General Admissions & OTCAS Philadelphia Observation Hours

[Nza5011]

Has anyone had any luck getting observation hours in the Philadelphia area? There's not even a handful of rehab clinics and the rest are hospitals, with hospitals not having any openings to POSSIBLY get a volunteering position for months. Any suggestions?

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[student4life101]

I don't know if this will help, but looking through the USC website I found a contact for PA. It's the very last one on the list.
http://chan.usc.edu/uploads/admissions/Volunteer_List_February_2016_Updated.pdf
I used the list to contact sites that had connections to other places, so maybe it could work for you. Good luck!

 

[MusicalOT14]

I am not from the area but I ran into a similar problem, I turned to google and the yellow pages and just started making phone calls, I just explained that I was looking to volunteer / shadow to gain hours for my application to OT school. I was amazed at how many places I found that I didn't know exsisted and how excited they were to have an extra hand. Here is a link to the yellow pages for OTs in the Philly area: http://www.yellowpages.com/philadelphia-pa/occupational-therapists. I hope this is of some help to you, best of luck!

 

[Bokonomy]

Personally, I actually found schools the easiest to get hours from. Did you try any yet? I had some issues with nursing homes, but didn't try that many. Hospitals seem to be the most strict, for some reason.

Edit: Also Philly's probably so tough because there are so many schools in the area. I'm starting at Jefferson in the fall and the coordinator told us we might get placed up to an hour and a half away for our Level Is. She said there were very few in Center City, so if you have car access, you might have to suffer for a while and try the suburbs.

 

[JustABarista]

It took me 4-5 months to finally start hearing back about observation hours in Philadelphia. I had some success with hospitals and rehabilitation centers in the suburbs of Philadelphia, as well as some home health organizations that provide OT. I am happy to provide some specifics if you want to send me a PM!

 

[Shevek]

I have been able to eke out about 60 observation hours in Philly. It has been hard. Most places only let you observe for a single day. I cold called and left a lot of messages. I got most of my hours at a SNF, Renaissance. I shamelessly asked my firend and people on my neighborhood list serve. I did not get a lot of hours from that but made a good relationship that led to an OTR recommendation letter. The hospitals have a long turn around for getting onto their volunteering. You have to be find out when they start opening for volunteers and apply at that time. I hope when I am an OT that I will organize locally to make clinical observation hours easier to connect into. Here is an example. https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-pa...penn-presbyterian-medical-center/volunteering

 

[kms433]

Hi. I work as a therapy aide in a philly rehab hospital. Most of my observation hours were from up north when I went to school in central jersey.
However, have you thought about obtaining hours outside of the city? I got OT hand therapy hours around Marlton, NJ. They were very accommodating and let me come in whenever I had time!

I would stay away from hospitals because you would have to get a volunteer position and you would have to reach a specific amount of hours in order for the Head Rehab Director to write a rec letter or eval. Also, you may or may not even get to observe that therapist much which makes it harder to form a good relationship with them.

 

[Bokonomy]

Hi. I work as a therapy aide in a philly rehab hospital. Most of my observation hours were from up north when I went to school in central jersey.
However, have you thought about obtaining hours outside of the city? I got OT hand therapy hours around Marlton, NJ. They were very accommodating and let me come in whenever I had time!

I would stay away from hospitals because you would have to get a volunteer position and you would have to reach a specific amount of hours in order for the Head Rehab Director to write a rec letter or eval. Also, you may or may not even get to observe that therapist much which makes it harder to form a good relationship with them.

With all the colleges in the area, was it difficult to find a job as a therapy aide? Just curious! I was awarded a grad assistantship, but it wasn't for much, and it doesn't cover summers. How common are per diem/fill in jobs in the field? Thanks!

 

[kms433]

With all the colleges in the area, was it difficult to find a job as a therapy aide? Just curious! I was awarded a grad assistantship, but it wasn't for much, and it doesn't cover summers. How common are per diem/fill in jobs in the field? Thanks!

I didn't go to school in philly, but I did find it hard to find a therapy job with just a bachelors degree. I'm from south jersey and I had a hard time finding a therapy aide job in my area. I drive to philly in order to keep therapy experience in my life.
There's not a lot of OT opportunities, but currently my department is hiring because a few of my coworkers are going back to school this fall.