And every penny counts! Rent other than student loans is going to be your biggest expense. Try living with a roommate for a while to save some cash and keep living like you are still in grad school. Avoid any extravagant purchases and keep it simple. The last thing you want now is credit card debt or a car loan to pay on every month. Definitely more common in the physical therapy world, cash-based practice is taking over the rehab industry.
It certainly has potential! Cash pay could be used in the outpatient hands setting. It could also really make a difference in pediatrics. We often work with families that do not have insurance, or their insurance does not cover occupational therapy services.
Now all you have to do is charge a simple, flat rate fee for every time they walk into the door. The easiest way to get rich is to slowly let your money work for you. Always invest enough in your employer's benefits to receive a matching contribution. You can also check out an investment plan outside of work. You can purchase these from various servicers.
Be sure an talk to a Certified Personal Accountant on what is most beneficial for you and your particular situation. Be patient: the biggest factor for reimbursement is years of experience.
It is certainly possible to have a comfortable lifestyle as an occupational therapist. Paying off that debt requires smart budgeting and a lot of discipline. If you're looking to refinance, we heartily recommend that you check out Credible. In a nutshell, Credible is a free service that lets you compare prequalified student loan refinancing rates from up to 10 lenders without affecting your credit score.
Click here to compare rates. Search our healthcare job database to find the. We're the prescription to all your healthcare staffing needs, recruiting medical professionals and providing staffing services nationwide.
Log In Create a Profile. Join Now Join our talent community to learn more about travel nursing, travel allied, Locum Tenens, and permanent opportunities in your area. Search Healthcare Jobs Have a specific location in mind? Sign up for our newsletter:. Looking for a job? In this article, you will learn about The highest paying settings How to get bonuses and paid overtime Travel therapy and where the high paying locations are How to specialize How to save and invest Work in a SNF or Home Health These are some of the highest paid settings for occupational therapists.
What is important to you? Work weekends As I mentioned above, many facilities are understaffed and this staffing issue is magnified on the weekends! Sign up to do travel therapy Traveling as an occupational therapist is the ideal situation for a new grad OT. Move to a rural location Oftentimes, the larger cities are more popular and have more OT schools which can result in an OT-saturated market. Avoid salaried positions Similar to number 2, salaried can often mean working over 40 hours a week.
Specialize If you really focus your time and energy and passion you can specialize in an aspect of occupational therapy. The last year it did so was However, the findings reveal that experience is a big factor in how much you can earn as an OT. The BLS does collect data fairly regularly, so you can usually find accurate data from within the last two years or so. So I decided to include it in our calculation. Glassdoor is a reputable career platform where job seekers can learn about various companies, read and write reviews for facilities, research interview questions for specific jobs and organizations, and search for jobs.
This website is a standout because you can sort the data by years of experience, job type, state, education level, etc. The best way to use it is to download the information so you can sort it yourself! According to OTSalary. Personally, I recommend that you pay close attention to the data yielded by PayScale. This site is one of the earliest salary-oriented websites, and it pioneered the use of big data and unique matching algorithms to clarify the waters in the compensation world.
Please note PayScale gives lower median annual salaries for full-time OT practitioners, but the salaries are calculated based on respondents to a PayScale survey, which I assume is a smaller pool. What is particularly helpful on this page is an overview of salaries from some of the big employers like Rehab Care, Aegis, Fox Rehab, etc.
And this is across the board, not just for occupational therapy, so I recommend you take this number with a rather large grain of salt. According to Salary.
I do like that the site gives a clear caveat, noting that pay rates can vary widely based on things like education, certifications, additional skills, and years of experience in the profession. I checked UpDocMedia, a website known in the PT world for having very accurate data about physical therapy salaries in its Pulse publication.
The Pulse has a more modest representation of pay for OTs, but its numbers are most definitely in line with the findings of other sites.
