Occupational therapists play an influential role in maintaining the healthcare and quality of life within our communities. Many people confuse occupational therapy (OT) with physical therapy but, rather than specializing exclusively in rehabilitation and motion, OT's primary focus is on enabling patients to engage in the meaningful activities of daily life. Specifically, OT is necessary when a person's ability to live independently is disrupted by illness or injury.

As part of its Centennial Vision, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) identified six key practice areas that allow occupational therapists to profoundly impact the lives of patients in need.

If you're searching for your perfect OT path, see below for a breakdown of each of the focus areas and their corresponding niches as identified by AOTA. You may find yourself drawn toward a specific specialty as a result!
https://www.css.edu/the-sentinel-blog/occupational-therapy-specialties-that-can-empower-patients.html

The AOTA explains that "to meet society's occupational needs, occupational therapy practitioners need to respond to how society is changing and evolving." To support that, they "researched trends in the six broad areas of practice defined through the Centennial Vision process." They then go on to list those emerging niches, but which niche do you choose?
https://www.webpt.com/blog/post/finding-and-marketing-your-ot-niche

To meet society's occupational needs, occupational therapy practitioners need to respond to how society is changing and evolving. To help our members do that, AOTA has researched trends in the six broad areas of practice defined through the Centennial Vision process.
The following emerging niches consist of topics, conditions, populations, and more. To find out what is next in your practice area, and why, click and learn how to become a part of something new and exciting and-most importantly-that will continue the profession on the journey toward the Centennial Vision.
https://www.aota.org/Practice/Manage/Niche.aspx

What they do all day? If it involves helping people perform daily activities on their own, occupational therapists have done it. While physical therapists might help someone with a hip injury learn to walk safely again, OTs would work on everyday tasks, such as getting out of bed or putting on shoes. They might also work with a child with OCD who has trouble at school, or help a patient with schizophrenia communicate more effectively.
http://money.cnn.com/pf/best-jobs/2012/snapshots/10.html

Website offers a comprehensive overview of the occupational therapy salaries and employment ratings nationally and by state. The site also details the up and coming aspects of the industry while elaborating on niches that might appeal to new grads.
https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes291122.htm

The Occupational Therapy Toolkit is a collection of 283 full-page illustrated patient education handouts that you can print and give to your patients. The handouts are organized by 85 treatment guides and are based on current research and best practice. The OT Toolkit was written and illustrated by Cheryl Hall, an occupational therapist with 30 years of clinical experience.
This 630 page practical resource is available as an eBook in PDF format or as a print book. It is simply the BEST resource for every OT working with physical disabilities and older adults. Whether you're a new grad or seasoned therapist you are going to love this product.
http://www.ottoolkit.com/

Occupational therapy services are often used directly and indirectly to influence weight management and related health concerns through attention to lifestyle and engagement in fulfilling activities. The purpose of this paper is to explain to persons within and outside of the profession the role of occupational therapists and occupational therapy assistants in addressing the impact of obesity on people's ability to engage in daily activities. This paper explains how the occupational therapy profession provides expertise and leadership in working with the problem of obesity in our society as it affects individuals, families, groups, and populations across the life span.
https://search.proquest.com/openview/c38204369ffc2f2cf3b8b027709ee062/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=47935

The relevance of occupational therapy is supported by findings that problems in daily functioning often are the reason for a decrease in quality of life in dementia patients and that information and emotional support improves the quality of life of patients and their caregivers.
Patients and their informal caregivers were assessed at baseline before the intervention, at 6 weeks (effect measurement), and at 12 weeks (follow-up measurement). Outcomes of this study were quality of life, health status, and mood (of both the dementia patients and their caregivers), and caregivers' sense of control over life. Quality of life was assessed with the Dementia Quality of Life Instrument (Dqol) (19-21), which is divided into three categories and six subscales: (A) aesthetics (sum scores 5-25); (B) frequency of feelings: B1: positive affect (sum scores 5-30); B2: negative affect (sum scores 5-55); B3: self esteem (sum scores 5-20); B4: feelings of belonging (sum scores 5-15); and (C) overall quality of life (1-5) (higher scores on quality-of-life subscales indicate better quality of life, except for subscale B2).
https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/62/9/1002/525876

PARTICIPATION OF CHILDREN IN SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY

Participation in childhood occupations in school and community is essential for children and youth to grow and develop. Through participation, children develop skills, engage in collaborative activities with others, learn to express themselves, find meaning and promote health (King et al., 2003). Participation is the means by which children interact with other people and their environment.
https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/36864852/Occupational_Therapy_With_Children.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1511749700&Signature=p7uZapcbLc%2Fb3mNdjR4RcfA5gog%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DOccupational_Therapy_With_Children.pdf

Occupational Therapy is concerned with the development of purposeful sensory-motor functions into skilled activity, and in relating this to the child's total performance.
Disturbance in any one area of development such a neuromotor, visual, kinesthetic or auditory spheres may place profound limitation upon the total performance of a child. When a pediatrician suspects some delay in a child's performance in these areas, the occupational therapist through her skill and training can help pinpoint where the breakdown in function occurs.
http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/000992286600500612?journalCode=cpja

