General Admissions & OTCAS OTCAS observation vs volunteer?

[cindylu]

There is a section where we have to list all OT observation hours in the OTCAS. Is it appropriate to also list these hours in the experience section under volunteering too? In all the OT settings I volunteered in I had a hands-on role, and did not sinply observe. What have you all done, or what are you planning to do?

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[LAxW]

Usually the OT will tell you if your hours will be counted under observation or volunteer. Observation is specifically watching the OT but not hands on whereas volunteer is more hands on.

Personally, when I emailed OT. I would ask specifically for OT hours or volunteer to be able to distinguish my hours

 

[cindylu]

Usually the OT will tell you if your hours will be counted under observation or volunteer. Observation is specifically watching the OT but not hands on whereas volunteer is more hands on.

Personally, when I emailed OT. I would ask specifically for OT hours or volunteer to be able to distinguish my hours

In each setting I was considered a volunteer by the OTs.

 

[LAxW]

In each setting I was considered a volunteer by the OTs.

Hmm ask the OT if you can do more hours by specifically for observation hours. Some places are both volunteer and observations so maybe just specify with them

 

[cindylu]

Hmm ask the OT if you can do more hours by specifically for observation hours. Some places are both volunteer and observations so maybe just specify with them

Now I'm even more confused... lol. I observed OTs while volunteering for them.

 

[lao27746]

I also had this question bc my volunteer experience also requireda hands on role. If you look at the OTCAS website under experiences, it gives s brief description of what would be considered volunteer experience. On OTCAS, it says that volunteer experience is "volunteer work done outside of the health care field; for example, working for Habitat Humanity, tutoring students, participating in or working for a fundraiser walk or blood drive, etc". Based on this, I didn't add my OT volunteer hours under experiences, and only listed them under observation hours.

 

[CAOT]

^^ditto

 

[cindylu]

I also had this question bc my volunteer experience also requireda hands on role. If you look at the OTCAS website under experiences, it gives s brief description of what would be considered volunteer experience. On OTCAS, it says that volunteer experience is "volunteer work done outside of the health care field; for example, working for Habitat Humanity, tutoring students, participating in or working for a fundraiser walk or blood drive, etc". Based on this, I didn't add my OT volunteer hours under experiences, and only listed them under observation hours.

Thanks, I appreciate it... I still feel odd about it, since it was much more than observation.

 

[hhOT]

I also had this question bc my volunteer experience also requireda hands on role. If you look at the OTCAS website under experiences, it gives s brief description of what would be considered volunteer experience. On OTCAS, it says that volunteer experience is "volunteer work done outside of the health care field; for example, working for Habitat Humanity, tutoring students, participating in or working for a fundraiser walk or blood drive, etc". Based on this, I didn't add my OT volunteer hours under experiences, and only listed them under observation hours.

This is correct!

 

[Nonameiwant]

One of the places I've completed hours at allows me to observe a therapist (whether PT, OT or speech) for one of the three hours I'm there. The other two hours I'm just supposed to help out as needed (whether it be sanitizing/organizing toys/equipment, putting together packets, helping a therapist with a project, or watching siblings). It just doesn't make sense to count those extra two hours as observation hours since I wasn't directly observing. Even if I happened to be watching the siblings while an OT was around, I didn't count it because I was focusing on the siblings, not the OT.

Also if you look at Healthcare experience, it says "any paid or unpaid work in a health related field... "

So technically they are separate.

 

[cindylu]

I emailed OTCAS just to clarify,

This was my Q: If I volunteered in an OT setting, do I put those hours under observation hours section or in the experiences section under volunteer? Or do I put it in both? I volunteered in several OT settings under the supervision of an OT and had a hands on role in the therapy process.

This was their response: "You may input them in both, doing so will not negatively impact your application because the experience is both."

Just throwing this out there. Still unsure of what to do.

 

[HME4OT]

I emailed OTCAS just to clarify,

This was my Q: If I volunteered in an OT setting, do I put those hours under observation hours section or in the experiences section under volunteer? Or do I put it in both? I volunteered in several OT settings under the supervision of an OT and had a hands on role in the therapy process.

This was their response: "You may input them in both, doing so will not negatively impact your application because the experience is both."

Just throwing this out there. Still unsure of what to do.

Cindylu,

Your OT observation hours and your OT volunteer hours are the same thing. You can enter the hours you spent directly observing an OT (hands on or off) under the "Observation" portion of your application. I put my observation jobs into the "experiences" section AS WELL AS the "observation" section. But to answer your question, if you were working with or watching OT's do their thing, those are your observation hours (and incidentally were probably also volunteer hours if you were not compensated).