You can contribute your own salary information to UpDocMedia by using this form. Keep in mind that your salary as an OT is only part of the big financial picture. What might feel like a lot of money to someone with no debt might feel like very little when you have over k in loans to pay back.
Depending on where you work, the setting you choose, the patient population you treat, the hours and days you work, and how much you negotiate, you can make wildly different salaries. Keep in mind that patient population and their respective payers will also factor in; for example, Medicare reimbursements rates tend to be higher than Medicaid rates. While this data was harder to pin down, I have heard anecdotally that settings such as mental health and adult day care tend to offer the lowest compensation.
We were able to manually extract data from BLS spanning the last 21 years. Incidentally, you can see that the data is a bit all over the map. Salaries initially climbed a bit, then tanked around , then climbed again, had a brief dip, and then continued to climb. However, if you consider the increase in terms of inflation, there has not been significant growth.
As with OT salaries, we created an average of the available data from the following sources:. The APTA is the professional organization for physical therapy practitioners. Salaries vary based on position, years of experience, degree of education, geographic location, and practice setting.
Thus, I highly recommend that you pursue the profession that appeals to you the most, especially since factors like educational level, geographic location, and experience level can also impact your earning potential. One of the reasons you might have come upon this article was to make more money. There are plenty of ways to increase your earning potential as an OT.
Generally speaking, SNF skilled nursing facility and HHOT home health occupational therapy settings pay higher than schools and hospitals. In May , the median annual wages for occupational therapists in the top industries in which they worked were as follows:.
However, most hospitals tend to base it more on experience. You might be able to negotiate with smaller facilities. In the NHS you'll typically work a In private practice, you may work evenings and weekends to suit client needs. In order to register, you must successfully complete an HCPC-approved pre-registration occupational therapy programme at either undergraduate or postgraduate level. Search the list of HCPC-approved programmes.
A full-time BSc in occupational therapy lasts three years four years in Scotland , although part-time programmes lasting around four years are available at some institutions, usually requiring two days a week at university. If you've got a relevant degree and some healthcare experience, you may be eligible for a two-year accelerated postgraduate programme leading to either a postgraduate diploma in occupational therapy or an MSc in occupational therapy pre-registration.
Check individual course providers for entry requirements. Programmes combine both academic and practical elements. You'll spend a minimum of 1, hours on practice placements and will gain experience in the main areas of occupational therapy, and how to assess and treat patients.
Another option is to take a degree-level apprenticeship in occupational therapy. Training is delivered by a number of universities in collaboration with partner organisations such as the NHS, social care organisations and other small and medium-sized companies. See the RCOT website for details. Entry without a degree is possible at occupational therapy or rehabilitation assistant, technician or support worker level.
It may be possible to progress to become an occupational therapist through undertaking an approved in-service BSc in occupational therapy with the support of your employer. You don't have to pay it back and are still able to access funding for tuition and maintenance loans from the Student Loans Company. For more information, see Health Careers. You're advised to visit an occupational therapy unit, within a hospital or social services, to gain an understanding of the profession before applying for a course.
Contact your local hospital or local government social services department for more information on how to arrange a visit. Work shadowing a qualified occupational therapist will provide an insight into the role. You could also try speaking to occupational therapists working in residential homes, homeless shelters or charities. Experience of working in health, social care or a related area is also beneficial. Experience of working in health, social care, charity or a related area in either a paid or voluntary role is also beneficial.
Relevant work experience is helpful in securing posts in more competitive areas of occupational therapy, such as paediatrics. Find out more about the different kinds of work experience and internships that are available. Within the NHS, some bigger hospitals with regional specialist departments may have dozens of occupational therapists. Smaller trusts or local authority departments may only employ a handful of occupational therapists.
Occupational therapists in local government work in social services units and in the community, visiting people at home to assess their needs for independence and care. Specialist recruitment agencies such as JustOT also handle vacancies. As a newly qualified occupational therapist, you can access a variety of in-house training opportunities to enhance your skills and knowledge.
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