Occupational Therapist Resume Keywords by Practice Setting

Occupational therapist resume keywords at a glance

These terms appear across OT job postings, grouped by the kind of work they describe. Use the ones that match work you have actually done. The sections after the list show how the right mix changes by setting.

Evaluation and assessment

• Occupational therapy evaluation
• Re-evaluation
• Standardized assessment
• Functional assessment
• Cognitive screening
• Home safety evaluation
• Goniometry
• Manual muscle testing
• Grip and pinch strength testing
• Outcome measures
• Goal setting
• Plan of care

Daily living and function

• Activities of daily living (ADLs)
• Instrumental activities of daily living (IADLs)
• ADL retraining
• Self-care training
• Functional mobility
• Functional transfers
• Toileting
• Dressing
• Self-feeding
• Energy conservation
• Fall prevention
• Adaptive equipment

Interventions and techniques

• Therapeutic activities
• Therapeutic exercise
• Neuromuscular re-education
• Fine motor skills
• Visual-motor integration
• Sensory integration
• Sensory regulation
• Cognitive rehabilitation
• Upper extremity rehabilitation
• Custom orthotic fabrication
• Edema management
• Positioning
• Caregiver training
• Task analysis

Documentation and compliance

• Clinical documentation
• Progress notes
• Section GG
• PDPM
• Medicare Part A and Part B
• OASIS
• CPT coding
• IEP goals
• IFSP
• HIPAA

Collaboration and leadership

• Interdisciplinary team
• COTA supervision
• Fieldwork educator
• Discharge planning
• Patient and family education
• Teacher consultation
• Care coordination

Credentials and systems

• OTR/L
• NBCOT certification
• State license
• BLS
• Epic
• PointClickCare
• WebPT
• Homecare Homebase
• NetHealth

Name the assessments you actually give

Named assessments are some of the most concrete occupational therapist resume skills you can list. A line like "completed evaluations" tells the reader very little. "Administered the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales and Sensory Profile 2 for children aged 2 to 8" tells them which tools you use, which population you work with, and that you can score and interpret the results.

The phone-screen script I used for a pediatric outpatient clinic had one question written by the clinical director: which standardized assessments can you administer and score without supervision? When a resume already named the Peabody or the Sensory Profile, I could mark that question as answered before I dialed, and the call moved straight to caseload and schedule.

Three small details make assessment names work better on a resume.

First, include the edition you were trained on when it matters, such as PDMS-2 or PDMS-3. A clinic that has switched to a newer version may ask about it.

Second, spell out the Allen Cognitive Level Screen at least once. In a hospital, "ACLS" is read as Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support first, and a reader may assume you listed a life support certification.

Third, only name tools you could explain in an interview: how you scored it, what the results showed, and what you changed in treatment because of it.

Assessments worth naming, if you use them:

Pediatrics

• Peabody Developmental Motor Scales (PDMS)
• Bruininks-Oseretsky Test of Motor Proficiency (BOT)
• Sensory Profile 2
• Beery VMI

Adult rehab and acute care

• Canadian Occupational Performance Measure (COPM)
• AM-PAC "6-Clicks"
• Nine-Hole Peg Test
• Grip and pinch dynamometry

Cognition and daily living

• Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA)
• SLUMS
• Allen Cognitive Level Screen
• Executive Function Performance Test (EFPT)
• Kohlman Evaluation of Living Skills (KELS)

Hand and upper extremity

• QuickDASH
• Jebsen-Taylor Hand Function Test
• Edema and scar assessment

How to read an OT job posting line by line

OT postings tell you a lot about the setting and the payer if you read them slowly. A typical skilled nursing posting reads something like this:

Occupational Therapist (OTR/L), Skilled Nursing. Evaluate residents and develop individualized plans of care focused on ADLs, functional mobility, and safety. Complete documentation that meets Medicare Part A and Part B guidelines. Experience with PDPM and Section GG preferred. Supervise COTAs and rehab aides. Experience with physical agent modalities a plus. Current state license and NBCOT certification required.

