How To Become An Acute Care Occupational Therapy Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is an acute care occupational therapy assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being an acute care occupational therapy assistant. For example, did you know that they make an average of $25.19 an hour? That's $52,403 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 25% and produce 11,500 job opportunities across the U.S.

ScoreAcute Care Occupational Therapy AssistantUS Average

Salary

4.1

Avg. Salary $52,403

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.9

Growth rate 25%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

8.1

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.76%

Asian 5.20%

Black or African American 8.87%

Hispanic or Latino 8.56%

Unknown 5.81%

White 70.80%

Gender

female 70.83%

male 29.17%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

7.9

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

6.8

Complexity level is challenging

7 - challenging

Work life balance

9.2

Work life balance is excellent

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become an acute care occupational therapy assistant

Explore acute care occupational therapy assistant education requirements

Most common acute care occupational therapy assistant degrees

Bachelor's

37.5 %

Associate

35.0 %

Master's

12.5 %

Start to develop specific acute care occupational therapy assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Vital Signs	44.66%
Rehabilitation	20.43%
Discharge Planning	9.88%
EKG	8.66%
Direct Supervision	6.91%

Complete relevant acute care occupational therapy assistant training and internships

Accountants spend an average of Less than 1 month on post-employment, on-the-job training. New acute care occupational therapy assistants learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as an acute care occupational therapy assistant based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real acute care occupational therapy assistant resumes.

Obtain the necessary licensing

Becoming an licensed acute care occupational therapy assistant usually require a college degree. However, you need to pass an exam to become a licensed acute care occupational therapy assistant in most of states. 37 states require acute care occupational therapy assistants to have license for their work. You can see the list of states below.

State	Education	Exam	License url
Alabama	-	-	Licensed Occupational Therapist Assistant
Alaska	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Occupational Therapy Assistant
Arkansas	Specific course required	State exam required	Occupational Therapist Assistant (OTA)
California	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Occupational Therapy Assistant
Colorado	Degree required	Third-party exam required	Occupational Therapy Assistant

Research acute care occupational therapy assistant duties and responsibilities

Maintain daily documentation of therapy sessions including: ADL activities, therapeutic exercises, and modalities.
Assist in rehabilitation interventions and evaluations.
Document sessions using handwritten format to complete medicare requirements and used computer technology to enter minutes of therapy.
Perform weekly in-service education for splint applications/patient positioning to nursing staff and restorative technicians.

Prepare your acute care occupational therapy assistant resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your acute care occupational therapy assistant resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on an acute care occupational therapy assistant resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable acute care occupational therapy assistant resume templates

Build a professional acute care occupational therapy assistant resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your acute care occupational therapy assistant resume.

Apply for acute care occupational therapy assistant jobs

Now it's time to start searching for an acute care occupational therapy assistant job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do acute care occupational therapy assistants rate their job?

-/5

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Acute care occupational therapy assistant reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Nov 2019

Cons

I absolutely loved working as a COTA these past seven years but it has been filled with ups and downs. Working at skilled nursing facilities is difficult due to high productivity demands impacting therapist ability to give patient centered care. Now with the new patient driven payment model change to medicare laws, therapists are being laid off left and right. These therapists, like myself, will have the impossible task of trying to find work in the Seattle area - which has been flooded with newly graduated COTAs due to several OTA schools opening in this area. The jobs in pediatrics and at hospitals that are left will see in increase in competition as the displaces/laid off COTAs rush to those jobs.