What is a Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant
A certified occupational therapy assistant works in the rehabilitation industry under the direct supervision of a licensed occupational therapist. Most assistants will work directly with patients, many of these patients suffer from physical disability, emotional disability, developmental disability, as well as mental disability. Assistants work with an occupational therapist to take care of the everyday tasks of occupational therapy rehabilitation. This can include a wide variety of tasks from teaching exercises, performing activities with patients, assisting with mobility of patients, and many others. A certified occupational therapy assistant helps patients increase their abilities for their activities of daily living.
When the word certified is thrown in front of the professional title, it means that the individual has received certification from the accrediting body in occupational therapy education. It does not deal with the education that they have recieved specifically, but an exam that they have completed after graduation from an accredited occupational therapy assistant associate degree program. Passing the certification exam can be an extra check mark on your resume, and we fully recommend that you complete the certification, even if the state you live in currently does not require it. Completing the certification shows a level of professionalism, not to mention that in the near future it may be a requirement for all those who wish to gain state licenses to be employed as occupational therapist assistants.
Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant Programs
In order to gain certification, individuals must take the certification exam that is administered by the National Board of Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT). These exams are only available to those that have graduated from an accredited associate degree program in occupational therapy assistant. The accreditation body in occupational therapy is the Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education (ACOTE). The ACOTE accreditation, is the accreditation body for the American Occupational Therapy Association. Successful graduation from an accredited program allows students to sit for the NBCOT exam. The Certification exam itself is a multiple choice examination that covers 3 key areas of importance to the occupational therapy assistant. These being
- Showing competent understanding of patient needs
- The evaluation of patient progress
- The maintenance of professional standards
Those that complete this exam successfully will be dubbed a ¨certified occupational therapy assistant¨. To maintain the certification individuals must renew their certification every 3 years. In order to renew this certification, professional credits must be earned through the attendance of classes, conferences, or programs that are recognized by the NBCOT (www.nbcot.org). These are technically known as continuing education credits, and their completion shows a level of professionalism that gives the certification excellent credibility amongst employers.
Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant Education
The minimum education that is currently being required for occupational therapy assistants is generally a 2 year associate degree program. The Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education currently approves over 140 educational institutions nation wide to offer occupational therapy assistant education. The program that students are required to complete is broken down into 2 basic parts.
The first part of the education process for an occupational therapy assistant is the core coursework. Common courses in this profession include: physiology and kinesiology, anatomy, gerontology, human disabilities, human disorders, human development, psychological disorders, pediatric disabilities, as well as other courses that are beneficial to this medical assistant.
The second part is a clinical placement. Most programs will require that students complete a minimum of 16 to 24 weeks of clinical placement. This allows students to gain experience and skills in a supervised setting. Students will get to work directly with real life patients under the guidance of licensed occupational therapists. Students learn to follow instructions in an occupational therapy setting, and begin the process of evaluating patients and noting levels of change, or improvement.
Upon successful graduation from an accredited associate degree program, students will be eligible to sit for the state board license exams, and the NBCOT exam.
Certified Occupational Therapy Assistant Licensing Requirements
As of December 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics had reported that 40 states required licensing and registration of certified occupational therapy assistants. As is the case in most medical careers, each state may have different licensing requirements. However almost all states will require that students show proof of graduation from an accredited occupational therapy assistant associate degree program. Many of the States currently require that students show proof of their completion, or updated NBCOT certification. The general thinking is that this practice will be country wide in the near future, as this is the common practice for many similar health care assistant professions. So in the very near future we will most likely see that all states will require graduation from accredited programs, and in most cases will require that occupational therapy assistants be certified in the form of the NBCOT exam certification.
Other requirements that are common when applying for a state license can include a criminal background check, as well as being tested for tuberculosis.
Your best option is to have the strongest education, and the best certification. We recommend that you complete and maintain the NBCOT certification. Being a professional certified occupational therapy assistant shows that you are serious about the career, and the profession.