Each phrase points to something specific the hiring team will look for.

Use the right column as a model. The system names, numbers, and tools should come from your own work. If you want a repeatable method for this step, here is how to find keywords in a job description.

Eight OT settings and the terms each one uses

The setting changes the vocabulary more than anything else on an OT resume. Use these lists of occupational therapy resume keywords to find the terms that belong to your current setting and the one you are applying to.

You usually need only two of these lists: the one for the setting you work in now and the one for the setting you want. OT resume keywords from a setting you have never worked in will be hard to defend in an interview, and they can make a resume look padded to a director who works in that setting every day.

Skilled nursing and long-term care

• Section GG
• PDPM
• Medicare Part A and Part B
• ADL retraining
• Positioning
• Contracture management
• Fall prevention
• Restorative programs
• COTA supervision
• MoCA or SLUMS cognitive screening

Inpatient rehab

• Section GG (IRF-PAI)
• Stroke (CVA) rehabilitation
• TBI and SCI rehabilitation
• Neuro re-education
• Upper extremity function
• Family training
• Interdisciplinary team conference
• Discharge planning
• COPM

Acute care

• Early mobilization
• ICU
• AM-PAC "6-Clicks"
• Hip, sternal, and spinal precautions
• Cognitive screening
• Discharge recommendations
• Epic
• High-volume caseload

Home health

• OASIS (where OT completes it)
• Home safety evaluation
• Caregiver training
• Bathroom safety
• Energy conservation
• DME recommendations
• PDGM
• Homecare Homebase

Outpatient and hand therapy

• Custom orthotic fabrication
• Tendon repair protocols
• Edema management
• Scar management
• Physical agent modalities (PAMs)
• QuickDASH
• Goniometry
• Grip and pinch strength
• CPT coding
• Medicare Part B plan of care
• WebPT

Small wording differences matter more in some settings than in others. One hand therapy clinic I filled roles for had a director who read "splinting" as prefabricated splints unless the candidate said otherwise. "Custom orthotic fabrication" told her the person could mold thermoplastic for a post-op flexor tendon protocol, and that was the part of the job she could not train quickly.

School-based

• IEP goals
• 504 plans
• Fine motor skills
• Visual-motor integration
• Handwriting
• Sensory regulation
• Assistive technology
• Teacher consultation
• Classroom accommodations
• Related services

Early intervention and pediatric outpatient

• IFSP
• Developmental milestones
• PDMS
• BOT
• Feeding therapy
• Ayres Sensory Integration
• Coaching model
• Routines-based intervention
• Parent education
• Insurance authorizations

Mental health

• Group facilitation
• Coping skills
• Life skills training
• Sensory modulation
• Trauma-informed care
• Allen Cognitive Level Screen
• KELS
• Psychiatric rehabilitation
• Treatment team

One skill, written for four employers

Teaching someone to dress themselves is part of OT work in almost every setting. Here is how the same skill can be written for four different jobs.

Skilled nursing

Provided ADL retraining for short-stay residents, including lower body dressing with a reacher and sock aid; scored Section GG self-care items at admission and discharge.

Home health

Trained patients and caregivers in dressing and bathing routines in the home, and recommended DME such as tub transfer benches and grab bars after home safety evaluations.

Inpatient rehab

Delivered task-specific dressing and grooming training for patients after CVA, combined with upper extremity neuro re-education and family training before discharge.

Pediatric outpatient

Built dressing and fastener skills (buttons, zippers, shoe tying) for children aged 4 to 9 through graded fine motor activities and home programs for parents.

All four bullets describe the same kind of work. The changes are in the population, the measure, and the setting-specific term the employer is likely to look for: Section GG, DME, CVA, or fasteners and home programs.

If you apply across settings, keep a full master resume and create a shorter version for each target. An AI Resume Optimizer can help you draft a version for a new setting faster, but check every term it suggests against what you have actually done.

Terms that can date your resume

Medicare payment rules that shape OT work changed several times in 2018 and 2019, and old terms can stay on a resume for years if nobody updates it.

