Job Profile:      Acute Care Occupational Therapy Assistant


Assist occupational therapists in providing occupational therapy treatments and procedures. May, in accordance with state laws, assist in development of treatment plans, carry out routine functions, direct activity programs, and document the progress of treatments. Generally requires formal training.

31-2011
Job Information
   
   
69,320 88,860 118,530

Select Tasks
Maintain and promote a positive attitude toward clients and their treatment programs. Monitor patients' performance in therapy activities, providing encouragement. Select therapy activities to fit patients' needs and capabilities.
Instruct, or assist in instructing, patients and families in home programs, basic living skills, or the care and use of adaptive equipment. Evaluate the daily living skills or capacities of physically, developmentally, or emotionally disabled clients. Aid patients in dressing and grooming themselves.
Implement, or assist occupational therapists with implementing, treatment plans designed to help clients function independently. Report to supervisors, verbally or in writing, on patients' progress, attitudes, and behavior. Alter treatment programs to obtain better results if treatment is not having the intended effect.
Work under the direction of occupational therapists to plan, implement, or administer educational, vocational, or recreational programs that restore or enhance performance in individuals with functional impairments. Design, fabricate, or repair assistive devices or make adaptive changes to equipment or environments. Assemble, clean, or maintain equipment or materials for patient use.
Teach patients how to deal constructively with their emotions. Perform clerical duties, such as scheduling appointments, collecting data, or documenting health insurance billings. Transport patients to and from the occupational therapy work area.
Demonstrate therapy techniques, such as manual or creative arts or games. Order any needed educational or treatment supplies. Assist educational specialists or clinical psychologists in administering situational or diagnostic tests to measure client's abilities or progress.
Communicate and collaborate with other healthcare professionals involved with the care of a patient. Attend continuing education classes. Attend care plan meetings to review patient progress and update care plans.





Select Abilities
The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing. The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand. The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.
The ability to come up with a number of ideas about a topic (the number of ideas is important, not their quality, correctness, or creativity). The ability to come up with unusual or clever ideas about a given topic or situation, or to develop creative ways to solve a problem. The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense. The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events). The ability to arrange things or actions in a certain order or pattern according to a specific rule or set of rules (e.g., patterns of numbers, letters, words, pictures, mathematical operations).
The ability to generate or use different sets of rules for combining or grouping things in different ways. The ability to choose the right mathematical methods or formulas to solve a problem. The ability to add, subtract, multiply, or divide quickly and correctly.
The ability to remember information such as words, numbers, pictures, and procedures. The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns. The ability to identify or detect a known pattern (a figure, object, word, or sound) that is hidden in other distracting material.
The ability to quickly and accurately compare similarities and differences among sets of letters, numbers, objects, pictures, or patterns. The things to be compared may be presented at the same time or one after the other. This ability also includes comparing a presented object with a remembered object. The ability to know your location in relation to the environment or to know where other objects are in relation to you. The ability to imagine how something will look after it is moved around or when its parts are moved or rearranged.
The ability to concentrate on a task over a period of time without being distracted. The ability to shift back and forth between two or more activities or sources of information (such as speech, sounds, touch, or other sources). The ability to keep your hand and arm steady while moving your arm or while holding your arm and hand in one position.
The ability to quickly move your hand, your hand together with your arm, or your two hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble objects. The ability to make precisely coordinated movements of the fingers of one or both hands to grasp, manipulate, or assemble very small objects. The ability to quickly and repeatedly adjust the controls of a machine or a vehicle to exact positions.
The ability to coordinate two or more limbs (for example, two arms, two legs, or one leg and one arm) while sitting, standing, or lying down. It does not involve performing the activities while the whole body is in motion. The ability to choose quickly between two or more movements in response to two or more different signals (lights, sounds, pictures). It includes the speed with which the correct response is started with the hand, foot, or other body part. The ability to time your movements or the movement of a piece of equipment in anticipation of changes in the speed and/or direction of a moving object or scene.
The ability to quickly respond (with the hand, finger, or foot) to a signal (sound, light, picture) when it appears. The ability to make fast, simple, repeated movements of the fingers, hands, and wrists. The ability to quickly move the arms and legs.
The ability to exert maximum muscle force to lift, push, pull, or carry objects. The ability to use short bursts of muscle force to propel oneself (as in jumping or sprinting), or to throw an object. The ability to exert muscle force repeatedly or continuously over time. This involves muscular endurance and resistance to muscle fatigue.
The ability to use your abdominal and lower back muscles to support part of the body repeatedly or continuously over time without 'giving out' or fatiguing. The ability to exert yourself physically over long periods of time without getting winded or out of breath. The ability to bend, stretch, twist, or reach with your body, arms, and/or legs.
The ability to quickly and repeatedly bend, stretch, twist, or reach out with your body, arms, and/or legs. The ability to coordinate the movement of your arms, legs, and torso together when the whole body is in motion. The ability to keep or regain your body balance or stay upright when in an unstable position.
The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer). The ability to see details at a distance. The ability to match or detect differences between colors, including shades of color and brightness.
The ability to see under low light conditions. The ability to see objects or movement of objects to one's side when the eyes are looking ahead. The ability to judge which of several objects is closer or farther away from you, or to judge the distance between you and an object.
The ability to see objects in the presence of glare or bright lighting. The ability to detect or tell the differences between sounds that vary in pitch and loudness. The ability to focus on a single source of sound in the presence of other distracting sounds.
The ability to tell the direction from which a sound originated. The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person. The ability to speak clearly so others can understand you.




Tools Used
Arm braces Augmentative communication systems Automatic dishwashing systems
Back braces Balance boards Beading needles
Braille writers C clamps Canes
Ceramic modeling tools Ceramics kilns Cold packs
Commercial cooking ovens Commercial microwave ovens Communication boards
Compression devices Compressive garments Continuous passive motion CPM equipment
Crochet hooks Crutches Desktop computers
Dynamometers Gait belts Glue guns
Goniometers Hammers Hand drills
Headpointers Heat guns Hydraulic lifts
Hydrotherapy equipment Industrial clothes dryers Joy sticks
Knitting needles Lacing needles Laser facsimile machines
Latch hooks Leather scissors Light commercial washing machines
Lower extremity braces Macrame boards Mechanical stethoscopes
Metal shears Metalsmith molds Mini punch sets
Mini screwdriver sets Mouthsticks Multi-purpose saw sets
Needlenose pliers Notebook computers Optical pointers
Orthotic devices Page turners Patient positioning devices
Personal computers Photocopying equipment Power hand sanders
Precision knives Protective gowns Punching awls
Rasps Rawhide mallets Reflex hammers
Rivet setters Rotary punches Safety gloves
Safety goggles Sewing needles Sliding boards
Slings Slip joint pliers Slip mixers
Sphygmomanometers Squares Stretchers
Surgical masks T squares Tablet computers
Talking word processor software Therapeutic hot packs Trackpads
Transfer belts Treatment tables Triangles
Vises Walkers Wheelchairs
Wing dividers Wire cutters Wood burners
Wood chisels Word prediction software Writing support software

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