autistic children as a SLP is another area that is booming.</p>
<p>Daisy, I’m not really sure what ECC, WKU and EKU are, I’m assuming different schools. I’m also a little confused about your post because you cannot just decide to go to one school or another. These programs are highly competitive and you need to get accepted into them. As I and others have mentioned there is a lot of overlap between the two. The part about your post that would concern me about your son going into OT is your mention of his interest in sports medicine. I don’t know if there are any OT’s out there who could correct me but my experience has been that work with athletes and athletic injuries is most often done by a PT or athletic trainer. Also while it is not a firm rule my experience tells me that there are many more PT private practices than OT. For many aspects of the field there is a lot of overlap but if either of these two areas are a draw I would suggest exploring the work options for OT’s in these areas. At least for now, unless I blinked and it changed, getting a degree in OT will take less time and that can be important to some students. Most students either PT or OT apply to multiple schools and are excited to get into one of them.</p>
<p>Spectrum, I figured out a portion of Daisy’s post regarding schools. Her son will attend a community college in the fall, but I’m not sure which one. He originally planned to transfer to Western Kentucky University for their pre-PT program, but now decided to transfer to Eastern Kentucky University for a BS in OT.</p>
<p>ETA: I just realized this thread was 3 years old before Daisy posted her message.</p>
<p>Where I live there are several OT private practices- I currently work on and off for one. The practice that I work for specializes in hand therapy. The other practices specialize in children having sensory processing issues. I tend to agree that if you want to work with athletic injuries you should go the PT route, but I suppose there are exceptions. I know of at least two SUNYs that have the 5 year OT program - SUNY Buffalo and Oswego. It takes longer to become a PT. My friend’s daughter went to UDel and then a 3 year PT program at Rutgers and is now studying for her boards.</p>
<p>Bunhead yes I just realized as well that this thread is 3 years old!!</p>
I just came across this thread and I’m in a similar situation with my daughter. She is going to be a senior in HS this year and was set on being an occupational therapist, but now she feels confused and doesn’t know. I’ve recommended that she talk to people in the field and take a look at some career options. We’ve checked out Progressus Therapy (http://www.progressustherapy.com/browse-jobs/occupational-therapy) because they specialize in school based therapy. Have your daughter talk to professionals at your doctor’s office to see if she’s still interested. I just make sure I reassure my daughter that it’s okay to not know right now, that a career decision will just come to her when the time is right.
ThE OP started this thread in 2010. That student would be well into any college program she starts…maybe even close to being done.
thumper1, I guess despite others realizing they’re on an old thread a few years ago, I found myself in the same situation.
This has been helpful and I’ll have to pay better attention next time. Thanks.