Lab Instructor

Career Denominated:

Occupational Therapy (OT) is a skilled rehabilitation service that helps people across the lifespan participate in the things they want and need to do through the therapeutic use of everyday activities.

Career Overview:

Occupational therapy defined as the therapeutic use of everyday life activities (occupations) with individuals or groups for the purpose of enhancing or enabling participation in roles habits and routines in home school workplace community and other settings. It is a therapy based on engagement in meaningful activities of daily life (such as selfcare skills education work or social interaction) especially to enable or encourage participation in such activities despite impairments or limitations in physical or mental functioning.

Occupational therapy practitioners have specialized training in the physical social psychological neurological and cognitive aspects of human performance. They also have expertise related to the social cultural and physical environment and how its interaction with human performance can maximize selfconfidence selfesteem independence and quality of life.

Occupational therapy services are provided for habilitation rehabilitation and promotion of health and wellness for clients of any age groups with disability and nondisability related needs. These services include acquisition and preservation of occupational identity for those who have or are at risk for developing an illness injury disease disorder condition impairment disability activity limitation or participation restriction.

Career Responsibilities and Duties:

Occupational therapy practitioners use their knowledge of the transactional relationship among the person his or her engagement in valuable occupations and the context to design occupationbased intervention plans that facilitate change or growth in client factors(body functions body structures values beliefs and spirituality) and interaction needed for successful participation and thus enable engagement through adaptations and modifications to the environment or objects within the environment when needed.

Occupational therapists typically do the followings:

Observe patients doing tasks ask them questions and review their medical history.

Evaluate a patients condition and needs.

Develop a treatment plan for patients laying out the types of activities and specific goals to be accomplished.

Evaluate a patient s environment based on the patient s health needs identify potential improvements to applied modify on environment to be more accessible.

Educate a patient s family and employer about how to accommodate and care for the patient.

Recommend mobility aids for people with disability to be more independence on transfer from place to another such as wheelchair cane walker and crutches with training on how can use it as well as provide gait training refers to assisting a patient to relearn to walk safely and efficiently.

Reevaluate client after finish of the intervention plan to identify progressive and to develop the intervention plan.

Assess and record patients activities and progress for patient evaluations for billing and for reporting to physicians physical therapist orthosis and prostheses specialist speech and language pathologist audiologist and other healthcare providers.

Occupational therapists show patients how to use appropriate adaptive equipment such as universal cuff reacher that help patients to perform a number of daily tasks allowing them to function more independently.

Provide early intervention therapy to infants and toddlers who have or are at risk of having developmental problems.

Occupational therapists who work with the elderly help their patients lead more independent and active lives. They assess patients abilities and environment and make recommendations. For example therapists may identify potential fall hazards in a patient s home and recommend their removal.

Occupational therapists help patients create functional work environments. They evaluate the workspace plan work activities and meet with the patient s employer to collaborate on changes to the patient s work environment or schedule.

Occupational therapists also can work in mental health settings where they help patients who suffer from developmental disability mental illness or emotional problems.

Occupational therapists also can work with individuals who have problems with drug abuse alcoholism or other disorders.

Requirements

Occupational therapists are skilled health care professionals who use research and scientific evidence to ensure their interventions are effective.

Lab instructor typically should have but not limited to the following skills:

Creativity/ Innovation/ Learning Ability.

Problem solving skills/ Leadership skills.

Initiative/ Reliability/Job Knowledge.

Coaching/ Teaching/ Events organization skills/ Workshop making.

Productivity/ Quantity and Quality of Work.

Punctuality and Attendance.

Able to work with different mentalities using effective communication skills.

Competent and hard working.