Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The AOTA Assembly of Student Delegates Newsletter.
The AOTA Assembly of Student Delegates Newsletter.
Exploring Different Practice Areas A day in the Life Student Spotlight: SPin OT The Occupational Therapy Numbers
. .
Find Us
Student Conclave is one of the best venues to develop leadership, connections, and professional growth within your governing association, AOTA. As a soon-to-be practitioner, you have probably begun setting goals for your future. The 2013 AOTA/NBCOT National Student Conclave provides a terrific opportunity for you to learn tips to complete these goals.
. .
Find Us
Occupational Therapy:
Exploring the different practice areas
To maintain our status as a widely recognized profession we must develop and excel in each of these foundational areas of our practice.
. .
Find Us
. .
Find Us
. .
Find Us
As a level II student in a Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF), I learned quickly how fast paced this setting is. In a skilled nursing facility the Medicare patients have 100 days of stay, following a 3 day qualifying hospital stay, to return to or as close to their prior level of function in order to return home. So, typically each patient has an hour of occupational therapy and an hour of physical therapy per day, six days a week. There are many different diagnoses in a skilled nursing facility, but some of the most common are: general debility secondary to syncope and a fall, total hip or knee replacements, and stroke. In a SNF treatment includes preparatory methods, purposeful activities and occupation based activities. Some preparatory methods used are physical agent modalities, stretching and bio freeze. Examples of purposeful activities include: card sorting, clothespins, weight bars, dumbbells, Nustep, and arm bike. Occupationbased treatment includes all ADLs (showering, eating, feeding, dressing, hygiene and grooming, functional mobility including transfers, toileting) and some IADLs (mainly meal preparation).
. .
Find Us
6
. .
Find Us
. .
Find Us
If you want to learn more about these or other practice areas we encourage you to connect, facilitate, and pursue additional experience and mentorship.
. .
Find Us
Student Opportunities
Boardroom to Classroom
What is it? 1- hour long discussion connecting student groups to AOTAs Board of Directors Six topics to choose from: Advocacy in Occupational Therapy Importance of AOTA Membership Getting Involved in AOTA Current Factors Affecting Occupational Therapy Importance of Research and Evidence in the Profession Recent Successes of AOTA for Occupational Therapy How does it work? Contact the ASD Steering Committee OT Vice-Chairperson Kylie OConnell: asd@aota.org to set up a session
. .
Find Us
SPin OT is a
As our profession evolves we hope that SPin OT evolves with it and continues to reflect the unique perspectives of students from around the world. SPin OT
Fast Facts
WHY: Seeking more; more knowledge, more inspiration, more conversation, and more opportunities. WHAT: SPin OT is a website that offers students a way to publish their research and course projects to share with the world WHO: The students behind the creation of SPin OT are Dan BakerJud, Gina M. Bello, and Stacy Leggitt.
student projects.
. .
Find Us
Gina M. Bello spent five years in San Diego finishing her B.S in Cognitive Science and B.A
in Psychology before moving to the East Coast for Columbia's OT program. She worked as a museum studies research assistant, an early childhood interventionist, and a research assistant at UCSDs Interactive Cognition Lab and UCSDs Distributed Cognition and Human Interaction Lab. It was during her time working with children on the autism spectrum that she was introduced to occupational therapy. Inspired by the functional approach to therapy, she decided to apply to an MSOT program. Although she still maintains a love for the research world, Gina is postponing applying to a PhD program for a few years while she fulfills her love of making a direct influence on the lives of people living with mental and physical disabilities.
Stacy Leggitt is a non-traditional student, pursuing a second career after spending many years
in the corporate world. Volunteering with kids with developmental disabilities turned her onto the career of occupational therapy, and gave her the motivation to move on to a more fulfilling career. Now that she has been exposed to the variety of professional avenues for an occupational therapist, she cant tell you what populations or settings she will work in as there are too many that are appealing! Shes hoping to have more direction by the time she graduates in August 2014.
. .
Find Us
. .
Find Us
ASD: What kind of research do you accept? We accept articles, perspective pieces, research, and artistic submissions. All articles and research should be evidence based with references included.
