Occupational Therapy Assistant Job Description, Duties, and Responsibilities

This post provides detailed information on the occupational therapy assistant job description, including the key tasks, duties, and responsibilities they commonly perform.

It also highlights the major requirements you may be expected to fulfill to be hired for the occupational therapy assistant role by most recruiters/employers.

What Does an Occupational Therapy Assistant Do?

An occupational therapy assistant, OTA, is responsible for providing help for persons that are physically or mentally challenged who are usually unable to carry out their daily tasks and need help from someone else.

Most times, the OTA job description entails working on the directives/direction of the occupational therapist and hence does not take any decision independently.

While the occupational therapist creates treatment plans for patients, the assistant’s role would be to carry out the plans.

It is important to note that an assistant can work as an occupational therapist when he/she must have garnered quite a number of years of experience.

Occupational Therapy Assistant Job Description Example/Template

An occupational therapy assistant performs various functions in ensuring that patients are able to live their lives with little or no hitches by providing the required assistance and enabling environment.

The tasks, duties, and responsibilities shown in the job description example below represent the commonly assigned roles to persons who work as occupational therapy assistants in most health organizations or clinics:

• Responsible for maintaining patients’ occupational therapy records by recording the rate of progress of the client for use by the therapist
• Help in educating patients on how to make use of their rehabilitation and/or treatment equipment at home
• Consult the rehabilitation team to select an effective activity or program for patient
• Verify patient information by interviewing them, reviewing and recording patients’ medical background/history, and confirming the purpose of treatment
• Assist patients in going through their rehabilitation process and treatment procedures as suggested by the occupational therapist
• Help in feeding patients, clothing them, and generally ensuring that their surroundings are always clean
• Place orders and carry out required maintenance of equipment used in the process of treating patients
• Provide medications for patients as prescribed by the doctor or occupational therapist in charge
• Monitor patients to actually understand their health challenges and make sure that they receive every form of support they need
• Protect the occupational therapy practice by sticking to professional standards, policies, and procedures
• Update occupational knowledge by taking part in professional organizations and reading professional work-related publications
• Keep comprehensive records of billing information of services rendered, thereby enhancing the organization’s revenue.

Requirements – Skills, Abilities, and Knowledge – for Occupational Therapy Assistant Role

When hiring for the role of occupational therapy assistant, most employers commonly expect candidates to meet the following requirements to qualify for an interview appointment:

• He/she must have excellent communication ability. There might be also need for extra communication abilities that will help the patients at their different points of need; this may include sign language and facial expressions
• Must be an individual that is highly tolerant, patient, and understanding when dealing with patients
• He/she must have excellent interpersonal skills and must be an easy-going person that is approachable and friendly at all times. This will help patients in overcoming their challenges and generally in their recovery process
• Must have excellent analytical and problem-solving abilities
• Must have the ability to discern patients’ needs in a situation whereby they cannot clearly communicate their needs
• Must be someone that pays keen attention to every single detail that has to do with patients
• Must display a high level of flexibility when dealing with patients. This is because the needs of patients certainly differ and require different approaches or solutions
• Knowledge of equipment and methods used in occupational therapy
• Must be a graduate of occupational therapy assistant program
• A minimum of 2 years on-the-job experience in a similar role
• Necessary certification as an occupational therapy assistant within the area/locality of practice.

Conclusion

If you are an employer hiring for the occupational therapy assistant role, the sample work description provided in this post will be useful to you.

You can easily and quickly make a great description for the position by making use of the content of this post and thereby improve your chances of having the best-qualified people responding to your job advert.

Also, individuals interested in the occupational therapy career will find this article helpful in improving their knowledge of the duties and responsibilities that constitute the OTA job.