There are various accredited programs available online for the licensed practitioner of physical and occupational therapy. These degrees are a must for those who want to give a new height to their profession. Various degrees that can be earned from these sites are the Advanced Master of Science in Occupational Therapy Studies (AMOT) and the Transitional Doctorate of Physical Therapy (TDPT).
The basic advantage with these online degree is that is provides a lot of flexibility to the student. This convenient format of online education is the main reason behind its popularity. The key advantages are mentioned below:
- Tremendous flexibility in schedules depending on your preference
- A significant interaction between the master and his student
- Pace depends on the grasping power of the peer
- Larger number of students can be accommodated as compared to the typical classroom
- Time and expense of commutation are also reduced by a significant amount.
The current experience of those physical and occupational therapists who are working can be served as the prerequisites of the course. This course is mainly designed to improve the insight and the thinking power that can be used in clinics, as well as it helps in the strengthening the basics. One more advantage associated with this type of course is that the cohorts who are well established therapists also share their valuable experience. This is a good technique to increase the knowledge of the new and inexperienced generation. Not only this, the valuable case dealt by one of the batch mates is shared by all of them resulting in the enhancement of the experience of the entire batch. This boosts up the confidence work in various environments.
All the Physical and Occupational Therapy degrees can be explored below and if detailed information is desired for any particular course, then one must contact the particular college or university. Those universities will provide a detailed explanation of the entire program that they offer. There is an additional facility of counseling that will help you to decide which among this program is best suited for you.
Those who have a keen interest in various physical activities and sports, find the career in physical therapy a very appealing job to do. This is the perfect job for those who survived the most dangerous accidents but became physically disable for their entire life. But they are required to have strong interpersonal as well as communication skills, and their academic skills should be strong enough to deal with this job.
The basic job of physical therapists is to improve the status of the disabled body parts of patients. The processes applied by them are surgery, improving mobility, and relieving pain. Physical therapists also deal with patients who are suffering from chronic and acute injuries as well as diseases such as pain in the lower portion of their back, arthritis, and cerebral palsy, which helps in the prevention of the occurrence of various physical disabilities as well as in limiting the devastating effects of this kind of disabilities. They also deal with heart patients with heart disease or any other disease which cause the joint or muscles pain which can be treated by this physical therapy. This pain in case of any healthy patient is suppressed by pain killers or anti-inflammatory techniques.
The course of this program is mainly divided into two parts. The earlier one deals with the refreshment of the basics. It is for the freshman or with the concept of all vital information required in the latter stage. This is what the second one is basically based on. The basic topics covered in this course are anatomy, biology, chemistry, and physics. Not only this, there is also a provision for lectures in mathematics as well as for social sciences. Well, this is only the start . This latter part deals in much more detail , and the topics included in this are biomechanics, manifestations of disease, human growth and development, examination techniques, neuro-anatomy, and therapeutic procedures.
You will also gain practical experience through internships or by "shadowing" a practicing physical therapist. Although an associate's degree is sufficient to become a physical therapy assistant, you will need a bachelor's degree and will be required to pass the National Physical Therapy Examination to become a licensed physical therapist. A master's degree is strongly recommended for those who want to make this a full-time career.
There is an exponential growth in the demand of physical therapists in this decade. According to the study conducted by the Department of Labor, the demand for physical therapist is expected to rise at a rate which is double the rate of other professions over the next decade. The reasons behind such a fantastic growth are:
- The aging baby boomer population i.e. the bigger part of the U.S. population is reaching an age where the only treatment given to them will be this physical therapy.
- The advancement on medical science helping more people to survive the accidents meaning more patients in trauma
- Number of people participating in sports and outdoor activities is increasing a lot, meaning more injuries
To define occupational therapists in brief we can say that they are the ones who help the patients overcome their obstacles and problems. There may be different types of problem. Some may be very simple while others may be very severe. Some of the occupational therapists work with kids who are suffering from developmental problems. These problems are comparatively simpler. The more complicated problems include underdeveloped motor skills, difficulties with audio or visual perception, autism or Down syndrome, etc.
The occupational therapist not only deals with children but also helps elder patients to recover their motor, logic, and living skills even after suffering from a stroke. The occupation therapy is for patients suffering from severe conditions such as a spinal cord injury which can cause a permanent disability, or degenerative and critical diseases like cerebral palsy which will slowly reduce their functionality. They use the various types of equipments like eating and dressing aided wheel chair. This equipment helps in maintaining the autonomy of the patient.
Occupational therapists educate their aged patients with some sort of exercises which are of both types (mental and physical). These exercises are helpful in improving or slowing the decline of their functional abilities. They help in maintaining the patient’s independence.
It will take a lot of schooling to be an occupational therapist. In order to pursue the occupation therapy program course, a minimum of a master’s degree is required. Not only this, a minimum of 6 months of internship is required in order to take on the program. After that, one needs to clear a state or national licensing exam in order to practice as a therapist.
Nearly half of the universities that provide a master’s degree, offer a unique combined bachelor's and master's degree program of the duration of five or six years. You need to be very careful in order to choose your major during the inception of your career. The major favorable subjects for doing this occupational therapy program are biology, anthropology, sociology or psychology.
At graduation level, one will have to show a lot of commitment in order to make occupation therapy his career choice. The course load at this level consists of an instruction on occupational therapy theory and application. Along with this, a study of the physical, biological, and behavioral sciences is also required. The study life of occupational therapists never ends. In some state or other, he continues to study for his entire life.
The demand of occupational therapist is predicted to rise at a rate which is more than double the normal rate of all other occupations over the next decade. This is the reason why all the people are opting for this as a career option. The growth is due to the aging baby boomer population.