Career Overlap Transition record
RecordMove

Occupational therapy assistant to physiotherapy assistant

An occupational therapy assistant already meets 29% of what the physiotherapy assistant role asks for. The move turns on 29 required skills not yet in the profile.

Fig. 1 · Skill transfer ESCO v1.2.1 · directional
From occupational therapy assistant
29 % overlap
Distant match
To physiotherapy assistant
12 You already bring
29 Still to learn
41 Skills in the target role2
Learning distance A rebuild

77.9/ 100

1 How much of what a physiotherapy assistant is expected to do is already part of an occupational therapy assistant’s work. Directional: the figure for the reverse move differs, because moving into a speciality is not the same problem as moving out of one. 2 Every skill the physiotherapy assistant role is recorded as needing, required and optional together. What these numbers mean.

Why

Why this move works

A physiotherapy assistant role treats 12 of its required skills as things an occupational therapy assistant already does. You would walk in with these on day one.

  • communicate in healthcare
  • deal with emergency care situations
  • develop therapeutic relationships
  • empathise with the healthcare user
  • ensure safety of healthcare users
  • follow clinical guidelines

What stands in the way is 29 required skills the profile does not yet cover. Table 3 groups them; Table 4 says which to take first.

Table 2

Table 2 · What you already bring

Of the 12 skills that carry over, these are the ones fewest other occupations ask for. A physiotherapy assistant role needs them, and most people applying for one will not have them already. This is the part of an occupational therapy assistant background worth leading with.

Skill the target role also needs Area
  • already held provide stroke rehabilitation services assisting and caring
  • already held develop therapeutic relationships communication, collaboration and creativity
  • already held record healthcare users' progress related to treatment information skills
  • already held deal with emergency care situations assisting and caring
  • already held interact with healthcare users communication, collaboration and creativity
  • already held provide health education communication, collaboration and creativity

All 12 carried skills, including the 12 the physiotherapy assistant role treats as required.

Table 3

Table 3 · What you may need to learn

The 29 missing skills fall into 6 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, numbered in the order worth working in. Areas carrying the most required skills come first, and inside each one the required skills sit above the optional ones. Nothing here is a verdict on you: it is a list of what this particular job asks for that your current one does not.

Skill to pick up Tier
01 communication, collaboration and creativity 11 required
  • still to learn assist physiotherapists required
  • still to learn support discharge from physiotherapy required
  • still to learn accept own accountability required
  • still to learn advise on healthcare users' informed consent required
  • still to learn advocate health required
  • still to learn promote health and safety policies in health services required
  • still to learn develop a collaborative therapeutic relationship required
  • still to learn educate on the prevention of illness required
  • still to learn inform policy makers on health-related challenges required
  • still to learn use different communication channels required
  • still to learn work in a multicultural environment in health care required
02 assisting and caring 8 required
  • still to learn adhere to health well-being and safety required
  • still to learn comply with quality standards related to healthcare practice required
  • still to learn contribute to continuity of health care required
  • still to learn provide information on the effects of physiotherapy required
  • still to learn adhere to organisational guidelines required
  • still to learn comply with legislation related to health care required
  • still to learn contribute to the rehabilitation process required
  • still to learn promote inclusion required
03 management skills 6 required
  • still to learn contribute to quality physiotherapy services required
  • still to learn develop plans related to client discharge required
  • still to learn develop plans related to the transfer of care required
  • still to learn provide learning support in healthcare required
  • still to learn apply organisational techniques required
  • still to learn respond to changing situations in health care required
04 information skills 2 required
  • still to learn collect healthcare user data under supervision required
  • still to learn manage healthcare users' data required
05 working with computers 1 required
  • still to learn use e-health and mobile health technologies required
06 working with machinery and specialised equipment 1 required
  • still to learn maintain physiotherapy equipment required
Table 4

Table 4 · Where to start

The 3 entries a physiotherapy assistant role is least likely to hire without. The ordering is computed from the skill data, not from what pays.

Each entry opens a course search for that skill. Career Overlap earns nothing from these links.

Appendix

Appendix · The rest of the record

All 12 skills that carry over
Skill Type
  • already held communicate in healthcare skill
  • already held deal with emergency care situations skill
  • already held develop therapeutic relationships skill
  • already held empathise with the healthcare user skill
  • already held ensure safety of healthcare users skill
  • already held follow clinical guidelines skill
  • already held interact with healthcare users skill
  • already held listen actively skill
  • already held provide health education skill
  • already held provide stroke rehabilitation services skill
  • already held record healthcare users' progress related to treatment skill
  • already held work in multidisciplinary health teams skill
0 supplementary skills, helpful but not required
Skill to pick up Tier
34 held skills the physiotherapy assistant role does not ask for
Skill Type
  • not needed by the target role advise healthcare users on occupational health skill
  • not needed by the target role apply techniques of occupational therapy skill
  • not needed by the target role assist healthcare users achieve autonomy skill
  • not needed by the target role assist in performing physical exercises skill
  • not needed by the target role community-based rehabilitation knowledge
  • not needed by the target role create individual treatment programmes skill
  • not needed by the target role develop a rehabilitation programme skill
  • not needed by the target role ergonomics knowledge
  • not needed by the target role exercise patience skill
  • not needed by the target role first aid knowledge
  • not needed by the target role general medicine knowledge
  • not needed by the target role geriatrics knowledge
  • not needed by the target role health care legislation knowledge
  • not needed by the target role health care occupation-specific ethics knowledge
  • not needed by the target role human physiology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role hygiene in a health care setting knowledge
  • not needed by the target role instruct on the use of special equipment for daily activities skill
  • not needed by the target role kinesiology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role mechanotherapy knowledge
  • not needed by the target role monitor patients' progress related to treatment skill
  • not needed by the target role movement techniques knowledge
  • not needed by the target role neurology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role occupational health knowledge
  • not needed by the target role occupational physiology knowledge
  • not needed by the target role occupational science knowledge
  • not needed by the target role occupational therapy theories knowledge
  • not needed by the target role orthopaedics knowledge
  • not needed by the target role perform occupation analyses skill
  • not needed by the target role perform patient activity analyses skill
  • not needed by the target role physical medicine knowledge
  • not needed by the target role rehabilitation knowledge
  • not needed by the target role remediate healthcare user's occupational performance skill
  • not needed by the target role supervision of persons knowledge
  • not needed by the target role vocational rehabilitation knowledge
Index

Other moves recorded from occupational therapy assistant

Full index of moves from occupational therapy assistant

FAQ

Common questions about this move

Can an occupational therapy assistant become a physiotherapy assistant?

Yes, and it is a career change move. An occupational therapy assistant already covers 29% of what a physiotherapy assistant is expected to do: 12 skills carry over, 12 of which the physiotherapy assistant role treats as required.

What skills does an occupational therapy assistant need to become a physiotherapy assistant?

29 required skills are missing, plus 0 optional ones. They fall into 6 areas of the ESCO skill hierarchy, led by communication, collaboration and creativity. The single most important is assist physiotherapists.

How hard is the move from occupational therapy assistant to physiotherapy assistant?

Its learning distance is 77.9 out of 100, which is the career change band. That accounts for both how much is missing and how specialised those skills are.

Note

How this record was compiled

Both occupations are taken from ESCO, which lists the skills and knowledge each occupation is expected to have and marks every one required or optional. Nothing here is a prediction about hiring, and nothing here knows that a particular employer wants a particular certificate. Treat Table 3 as a starting point for your own research rather than a syllabus. The full method states what these figures can and cannot tell you.