COTA Career Outlook
If you are someone who is creative and enjoys helping people, you might find your career niche as a certified occupational therapy assistant (COTA). To be able to join the profession, you must have an associate degree from an accredited OTA program as well as pass the NBCOT® Exam for certification.
Certification is needed before you can put your OTA degree to work. That’s why St. Catherine University developed the NBCOT Prep Coaching Program that helps prepare you to sit for the exam after graduation.
Furthermore, the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) offers certification programs for post-graduate OTAs in the following specialty areas:
- Driving and community mobility
- Environmental modification
- Feeding, eating and swallowing
- Low vision
- School system
If you really love people and helping others, then an OTA career is the right choice.
—Courtney Tomney, Online OTA Class of 2015
Job Outlook
Occupational therapy is one of the top healthcare fields in the country, and, according to U.S News & World Report, occupational therapy assistants rank as the #1 healthcare support job in 2017. The states with the highest employment levels for this occupation include Texas, California, Florida, and Pennsylvania.
Work Environment
A highly diverse profession, occupational therapy assistants work full-time in a wide variety of practice settings, from hospitals to schools to nursing homes. While most OTAs work in a hospital or nursing home setting, more and more are turning to private practices. In fact, one third of them work in this environment. In-home settings are also popular as 10% of OTAs work in this venue.
Contact us to learn how you can get started on a career as a certified occupational therapy assistant.