Objective. -To evaluate the effectiveness of preventive occupational therapy (OT) services specifically tailored for multiethnic, independent-living older adults.
Intervention. -An OT group, a social activity control group, and a nontreatment control group. The period of treatment was 9 months.
Results. -Benefit attributable to OT treatment was found for the quality of interaction scale on the Functional Status Questionnaire (P=.03), Life Satisfaction Index-Z (P=.03), Medical Outcomes Study Health Perception Survey (P=.05), and for 7 of 8 scales on the RAND 36-Item Health Status Survey, Short Form: bodily pain (P=.03), physical functioning (P=.008), role limitations attributable to health problems (P=.02), vitality (P=.004), social functioning (P=.05), role limitations attributable to emotional problems (P=.05), and general mental health (P=.02).
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/418441

As many as 13 million people, or 5.2% of the U.s. population, have diabetes. Because other common complications secondary to diabetes include cardiac problems, stroke, amputations, kidney failure, and psychosocial adjustment issues, per- sons with diabetes and visual impairment are being treat- ed by health care professionals (including occupational therapists) in a variety of settings. Bernbaum et al. (1988) stated that health care professionals "are often unrespon- sive to the rehabilitation needs of visually impaired pa- tients with diabetes" (p. 54) and do not provide instruc- tion in diabetes self-management tasks. Yet according to Baker (1993), "traditional diabetes self-management techniljues reljuire adequate vision to rractice" and "are virtually impossible to perform" for those with vision loss and other potential complications "unless adaptations or modifications of both technique and equipment are im- plemented" (p 349).
https://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=1871795

A substantial number of persons who have had a Astroke return to driving. Legh-Smith, Wade, and Hewer-Langton (1986) found that of those persons living at home 1 year after a stroke and who drove before their strokes, 42% resumed driving. Of persons who have had a stroke, 75% are estimated to have residual perceptual--cognitive dysfunction (Bonita, Anderson, & North, 1987; Gibson, 1974; Gillum et al., 1985; Herman, 1986; Wood-Dauphinee, 1985).

https://ajot.aota.org/Article.aspx?articleid=1862631

Handwriting has many components to it, including fine motor skills, and visual perceptual skills. In therapy, we work on the underlying causes of the problem in a task, so we wouldn't necessarily be working on handwriting, we would be working on the problem that is causing the poor handwriting. Here are a list of handwriting grips and what they look like. The grips are, Static Tripod, dynamic tripod, adapted tripod, quadrupod, gross grasp, digital pronated, 5 finger, thumb tuck, thumb wrap, tripod with closed web space.
https://therapyfunzone.net/blog/ot/fine-motor-skills/handwriting/

http://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=1869107

The purpose of this study was to examine how U.S. occupational therapists access and use clinically relevant research results. The findings suggest that therapists are currently engaging in a modest amount of evidence-based practice. Removing the barriers identified in this study may increase research utilization among clinicians.

http://www.marianjoylibrary.org/nursing/journalclub/documents/challenges.pdf

Acute secondary care settings are complex environments that offer
a range of challenges for healthcare staff. These challenges can
be exacerbated when patients present with a co-morbid mental
illness. This article is a systematic review of the literature that has
investigated the challenges imposed on health professionals working
in acute secondary care settings where they care for patients who
experience co-morbid physical and mental illnesses

http://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=1862418

This article describes the registered occupational therapist (OTR)-certified occupational therapy assistant (COTA) team within the home health setting. You can loate it by clicking on the PDF version. No subscriptions are required. It reviews regulations and guidelines for supervision, team interactions, and collaboration with other health care professionals and paraprofessionals. With the complexities of providing treatment in a client's home, the team members must combine their resources to successfully achieve desired outcomes.

http://myedtoday.com/courses/healthcare/professionalism-in-healthcare/

The primary rationale for professionalism and collaboration is to promote patient safety. Health care is delivered by teams of professionals who need to communicate well, respecting the principles of honesty, respect for others, confidentiality and responsibility for their actions. Further, the working environment in health care comprises multiple learners, among them fellow physicians, residents and nonphysicians, including students and patients.

http://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=1880554

In this article, two major ethical theories are introduced: the teleological and the deontological. They are defined and briefly discussed. A subsequent discussion explores how the ethical principles of informed consent and patient autonomy operate in medical decisions. The application to occupational therapy is left for the reader's judgment.

http://ajot.aota.org/article.aspx?articleid=1877117

The link above actually brings you to the AJOT website where you can click on and download the full PDF version of the article for free.

In this particular article, the author maintains that if OT truly wish to understand disability from a client's perspective, then we need to use something called the phenomenological approach to gaining crucial, more intuitive information about said clients. This means learning about the social, psychological, and anthropological sciences in addition to the bio mechanical sciences including in-depth courses in anatomy and physiology. Unfortunately, however, these courses are taught more in an unscripted, clinical environment where the fundamental understanding of "disabilities" may not be well understood in the abstract sense before working with patients/clients. The author maintains that knowledge of such intuitions should be supplemented in the classroom using more pedagogy in order to heighten the OT student's level of clinical intuition, or clinical reasoning before being subjected to fieldwork. Perhaps then the OT student may gather a true understanding of what it means to be disabled from the patient's point of view not only through the clinical lens but also the lens of the compassionate professional.