20 tasks, each one witnessed by the sources that watched the job — and behind every one, a prompt you can use tonight.
You usually start by preparing treatment areas and equipment, checking infection control and equipment security. That means cleaning, laying out materials for manual or creative arts, and confirming adaptive devices are ready.
Most of the day is watching and helping clients during sessions: escorting them, supervising activity choices, demonstrating simple therapy techniques, and taking notes in the EMR (examples: MEDITECH or whatever hospital uses). You also help with clerical tasks like scheduling and answering phones in Microsoft Outlook.
You don’t usually need a college degree. Employers often ask for a high-school diploma and a short on-the-job training or a certificate from a community college. Some places prefer a certified occupational therapy assistant (COTA) for higher tasks, but aides typically are not COTAs.
You will be trained to use the facility’s EMR (like MEDITECH), basic adaptive-device adjustments, infection control procedures, and how to safely demonstrate simple techniques under a therapist’s supervision.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS, 2025), about 4,310 people were employed as occupational therapy aides. The median wage was $39,160 per year. The lowest tenth earned about $29,430, and the top tenth earned about $70,200.
Pay varies by region, employer (hospital vs. rehab center), and whether you pick up extra shifts. BLS is the source for these numbers.
You will enter client notes and schedules in the facility’s electronic medical record (EMR); a common one is MEDITECH, but hospitals use different EMRs. You’ll also use Microsoft Outlook for email and scheduling, Excel for simple logs or equipment inventories, and Word for forms and handouts.
Know basic data entry, attaching scanned forms to a chart, and printing therapy instructions. Accuracy matters because therapists and billing teams rely on your records.
An aide focuses on support tasks: preparing treatment areas, escorting clients, demonstrating simple techniques under supervision, clerical work, and recording observations. You don’t design therapy plans or perform complex assessments.
An OTA (or COTA) has formal training and can perform assessments, implement parts of treatment plans, and may do more adaptive-device adjustments and vocational rehab work under the therapist’s plan. Licensure requirements differ by state for OTAs; aides are usually unlicensed.
You can use AI to draft plain-language education handouts, checklists, or summarize meeting notes, but never paste protected health information (PHI) into public AI tools. Always follow your employer’s privacy policies and HIPAA rules.
For EMR tasks (MEDITECH) or billing forms, avoid AI unless your organization has an approved, secure AI tool. Use Outlook and Excel features built into your workplace systems for scheduling and logs.
Observation and clear communication are crucial: you must notice how a client moves, report changes in the EMR, and explain simple therapy steps so clients can follow them. That matters when supervising activities and helping with coping strategies or relapse prevention programs.
Practical skills help too: basic equipment cleaning and minor adaptive-device adjustments, accurate clerical work (scheduling, billing forms), and teamwork with occupational therapists, educational specialists, and psychologists. Reliability and attention to infection control are essential.