5 Factors to Consider When Choosing an OT Setting
Occupational Therapy: the profession with endless possibilities. And when I say endless, I mean endless. While it can be fun and exciting to have so many options at your fingertips, it can also be extremely overwhelming, especially if you didn’t have a strong preference when you started your program.
While I personally knew without a shadow of a doubt that I wanted to go into pediatrics, I still needed to narrow down which setting I wanted to be in. There are so many factors and considerations to keep in mind when trying to decide what setting might be a good fit for you.
So, here are 5 Factors to Consider when Choosing an OT Setting:
Pace: Do you prefer slow paced or fast paced environments? You could argue that every setting can be fast paced at one time or another which I’d agree with. However, in my personal opinion and during my clinical/shadowing experiences, I found acute, inpatient rehab and skilled nursing facilities to be much, much faster. I felt like I was constantly on the go, communicating with so many different team members, and overall there was just a lot going on all the time. I felt extremely exhausted at the end of the day. In contrast, I really enjoyed the pace of outpatient clinics and home health/early intervention and felt like I could breathe a little easier and had more breaks during the day - not to say these settings don’t have busy days, too!
Risk: One of the reasons I prefer therapy over acute medicine is because I do not work well under pressure and in high risk situations. What about you? This is a great way to evaluate if the setting you’re interested in is going to be the best fit for you. OTs work in high risk situations and populations, such as the ICU (NICU, PICU, etc.) so if you do enjoy higher risk, acute may be for you!
Support: If you’re a new graduate, you definitely are going to need some level of support regardless of what setting you’re in but depending on the setting it may be higher or lower levels of support. I personally like being independent so the home health and early intervention setting was appealing to me. It’s also with a population I feel very comfortable with. However, I still wanted to have someone to bounce ideas off of so I love that I practice in a team based model.
Environment: You’re going to be potentially spending upwards of 40 hours in this location so you’d better be sure you enjoy that environment. Is it bright? Is it loud? Does it feel calming? What equipment do you have access to? Also think about the people you’ll be working with. You should take into account ALL aspects of the environment you’re going to be spending so much time in. I love a change of scenery so being in early intervention and getting to get fresh air between clients and going to different homes was perfect for me.
Benefits: If you thought you were gonna get outta this post without me mentioning something about money you must not know me very well yet LOL. At the end of the day, you wanna be paid, right? I mean sure you want to also love what you do but we aren’t gonna pretend no one is thinking about money. Remember, I keep it real over here. There are certain settings out there where you’ll have a much higher earning potential so it’s okay to use that as a measure, too. For me it just so happened that I was able to pursue a setting I loved that also paid very well for me as a new graduate. Win win! Oh and don’t forget about the entire benefits package (not just salary) but 401k match, vacation time, professional reimbursement, CEU allowances, etc.
If you don’t feel particularly called to pediatrics or adults or hospitals or clinics or homes - it’s okay. There are a lot of options but the great thing about OT school is that it prepares us to be generalists. That means we can walk into any setting and be ready to hit the ground running with the general knowledge needed to be successful. Sure, you will probably still need mentorship and additional training in specialized areas but overall, rest assured that you CAN graduate and practice in almost any setting. You’ve just gotta think about your lifestyle, preferences, and personality to help you determine which setting will be the right fit for you.
And hey - the best thing about OT is it’s flexible, right? So, if you don’t like one setting, another one is just a hop, skip, and jump away!
What are some things you considered before jumping into your first job? How did you know a setting was right for you?