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Job Scope
Allied Health Professionals play a critical role in the recovery and rehabilitation of patients. In the Social Service Sector, they constitute mainly of Physiotherapists, Occupational Therapists and Speech-language Therapists.
Occupational Therapists
Occupational Therapy is a health profession that uses activities with specific goals to help people from all ages prevent, reduce or overcome the effects of their disabilities. The fundamental purpose of Occupational Therapy is the development and maintenance of a person's capacity throughout life to perform tasks and roles essential to productive living, including self-care, daily living, leisure and work.
Occupational Therapists help people with disabilities of all ages, and are based in a variety of settings such as nursing homes, special schools, day rehabilitation centres for the disabled and the elderly, private clinics and hospitals. Besides centre-based services, Occupational Therapists also provide home-based services like home midification, caregiver training and stroke management.
For more information on Occupational Therapists, log on to www.saot.org.sg
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Personal Qualities
Allied Health Professionals enjoy the challenge of being facilitators of positive change in people’s lives and possess a passion and desire to help those with physical, psychological and emotional problems. Patient and proactive with a dynamic personality, they should be able to work well in a team consisting of nurses, other allied health professionals, social workers and psychologists.
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Minimum Requirements
Occupational Therapists and Physiotherapists
In Singapore, the minimum educational qualification required to be an Occupational Therapist or Physiotherapist is a Diploma in Occupational Therapy or Physiotherapy respectively. Both diplomas are tenable at the Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP). Degree conversion programmes are available from overseas universities and locally at SIM. In addition, scholarships are available for both the diploma and degree programmes through the National Council of Social Service (NCSS).
Speech-Language Therapists
Currently, Speech-Language Therapists are trained overseas through a four-year undergraduate degree course. For first degree holders, NUS offers a Master of Science (Speech and Language Pathology) programme as entry-level training that allows graduates to practice as Speech-Language Therapists upon completion of the two-year full-time programme. Scholarships for the allied health courses can be applied through NCSS.
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Salary Range
Allied Health Professionals with a Diploma qualification start between $1,600 to $1,800. Those with a Degree in the appropriate discipline enter the profession at $2,000 to $2,400.
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Professional Development Opportunities
Continuing education courses and seminars for Allied Health Professionals are conducted on a regular basis. Post-graduate educational opportunities that include masters' and doctoral programmes are available at overseas universities. Scholarships are also available for professional upgrading in this fields through NCSS. Senior Therapists may occupy management positions or take on lectureship roles.
Occupational Therpaists can choose to specialise in the clinical, administrative or academic field. They may become clinical specialists in physical rehabilitation, community healthcare, paediatrics or psychosocial rehabilitation.
Physiotherapists can choose to specialise in diverse areas of practice such as orthopaedics, paediatrics, cardiorespiratory, gerontology, women’s health, sports physiotherapy, health promotion, manual therapy and health care management.
Speech-Language Therapists can specialise in different areas of practice such as swallowing disorders, voice disorders or child language as well as aspire to become managers running services, forming policies and conducting research.
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Training Pathway
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Physiotherapist