ASD: Is student participation and article submission what you expected so far? The response and support of students, professors, and professionals to SPin OT has been very supportive and enthusiastic. We did not expect to receive the amount of traffic on the site and on our Facebook page that we have, especially from outside the US. Close to half of our Facebook traffic is international, primarily from the UK & Australia, but also from places like India, Nigeria, and Iran!
. .
Find Us
Professional Status: 86% of occupational therapy practitioners are OTs; the other 14% are OTAs. Gender: 91.6% of occupational therapy practitioners are females. Age: The median age of an OT practitioner is 42. Ethnic Background: The majority of OT practitioners identify as being Caucasian/White (88.2%) Educational Background: 47.4% of OTs report having a baccalaureate degree in the profession, followed closely by 46.6% reporting having a masters degree in OT. The vast majority of OTAs hold an associates degree at 91.2%.
Compensation:
Work Week: The majority, 84.8%, of OT practitioners work a full-time schedule (30+ hours per week) in their primary setting.
. .
Find Us
Salaries: The median annual salary for a full-time OT is $64,722; the median annual salary for a full-time OTA is $44,000.
Key Issues:
Things you need to know about our profession right now.
By Gail Fisher, AOTPAC Chair
1 2 3 4
Find Us
Occupational therapy was recently ranked by U.S. News as #7 on the list of "Best Healthcare Jobs" http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/occupationaltherapist
Hospitals will now be penalized if their Medicare patients have a high rate of hospital readmission and hospitalacquired conditions such as falls, pressure sores, deep vein thrombosis, and infections. OT has a role to play in helping hospitals improve their performance in this area. See the September AJOT for a Health Policy Perspectives article by Gail Fisher and Jen Friesema for more on this timely topic. 680 students participated in AOTA's Capital Hill Day on September 30, 2013. That was 90% of the 752 in attendance! ASD representatives were recognized during the opening remarks by AOTPAC chair Gail Fisher. Read more at http://www.aota.org/en/PublicationsNews/AOTANews/2013/HillDay-13.aspx
AOTPAC helps legislators get re-elected who support our causes. Hold a fundraiser for your SOTA club and share the proceeds with AOTPAC as part of the Student Challenge program. Each participating school gets a certificate at the ASD meeting in April, and is listed at the AOTPAC booth. Help guarantee that we have allies in Congress! http://www.aota.org/Advocacy-Policy/AOTPAC/AOTPACStudents_1.aspx
States are establishing essential health benefit plans under the Affordable Care Act/Obamacare which open January 1, 2014. All insurance plans on the state exchanges must include rehabilitation and habilitation benefits similar to the typical insurance plan in the state, thanks to AOTA's efforts. We must be vocal at the state level to make sure OT is covered adequately so access to our services will be there for those who need it. Join with your state OT association in this effort. Learn more at http://www.aota.org/Advocac y-Policy/Health-CareReform/Exchanges.aspx
. .
Who is AOTPAC? A voluntary, non-profit committee made of members of AOTA. It is the only PAC in the United States that focuses solely on advancing the interests of occupational therapy on capital hill. What does AOTPAC do? AOTPAC is a political action committee that supports occupational therapy practitioners and students at the national level. AOTPAC works with AOTA to support legislators who share our priorities, as well as working to get legislation introduced and passed that is beneficial to OT and our clients. AOTPAC relies on contributions from members of AOTA and student groups to operate. Why is AOTPAC important? Federal legislation directly affects how we will be able to practice occupational therapy in the future. It is important to have legislators that share similar goals and interests so that when legislation comes to congress that may affect us they can support us. How can you help AOTPAC? Host a fundraising event with your student OT/OTA association or group to support AOTPAC and keep our profession strong! All participating groups are recognized with a certificate and announced at the ASD meeting at conference. Fundraising ideas available at: http://www.aota.org/Students/ASD/38211.aspx Where can you find out more information? http://www.aota.org/Practitioners/Advocacy/AOTPAC/AOTPAC-Students_1.aspx
. .
Find Us
ASD Calendar
October 10/22 Prospective Student Chat @ 7:00PM EST
. .
Find Us