Torn between choosing to study nursing or occupational health

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Hi, I would really appreciate if anyone could help me with this! I am applying to college as a mature student. Ive wanted to apply for nursing for a long time now and after doing some research I have found that I would also be interested in occupational health therapy. Could anybody please give me advice on both and which to choose?

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Specializes in Acute Rehab, Neuro/Trauma, Dialysis.

Hey Sabrina01!

My sister and I are both CNAs and currently going to school. I am in nursing school and my sister is working towards OT. Both are great fields to enter into however they both have things you may need to consider.

Nursing is great as far as flexability, there are many different fields to choose from, different shifts that can chater to your life style, and time spent in school can be as short as a year to 4 years. However there are a lot of waiting lists and it does require a lot of physical endurence, it also requires you to sacrifice weekends and holidays (something that is surprisingly over looked by many people I talk to).

Occupational therapy is great because it is more of a 9-5 job, like nursing there is a whole spectrum of options from working with kids in schools to working with the elderly in nursing homes. Unlike its fellow therapies such as physical and speech it covers a much wider spectrum of patient needs so there is little chance of getting bored and a lot of the therapy can be made to be fun! Also the pay for OT is much higher than of nursing. However it does require some physical strength and it now requires a masters degree, so that is a lot more time spent in school.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions feel free to ask me! Good luck!

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Hey Sabrina01!

My sister and I are both CNAs and currently going to school. I am in nursing school and my sister is working towards OT. Both are great fields to enter into however they both have things you may need to consider.

Nursing is great as far as flexability, there are many different fields to choose from, different shifts that can chater to your life style, and time spent in school can be as short as a year to 4 years. However there are a lot of waiting lists and it does require a lot of physical endurence, it also requires you to sacrifice weekends and holidays (something that is surprisingly over looked by many people I talk to).

Occupational therapy is great because it is more of a 9-5 job, like nursing there is a whole spectrum of options from working with kids in schools to working with the elderly in nursing homes. Unlike its fellow therapies such as physical and speech it covers a much wider spectrum of patient needs so there is little chance of getting bored and a lot of the therapy can be made to be fun! Also the pay for OT is much higher than of nursing. However it does require some physical strength and it now requires a masters degree, so that is a lot more time spent in school.

I hope this helps, if you have any questions feel free to ask me! Good luck!

Thank you! I'm going to study in Scotland so you don't need a masters for occupational therapy. It's actually the same length of time for both courses which makes me more confused as to which to choose! I would prefer the hours for occupational therapy but will look into it more!

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FWIW, the occupational therapists I've known over the years have been a lot more satisfied with being OTs than a lot of the nurses I've known have been happy about being nurses ... :)

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Sabrina01,

Are Occupational Therapists more widely utilized in the UK? That would be the only negative here in the US. Jobs are much more scarce - probably driven by available reimbursement, as usual - LOL. US Healthcare infrastructure tends to focus on 'illness' care rather than health maintenance & rehab.

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Specializes in Ambulatory care.

well there is such a thing as occupational health nurse. Personally I 'd go for the nursing because nurses can specialize in occupational health BUT the opposite is not true. nursingi's harder but more flexible good luck and it may take a while to find your niche in nursing not every graduate knows exactly what he or she wants to do.

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well there is such a thing as occupational health nurse. Personally I 'd go for the nursing because nurses can specialize in occupational health BUT the opposite is not true. nursingi's harder but more flexible good luck and it may take a while to find your niche in nursing not every graduate knows exactly what he or she wants to do.

Occupational health nursing and occupational therapy are entirely different matters.

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I am looking to apply for an occupational health nurse position, can anyone share their OHN experience.

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