NT1310 Unit 1 Assignment 1

One non-primary care provider that assists patients with everyday skills are occupational therapists (OTs). OTs work with patients that have physical, developmental, and cognitive limitations so the patient can improve or perform daily home and work tasks (Shi & Singh, 2015). Currently, an OT are minimally required to hold a master’s degree, but there are OTs that possess a bachelor’s degree if their education was completed prior to 2009 (Shi & Singh, 2015). There is a national registration test that every OT has to pass in order to gain licensure from the individual state in order to corroborate the competency of the professional (AOTA, 2014). The renewal process for the national registration requires continuing education to be completed every three years, but many states do not require that the national registration is kept up to date even though most hospital

McKay, personal communication, September 16, 2015). Each state has different continuing educational and licensing requirements, but an OT does have to successfully meet these requirements in order to obtain a license to practice in the state (AOTA, 2014). When an OT wants to practice in another state, the individual must meet the other state’s requirements in order to obtain licensure.
OTs assists physicians in the rehabilitation of their patients after a significant trauma, disease, congenital issue, or surgery in order for the patient to return to their normal (or as close to normal) daily activities. OTs work closely with physical therapists (PTs), but each professional has separate activities and therapies that they focus on when working with a patient. OTs