• RUG levels and "Ultra High" minutes: skilled nursing facilities moved from RUG-IV to PDPM in October 2019.
• FIM scores: removed from the inpatient rehab assessment form (IRF-PAI) in October 2019 and replaced with Section GG items. Some facilities still track FIM internally, so check the posting before you remove it.
• Therapy cap: Congress repealed the Medicare therapy cap in 2018. A phrase like "managed visits within the therapy cap" now points to an older period.

I remember a rehab director in 2021 pointing at "maintained Ultra High RUG levels" on a resume and asking me whether the candidate had worked in a building since PDPM started. She had, for two years. Her resume just had not been touched since 2018.

If your experience includes these older systems, you do not need to hide it. Describe the work in terms that are still accurate, such as "scored functional outcomes at admission and discharge," and name the tool you used with the dates. Avoid putting a current term like Section GG on a role where you never used it.

Credentials: make them visible in the first line

The first edit I make on most OT resumes I coach is moving the credentials. The NBCOT certification and state license often sit in the last section, under a heading like "Additional Information," while the top of the page shows only the person's name.

A clearer setup:

• Name line: "Maria Lopez, MS, OTR/L" or "Maria Lopez, OTD, OTR/L." OTR shows NBCOT registration, and /L shows a state license.
• License line: list each state and its status, for example "Licensed in Texas and Oklahoma (active)." For travel and per diem roles, the list of states can be one of the first things a recruiter checks.
• Basic certifications: BLS or CPR, if the posting asks for it.
• State-specific approvals: some states require separate approval for physical agent modalities or other advanced practice areas. If you hold one, list it.

Specialty certifications worth listing, if you hold them. Spell each one out once, since not all of these acronyms are familiar outside their specialty:

• CHT (Certified Hand Therapist)
• ATP (Assistive Technology Professional)
• CLT (Certified Lymphedema Therapist)
• LSVT BIG
• CAPS (Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist)
• CDRS (Certified Driver Rehabilitation Specialist)
• CBIS (Certified Brain Injury Specialist)

New graduates can add exam and license status, such as "NBCOT exam passed, state license pending," or a temporary permit if their state offers one. Name your Level II fieldwork settings clearly ("Level II Fieldwork: Pediatric Outpatient Clinic"), because the setting name works as a keyword too.

Credential lines with slashes and several commas are worth a quick technical check. An ATS Resume Checker can help you see how your header and credentials are read before you apply.

Changing settings or leaving clinical work

Moving from skilled nursing to outpatient pediatrics, or from acute care to a school district, means your resume has to show overlap that a hiring manager might not see right away. Start with the skills that really transfer: cognitive assessment, fine motor work, caregiver education, sensory strategies, and documentation for a specific payer. Then add evidence aimed at the new setting, such as a pediatric feeding course listed by its full name and contact hours, rather than a general line about ongoing learning.

For non-clinical roles, the vocabulary changes completely. OTs move into utilization review, case management, clinical education, EHR work, accessibility, and UX research, and each of these uses different words for skills OTs already have.

I coached an OT moving into utilization review whose resume never used the word "Medicare," even though she had checked her own notes and her team's notes against Part B guidelines every week for six years. One added bullet about documentation review gave UR hiring teams something to match against their postings.

For each non-clinical target, match your resume to the job description one posting at a time. These roles vary a lot between employers, even when the job title is the same.

Check your resume against two postings

A useful final check for your occupational therapist resume keywords is to compare your resume with a posting from the setting you want and a posting from the setting you are leaving. A Resume Keyword Scanner shows which terms from each posting already appear in your resume.

Terms that match only the old posting are candidates to shorten or move lower on the page. Terms from the new posting that describe real experience but are missing from your resume are the ones to add. Skip anything you cannot support, and watch for common keyword mistakes such as copying full sentences from the posting.

If you are considering a move into a related field, such as case management or healthcare administration, the guide to resume keywords by industry shows how the vocabulary shifts between fields.