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Overview
An Occupational Therapist (OT) helps you learn to become as independent as possible in activities of daily living.
OTs help people regain or improve their ability to do everyday activities after illness, injury or surgery. These activities may include bathing, dressing, cooking, moving around the home or community, and using assistive devices.
In rehabilitation, OTs work with patients who have complex physical, cognitive or behavioral challenges. They assess each person’s needs and provide treatment, education and support to help them become as independent as possible.
Therapy may include:
Teaching new ways to perform daily tasks.
Recommending assistive devices like bath seats, reachers or splints.
Assessing posture and mobility, and prescribing wheelchairs with proper seating.
Helping relieve pain, improve joint movement and muscle strength.
Supporting thinking skills and emotional well-being.
OT services are available for both inpatients and outpatients with orthopedic, neurological, respiratory, cognitive or behavioral conditions. The goal is to improve function and quality of life so patients can engage in the activities that matter most to them.
How we help
Occupational therapists at The Ottawa Hospital provide a wide range of services to help patients regain independence and improve daily function. These services include:
- Daily living support – Helping with activities like bathing, dressing and cooking, and recommending specialized equipment to make these tasks easier.
- Home safety and accessibility – Assessing the home environment and suggesting equipment to support safe discharge for patients with complex physical needs.
- Technology for independence – Supporting the use of devices that help patients live more independently at home.
- Wheelchair and mobility support – Assessing and prescribing wheelchairs and seating systems for patients with complex physical needs.
- Assistive Devices Program (ADP) support – Helping patients apply for funding through ADP, which supports Ontario residents with long-term physical disabilities.
- Cognitive and perceptual retraining – Improving thinking, memory and problem-solving skills.
- Hand therapy – Including custom splinting for injury recovery or support.
- Prosthetic training – Assessing and training patients in the use of upper limb prosthetics (we are an authorized ADP clinic for both conventional and power-operated devices).
- Burn care – Providing treatment and fitting of pressure garments for patients with extensive burns (authorized ADP burn clinic).
- Augmentative communication – Supporting patients who need alternative ways to communicate (authorized ADP expanded-level communication clinic).
- Energy conservation and pacing – Teaching strategies to manage fatigue and use energy more efficiently.
- Pain management– Helping reduce and manage chronic or injury-related pain.
- Driving rehabilitation – Assessing and supporting patients in returning to safe driving.
Education
Occupational therapists are university graduates of recognized university-based occupational therapy programs and are licensed by the College of Occupational Therapy of Ontario to practice occupational therapy in Ontario.
Occupational therapists must graduate with an entry-level Master’s degree from an occupational therapy program of an accredited Canadian university after a minimum of four years undergraduate academic training. In addition, they must complete multiple clinical internships in recognized health-care facilities.
After graduation, the College of Occupational Therapy of Ontario requires that candidates pass the Occupational Therapy National Examination.
We are a teaching facility affiliated with the University of Ottawa and provide fieldwork placements and internships for Occupational Therapy students and Occupational Therapist Assistant students.
More information is available from:
The Canadian Association of Occupational Therapists
The Ontario Society of Occupational Therapists
The College of Occupational Therapists of Ontario
The University of Ottawa School of Rehabilitation Sciences
or any other accredited occupational therapy program in Canada.
Research
Occupational therapists participate in a variety of research and quality improvement projects within the institution and as members of provincial health-care projects.