In-Patient Physical Therapy Settings

[lmcjose]

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Hi everyone,

I am looking to get some hours at an in-patient setting, however it is sometimes difficult to do that in a hospital since applicants would have to go through the volunteer department and actually request that they be placed solely in a physical therapy setting.

I was wondering are there any other in-patients settings besides a hospital that most physical therapy schools would consider in-patient?

I know a skilled nursing facility (SNF) is sometimes regarded as in-patient, however I was wondering if most, if not all, physical therapy schools would consider this as in-patient hours?

Thanks!🙂

 

[Phyline]

Are there any hospitals in your area where you DON'T have to go through the volunteer department? That's not always the case.

 

[astarblaze]

Any setting where patients stay 24/7 at the facility while getting treatment is considered inpatient. You could look for skilled nursing facilities or rehabilitation hospitals in addition to acute care hospital settings. One thing that I've seen is that some programs do want you to get acute care (eg- general hospital) observation experience, so you might want to at least start on the process to get into the hospital through the volunteer department. In the hospitals I've volunteered at, the volunteer departments have been pretty familiar with people wanting to come in to get hours for PT school, so there may be more of a process for this than you would think. Hospitals can definitely be a pain in the butt to get observation hours through, but IMO it's an important setting to get exposure to if you can, since its a pretty common setting for PTs to work in.

 

[mn977]

Go ask the physical therapy departments directly (email or in-person or phone). Email is easiest imo. All the people I contacted answered me (usually the answer was go through volunteer department, but still they answered me). There is usually one to go person that is in charge of volunteers in every department. If that person wants you in as a volunteer, you can easily get through the volunteer department directly into orientation, paperwork stuff, and medical clearance (which still takes time grant you, but it's a lot faster than them processing your application and getting interview and other bs formalities). It saves them work of having to place you somewhere also, so the volunteer departments are just going to go with it. That's how I got into the largest hospital system in NY. When you're in as a volunteer at the hospital, it's very simple matter of rotating through the departments and your supervisor making a phone call for you to get in some observation hours in other departments (all the PTs knew each other).

 

[Dj2PT]

Go ask the physical therapy departments directly (email or in-person or phone). Email is easiest imo. All the people I contacted answered me (usually the answer was go through volunteer department, but still they answered me). There is usually one to go person that is in charge of volunteers in every department. If that person wants you in as a volunteer, you can easily get through the volunteer department directly into orientation, paperwork stuff, and medical clearance (which still takes time grant you, but it's a lot faster than them processing your application and getting interview and other bs formalities). It saves them work of having to place you somewhere also, so the volunteer departments are just going to go with it. That's how I got into the largest hospital system in NY. When you're in as a volunteer at the hospital, it's very simple matter of rotating through the departments and your supervisor making a phone call for you to get in some observation hours in other departments (all the PTs knew each other).

may i ask which hospital did you volunteer at in nyc? I'm also from there and will be looking to volunteer soon!

 

[mn977]

Oh btw if you call volunteer department asking about observation hours they will likely say that they don't offer this (they have no clue what each department does) and hang up on you. I have seen this when I went to volunteer office to hand in paperwork. I got about 10 rejections and 2 yes's from two different hospital systems. Took me 4 weeks to get started volunteering due to medical clearance, paperwork, etc. But the process is actually significantly easier than I thought. You just have to get luckily and have one person say yes to you and open the door into the hospital. =)

 

[mn977]

may i ask which hospital did you volunteer at in nyc? I'm also from there and will be looking to volunteer soon!

NYP