What OT setting is best? 

I really enjoyed the patient population when working in a SNF as a CNA, but it is definitely a lot of work! I think acute care would be a good place to start out for me. I'll hopefully start my OT program next year.

this is very informative! thank you

Wow. Super helpful. Thanks so much

Ot is changing so much. All good points. I have been in OT 20 years. I currently do home health. To me it’s by far the most pay. If your load is low you make enough to make it thru the low times if you are not salary. It’s still more than most settings even part time. However wear and tear on the car and so forth definitely adds up. Since pdgm kicked in the visits for ot have gone from around 2-3x a week to 1-2. And usually only can get 2x a week if it’s ortho or if PT isn’t in as well. Also, home health you have to assess vitals, do medications, calling doctors, cpr alone if needed. It’s a lot more responsibility. So definitely have to weigh the pay versus hours you spend after hours typing and on the phone. So you will have days you are working 6 hours and some days 11 hours. School setting pay is horrid. Most schools you of course get state benefits so some like that for insurance and summers off and so forth. But the pay isn’t there. Acute care definitely is awesome because it keeps the spice as far as something different all the time. You can get good benefits at most. Especially state hospitals. The variety is great going from one extreme to another. Snf setting is becoming harder because of the new payment since rugs is gone. Now to hit a category they won’t bump minutes to 72 or 50 or whatever. Which was abused by a lot of companies to make more, but how it affects skilled nursing is if you only have 5 hours of treatment and they want you 90 percent productive they will send you home at 5.5 hours to maintain 90 percent productivity because they won’t pay you to sit around. So if a snf setting make sure of their policy for productivity and if they have local other facilities to send you to or their part b plan for extra visits and so forth or you will have times when they go thru slumps you will wish you had prn lined up. Hand therapy and outpt to me I couldn’t do. Just because I felt like I was always seeing the same stuff. To me acute care or home health is the best. Pros and cons for sure. Home health you do have great people and homes that are great and a lot easier on ur back. However don’t let it fool you, you will have homes where no one can help and you are repositioning people by yourself doing treatments in a home and have zero help and is extremely physically demanding. However it’s not all the time, since COVID and some families have gone away more from the skilled nursing to caring for home the max level patients have definitely picked up. Ot is a great field. I would recommend anyone to keep watching videos or even call a company and do a shadow if you just wanna know more. I have a lot more to say and left a lot out. But 20 years is tough to cram ha. Good luck. Follow your heart. Ot is definitely a great field. Just know all the angles.

What category would being an OTA at an elementary school fall under? What would an OTA that does art projects and the more creative based?

I am a junior in college and am interested in becoming an OT but specifically for mental health and in behavioral units. Do you have any pros, cons, or experiences with this setting?

how you feel about assisted living facilities?

Any tips on going into a setting you haven't worked in?

is there a certain field(s) that u think pays the best?

How easy is it to switch from each setting?

In So California almost all OT jobs are per diem. Zero benefits. They pay $95/ hour but you need 5 employer services to get enough hours.

Hi. I’m thinking about becoming an OT and I’m in high school. How is the salary and can you live independently?

What is sniffs?