A Couple Quick Questions ...
I apologize for disappearing for a couple months but I am now back and will be working on getting the Pediatric Perspective back to twice a week blog entries. I thought I would start off with a couple questions I have been wondering about and I am hoping you all can answer some of them for me.
1) I keep reading how Occupational therapy has once again come up as one of the top growing job markets and is actually expected to grow faster than originally anticipated, especially with therapists working with the elderly. My question to you is - what about those working in pediatrics. How are you seeing the pediatric job market both for OT and COTA openings? Are there jobs out there? Do you find they are in hospitals, early intervention (Birth-to-Three), schools or a mixture of any of these?
2) If you are a COTA are you thinking of going back to school to get your OT degree? I ask this because recently a couple COTA's I know have decided they are going back to get their OT degree. One is going to a college that offers weekend classes so she can still work and the other is going to quit her job and return as a typical full time student at a tradition college. If you are thinking of going back, why and how do you think you will do it?
3) Are you worried about your job as far as it being secure is concerned? I ask this because there have been several lay offs recently at schools or schools combining OT departments with neighboring districts (where there is 1 OT supervising several COTA's) - or out sourcing their OT departments to therapy companies (thus not having to pay medical, benefits, etc and saving money in those areas). We've also had a few birth-to-three companies consolidate their areas to save in travel time and expenses. What do you see happening in your area?
Just a couple questions to get us started here. I would love to hear your answers, your comments, your thoughts... please feel free to answer one, or two, or all three - Is there anything you are wondering about or any questions you would like answered? If you don't want to comment here on the blog please feel free to email me (whhct@comcast.net).
Thanks for stopping by! Hope to see you back here again.
~Wendy~