Nursing vs. Occupational Therapy vs. Speech Pathology

GG1982 · Sep 1, 2011

Hi Everyone...

I am currently volunteering in a skilled nursing facility, peds clininc & hospital to gain more insight about occupational therapy. I am thinking about changing careers, however, my concern is the job outlook for OT. I love the work so far and I believe I would be a great OT, however, I still have to think about having a job if I decide to go through all the educational requirements.

I already have a master's degree in a business field and due to the economy have faced up's and downs...So this time I want to make sure I'm moving into a career path that has somewhat of a stable outlook. Please any nurses or OT's let me know the truth about what you see on a daily basis. Any advice will be gladly appreciated! :)

Marisette, BSN, RN · Sep 3, 2011

I agree with the person who posted, it depends on your personality. However, I have to say speech pathology. It sounds like a job where you have a one to one patient ratio and daytime working hours, no shift work,no on call schedule and no holidays. Oh, if I were young again .......:)

truffles111 · Apr 5, 2012

Did you decide on returning to school for OT?

RosePMHNP · Apr 8, 2012

I ultimately chose nursing school, and I am SO GLAD I did. While it's challenging, it has been such a positive life experience: even if I don't end up a nurse one day (I probably will, though!), I have learned so much about myself during this journey. I definitely want to try nursing first when I graduate, but nursing school has opened so many doors, and I can't say whether or not OT is out of the picture. Nursing has provided a wonderful foundation for any of these health careers, and I love having so many options. I have talked to several OTs, and most tend to feel limited by their jobs. I think it's a wonderful career (as well as SLP!), but I don't know if it's exciting/fast-paced enough for me at the moment. Hope that helps!

hschamb · Sep 9, 2012

I know it has been a while since comments have been posted, but I wanted to weigh-in. I'm an SLP, and was looking for some info and brought me to this site. I work contract at a variety of settings: school system, hospital, inpt acute rehab, SNF, outpt, home health, and behavioral hospitals. Love being an SLP but there is some lifting and physical aspects at the SNFs we service. I t/f and do toileting with pts just as OT and PT. We do have on-call for hospitals afternoons and weekends. I do feel respected in both the medical and educational settings; however PTs appear to be the most highly respected of the rehab professions. Although I love my job, I would have loved to become an OT. Also, PTAs make just as much if not more than SLPs with a bachelor's, which really makes you realize that healthcare respect for physical well-being is much more than communicative and cognitive well-being! Just food for thought!

elementguy13 · Sep 9, 2012

I shadowed a physical therapist for a day once as backup for nursing (did not think I was going to get into the nursing program, but I did!) I enjoyed it but the physical therapist was never seen.. they set up the care plans and sit in an office and come to see how the PTA (physical therapist assistant) is doing every now and then. If you want to work with patients than assistant is the way to go but of course there is less money. I was in the same room as the occupational therapy and they were sitting down with the patient (mostly stroke patients) and helping them with daily tasks such as brushing there hair and moving objects. I respect what they do but I could not see myself doing that. It seemed very boring. But again.. I observed a physical therapist assistant.. so I could be very wrong.

Oh, and if you want to talk about back problems.. PTA is for you!! They lift people all day.. stop people from falling over.. it was really tasking on the body. Occupational therapy is not.

In the end, the thing I enjoyed most about my day were talking to the patients and hearing them say thank you. I think its why a lot of us are in the healthcare field.

Ginger88 · Feb 12, 2013

I'm currently an undergrad working toward being a SLP and I've decided to apply for nursing school instead of continuing on in communication disorders. I enjoy aspects of this field, however, I do not want to work with children and that really limits the settings I can work in to basically a SNF or hospital. To me the work SLPs do in a SNF is boring and hospitals can be a fast track to being burnt out, whether you're a nurse, therapist, tech etc. SLPs can open their own practice and make excellent money ($90,000+) but where I live is very rural and with all the cuts to Medicare speech therapy is something that is really covered and there is not a population willing to pay the money that it would take to make ends meet. Overall the nursing field is so much more broad and virtually limitless. Working as a nurse for a few years then working toward a degree as a PA or NP is very appealing to me.