4 answers
5
Asked 1228 views

Can the life of an occupational Therapist, be as daunting as an OB/GYN?

I wanted compare and contrast actual happiness and satisfaction, to a rewarding profession that pays well, but has many different stressors. #medicine #women #gynecology #career #hospital #therapy

therapy hospital women gynecology
Answer This

+25 Karma if successful
From: You
To: Friend
Subject: Career question for you
5

4 answers

0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Jennifer’s Answer

Job shadowing or finding a mentor in these fields would be best. Both of these careers involve patient care, and both can be rewarding. What career do you see yourself doing and what interests you the most? Ob/Gyn is a surgical and office based specialty, and your day to day schedule will be less predictable than a career as an occupational therapist. Some medical schools have programs for high school students interested in medicine, this would be a good place to start.

Jennifer recommends the following next steps:

find a mentor
contact your nearest medical school regarding programs for high school students interested in medicine
0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Katherine’s Answer

Hi Reginald!

I believe the question you are asking is whether or not you should pursue becoming an Occupational Therapist or pursue becoming an OB/GYN. I am an OB/GYN, so I can answer questions pertaining to this. I have several good friends who are OT's, so I also have some understanding there.

All of the above advice is valid. It is important to seek career counseling and make choices that align with your passions, your goals, the time you are willing to commit, and your resources available. Both OT and Ob/GYN require additional schooling, but it is true that to become an OB/GYN, the schooling is longer. There are also varied levels of responsibility - being an OB/GYN involves surgical skill and is 50% operative, which many people don't realize and can be a deterrent for those thinking about it.

Where are you in the process of either of those things? Are you in Undergraduate school right now? Post-grad? Have you been able to shadow either specialties? What caused you to choose these two professions (usually people will say they are interested in medicine but not certain about the field (i.e. Becoming an MD versus Mid-level provider versus Allied health sciences) ?

Happy to continue talking! Let me know.


0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Ken’s Answer

The most important thing for you to do is to determine which one of these career areas, or which other career area, might be best suited for your personality traits to present the best possibility for your having feelings of success and fulfilment.


Getting to know yourself and how your personality traits relate to people involved in various career opportunities is very important in your decision making process. During my many years in Human Resources and College Recruiting, I ran across too many students who had skipped this very important step and ended up in a job situation which for which they were not well suited. Selecting a career area is like buying a pair of shoes. First you have to be properly fitted for the correct size, and then you need to try on and walk in the various shoe options to determine which is fits the best and is most comfortable for you to wear. Following are some important steps which I developed during my career which have been helpful to many .

Ken recommends the following next steps:

The first step is to take an interest and aptitude test and have it interpreted by your school counselor to see if you share the personality traits necessary to enter the field. You might want to do this again upon entry into college, as the interpretation might differ slightly due to the course offering of the school. However, do not wait until entering college, as the information from the test will help to determine the courses that you take in high school. Too many students, due to poor planning, end up paying for courses in college which they could have taken for free in high school.
Next, when you have the results of the testing, talk to the person at your high school and college who tracks and works with graduates to arrange to talk to, visit, and possibly shadow people doing what you think that you might want to do, so that you can get know what they are doing and how they got there. Here are some tips: ## http://www.wikihow.com/Network ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/nonawkward-ways-to-start-and-end-networking-conversations ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/4-questions-to-ask-your-network-besides-can-you-get-me-a-job?ref=carousel-slide-1 ##
Locate and attend meetings of professional associations to which people who are doing what you think that you want to do belong, so that you can get their advice. These associations may offer or know of intern, coop, shadowing, and scholarship opportunities. These associations are the means whereby the professionals keep abreast of their career area following college and advance in their career. You can locate them by asking your school academic advisor, favorite teachers, and the reference librarian at your local library. Here are some tips: ## https://www.careeronestop.org/BusinessCenter/Toolkit/find-professional-associations.aspx?&frd=true ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/9-tips-for-navigating-your-first-networking-event ##
It is very important to express your appreciation to those who help you along the way to be able to continue to receive helpful information and to create important networking contacts along the way. Here are some good tips: ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-informational-interview-thank-you-note-smart-people-know-to-send?ref=recently-published-2 ## ## https://www.themuse.com/advice/3-tips-for-writing-a-thank-you-note-thatll-make-you-look-like-the-best-candidate-alive?bsft_eid=7e230cba-a92f-4ec7-8ca3-2f50c8fc9c3c&bsft_pid=d08b95c2-bc8f-4eae-8618-d0826841a284&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=daily_20171020&utm_source=blueshift&utm_content=daily_20171020&bsft_clkid=edfe52ae-9e40-4d90-8e6a-e0bb76116570&bsft_uid=54658fa1-0090-41fd-b88c-20a86c513a6c&bsft_mid=214115cb-cca2-4aec-aa86-92a31d371185&bsft_pp=2 ##
0
0
Updated
Share a link to this answer
Share a link to this answer

Spruce’s Answer

Hey Reginald,

I don’t work in either of these fields, but I am a repeat physical and occupational therapy patient and I can relay some of what I’ve heard from my therapists. The only thing I know about OB/GYN is that they are MDs (10+ yrs school). Your question has been open so long that I wanted to give you some info so you could move on.


I’ve been a patient of three separate groups of PT/OT therapists and they’ve told me that they all love their work primarily because they work with their patients once a week for weeks or months at a time so they get to know them a little, work with them hands on usually to help them recover from an injury or a surgery, and usually watch them heal up and walk out. This is true especially for sports related injuries because the patients are younger. The ones I’ve seen work in private practice with eight or 10 others, although my current group works out of an outpatient therapy center at a hospital. The ones I’ve seen all go home at 5:00 p.m.


Educational requirements as I understand them are a four-year undergrad degree, then one year of therapy school for an assistant therapist (APT, AOT), a second year for therapist (PT, OT), and a third year for a PT, PhD or OT, PhD. The current group I’m with, and my nephew I just remembered, all went the three-year PhD route. They are extremely competent and have helped me tremendously. They’re also nice people, including my nephew.


Be sure to talk to some people who really work in these areas. Good luck.
0