ot volunteer hours

[beestrng]

Could someone explain what "populations" means in regards to OT volunteer hours. The schools have been closed so I was wondering if someone could help me out, This is what the application says.

Your experiences should include at least 10 hours with an OT and at least two different populations.

This is from western Michigan.

I am guessing something like pediatric and geriatric...?

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[WinginIt]

I would assume that they may mean two different settings? Not sure, but that was what was required for the university I applied to just so you can have a broader picture of what OT's can do. Maybe you could volunteer in a skilled nursing facility and a school so I guess that would also fit with your interpretation of geriatric & pediatric. Of course, you can always call the school for clarification. They usually have someone who handles all application questions.

 

[Shelby029]

Yep, two different settings --- probably not school pediatrics and outpatient pediatrics but more of what you mentioned SNF and ped's. I think it is sooooo important to get a broad view of OT since it can be very different in different settings!

 

[eagle88]

such things like pediatrics, geriatrics, mental health, low vision, etc. get all sorts of different settings. will help you a lot.

 

[veggieswirl]

I had 20 hours in a hand clinic and 75 hours in school pediatrics, and one could hardly recognize OT in such different settings. Whenever somebody asks me what OT is I always say that it is a profession that is in-between speech therapy and physical therapy, though that is not the most in depth description, i think it is a good way of very quickly describing OT, since certified hand therapists can be either physical or occupational therapists, and my three main settings really helped me see how broad OT was. By two different settings, they probably mean two completely different settings, like a skilled nursing facility and a school district, or a hand clinic and a school district.

 

[gymnastau]

Yes that's what they mean.. peds is a different population than geriatric. Hand therapy clients are different than spinal rehab patients. Even though you may see the same exercise done with peds patients as with geriatric patients.. such as pulling buttons out of puddy. They want you go get a feel for a variety of populations that OT serves.
I assume this stems from people applying who have only worked with one population (say peds/school setting) and get into programs realizing the other sides of OT is beyond what they can handle.