Need help: Occupational Therapy msc course

Hi studentroom, I am a graduated bsc student from biomedical science. I messed up for doing a HCPC registered/IBMS course which make it difficult for me to work as an biomedical scientist. Therefore, I am thinking of a career change into occupational therapy which i found myself interested in.

I am planning to study a msc occupational therapy (pre-registration) course did some research on the university which states it is accredit with RCOT , HCPC registration and placement. Does it mean by the time in graduation in msc, i will be able to work as an occupational therapist in the NHS? I am not sure what pre-registration means please correct me if i am wrong. I guess it is a course that accept student who didn't do an occupational therapy bsc?

I just want to make sure the master course cover all the requirement and it will make me eligible to work straight away? Originally i was thinking of doing a second bachelor bsc but i research this as an alternative may save time and money.

Hi there,

I'm currently studying the msc occupational therapy (pre-registration) course at University of Southampton.

Pre-registration just means your undertaking the course before being a registered healthcare professional - some Occupational Therapy courses are for people who are already qualified occupational therpists and are undertaking a course to further their professional development.

I originally studied Education and Psychology and decided I wanted to return to university to study to be an occupational therapist. I'm due to finish my 2 year masters in December - I will then have to wait until all my results come back and then I can apply for HCPC registration. Once I have this through I can start working as a Occupational Therapist!

I'm so glad I chose to do the Msc route - it is more intense than the BSc route but as you say it can help to save a year of studying.

Please ask me any questions you have about studying an MSc Occupational Therapy course and I'll do my best to answer.

I hope this helps

Katie
Official University of Southampton student ambassador

Hi,

How do you find the placement (1000h) in course? Are those demanding and do you find it difficult for work time balance?
I am worry that the msc course expect me have a good foundation of knowledge. I previously did little anatomy and physiology so i pretty much start from scratch.

Kind Regards

Hi,

Good question! The thought of doing 1000 hours can be really dautning and the idea of going onto placement is scary. Speaking from experience with the University of Southampton course, we have no university lectures going on whilst on placement. We do 5 placements, each are 6 weeks long and we do 37.5 hours a week (standard working week). I have found to have better work-time balance whilst on placement as I can come home in the evenings and rest whereas when I have university I have to create my own balance.

As the course is pre-registration, you aren't expected to have much foundational knowledge - you get taught a lot of it during your degree. I also started from scratch and was provided with all the infomation I needed whilst in university or on placement. It might be worth asking potential universities about their expected levels of knowledge prior so that you can appropriatley prepare if necessary.

It can be really overwhelming when thinking about taking a new direction and starting a new course and you're defintiely not alone in feeling that way.

I hope that helps - please let me know if you have any questions or queries. Where would you be interested in studying?

Katie
Official University of Southampton student ambassador