My sister is an OT. My neighbor is a physical therapist and instructor. I am an SLP.
In the hospital we’d be considered an “acute rehab team”. In skilled nursing facilities, we’d be considered the “chronic care rehab team”.
In the schools we’d be considered the “special ed team”.
I take it from your posts that you want a fast and easy educational experience that will pay you well, correct?
OT and PT are not it. With Occupational therapy your job is to get the patient to a functional level of daily living. For adults that may mean carrying out a daily schedule -Taking care of daily hygiene, cooking for yourself, Typing emails, signing your name, etc.
For a child, occupational therapy means getting them to walk in a line at school, jump off of a step, writing their name, doing work sheets with grip supports. They are Learning how to extend their range of motion so that they’re not awkward when they walk, or when they move for school purposes.
Physical therapy involves getting a person to be able to move from point A to point B without PAIN or further injury.
In other words, to do all of these things, you need a strong background in anatomy and physiology.
You, yourself, have to learn how to move and lift anyone without injuring yourself.
You need to observe people in various stages of progress and record your observation hours.
You need to spend a lot of time watching how the body corresponds to certain movements.
You also need to do internships in hospitals, clinics, and schools with every age and stage.
You will see people in bandages, casts, swings, straps, lifts and grotesque injuries.
When you see people in a vulnerable state of illness, who can’t move, and can’t go to the restroom by themselves, you have to be the most compassionate person on the planet and help them. It is your responsibility, as a person who has selected this occupation, to take care of another human being without being “grossed out”.
You need to be able to handle death and be compassionate with families because it does come up.
All of this takes extensive knowledge, experience, practice and extreme compassion, so it’s not for everyone.
This is not something that you can just do “off the cuff” because you’ve heard that it’s something that you could easily do. That’s why you need to do undergrad and graduate work in this area to even be considering these fields. It’s extremely competitive and expensive and requires some semblance of thought.