Shadowing and Volunteer hours

[lizzo76]

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Could people post how many shadowing hours they had when they applied to OT programs, and the facilities in which they shadowed? And, also, volunteer hours/facilities (separate from shadowing.)

I've been volunteering 4 hours per week on the ACE Unit (Acute Care for the Elderly) at my local hospital. So far I only have 40 hours, but I should have over 100 by the time I apply. This is valuable experience interacting with patients (and frankly, being exposed to the kinds of things OTs don't directly work with, but probably see regularly if they do inpatient work.) My role is just to try to keep patients mentally and physically engaged, so I go in and talk with them, maybe walk them around, maybe do an activity, help them eat, groom them, give them hand massages, etc.. It's all about "reading" the situation and deciding what I can do... the goal of ACE is to prevent or slow the mental and physical decline which often happens to elderly patients admitted to acute care hospitals.

As for shadowing... I will be shadowing an inpatient OT (at the same hospital) next week, and then we will set up shadowing of an outpatient OT, which is also at the same hospital. I'm not yet sure of the patient population (maybe a bit of everything.) But, the shadowing hours don't add up like the weekly volunteer hours do... I'll stick with this woman for a few hours, observing, and then have a discussion with her. Is this the experience others have had? Do you actually shadow for hours on end, week after week? Or are your shadowing hours usually much fewer than regular volunteer hours (assuming you're not volunteering in a setting in which you're able to observe an OT at all times.)

 

[GatorOT]

Hi. I will beginning a MOT program at the University of Florida this fall.

I listed both volunteer hours and shadowing experience on my resume. I initially volunteered with a pediatric outpatient OT facility (25 hours) where I did get to assist the OT, but it was more shadowing than volunteering. However I still consider it volunteering. I then did another 25 hours in a similar setting, where really I was mostly shadowing and not assisting. I finally completed over 75 hours of volunteering with a hand therapist working with mostly adults in an outpatient setting, I would definetely consider this experience more volunteering than just shadowing, as I assisted her in many ways. I also have about 20 hours assisting in a special needs preschool.

If you start shadowing, you may see ways that you can assist the OT rather than just observing. You will have a much more valuable experience that way and more to put on your application.

Good Luck

 

[exrx]

I had 30 hrs in SNF. I'm not show how you're defining shadowing and volunteering. In any event, I think I was required to have 20hrs of observation. It seems like you'll end up with a major surplus of hours by the time you apply. I wouldn't worry about accumulating so many hours. I would suggest stopping at doubling the school requirement unless you just can't get enough of it!

 

[lizzo76]

I had 30 hrs in SNF. I'm not show how you're defining shadowing and volunteering. In any event, I think I was required to have 20hrs of observation. It seems like you'll end up with a major surplus of hours by the time you apply. I wouldn't worry about accumulating so many hours. I would suggest stopping at doubling the school requirement unless you just can't get enough of it!

Oh, sorry, I should clarify. Volunteering and shadowing could be one and the same thing (observing an OT in the course of actually doing something yourself, as part of a longer-term arrangement) or they could be different things (for instance, my visiting the ACE unit to work with patients (independently, as it happens), which is volunteering, versus following an OT through her day once or twice and only observing, which is shadowing. (Or even if I help her out, I'd consider that shadowing since it's just a very short-term arrangement really designed to help ME not the OT.)

So, defining shadowing as observing, or as something separate from a volunteer experience in which one can't observe an OT at work, I wondered what was considered a desirable amount of shadowing hours. None of the schools to which I am applying even mention the need to volunteer or shadow, but I'm sure it's important and will boost my application (not to mention make me sure I want to go into OT, or not.) If each observation experience is only 3 or 4 hours or something, and each one has to be set up separately, it seems like it would take a long time to get to even 20 hours of shadowing.

 

[Shelby029]

The school I am applying to (only applying to one since there is only one school in my state for OT) only requires shadowing of 20 hours under only ONE therapist. The therapist will then fill out a form and mail it in.

http://www.uca.edu/ot/documents/Volunteer_form_2010_pdf.pdf

That's what the form looks like, you might want to check and see if your schools you are applying to has something like that. It counts volunteering/observation as the same thing as long as it's under the same therapist.

I have about 30 hours in a ped's clinic so far as well as a small amount in a daycare which I probably won't even count and am going to start shadowing at an SNF when the fall starts up on fridays, and I'm not sure how much that will add up.

 

[jlr5585]

150 hours, 3 different settings (School, Acute care/Inpatient Rehab, Inpatient Rehab)

 

[lizzo76]

150 hours, 3 different settings (School, Acute care/Inpatient Rehab, Inpatient Rehab)

How do you manage this - is this shadowing ONLY? I'm wondering about situations such as mine where there don't seem to be opportunities to actually volunteer to work directly with OTs, but there are opportunities to observe... I can't imagine just watching someone work for 150 hours... it seems like it would be annoying to the OT.

 

[lizzo76]

The school I am applying to (only applying to one since there is only one school in my state for OT) only requires shadowing of 20 hours under only ONE therapist. The therapist will then fill out a form and mail it in.

http://www.uca.edu/ot/documents/Volunteer_form_2010_pdf.pdf

That's what the form looks like, you might want to check and see if your schools you are applying to has something like that. It counts volunteering/observation as the same thing as long as it's under the same therapist.

I have about 30 hours in a ped's clinic so far as well as a small amount in a daycare which I probably won't even count and am going to start shadowing at an SNF when the fall starts up on fridays, and I'm not sure how much that will add up.

Thanks - as far as I know, there is nothing like this form required. It seems that at my top choice, I just apply through the graduate school with no supplement for the OT department. And although their website mentions the prereqs, there's nothing about a volunteer or observation requirement. I figure I'll just have to report it in my personal statement or something.

 

[OT2Be2013]

Hey Lizzo,
Thanks for sharing about the ACE unit. I'd never heard of that before. Yet another practice setting to consider 🙂

As for volunteering, at the time I applied, my school only required 40 hours of volunteering/observation, and it had to be in two different practice settings. I observed in a pre-school for developmentally delayed kids for 20 hours. I was able to arrange this because my sister teaches at the school. Then I volunteered in an SNF for about 30-40 hours (can't remember the exact number), and my main tasks there were to help motivate the residents during therapy, keep the therapy room neat and organized, and transport residents to therapy and back to their units. The OTs there were great and answered all my questions. In addition, one of your three recommendations had to come from an OT you worked with, but they have since changed that to two I think. That was the only direct OT experience I had, but I had also worked in a hospital for a number of years and had experience interacting with health professionals from all disciplines, including OT.

Hopefully that helps a little. You definitely sound like you're on the right track- and not just with volunteering, with everything 🙂

 

[lizzo76]

Unfortunately, ACE units are pretty rare right now... they're mostly in academic hospitals but very few community hospitals have them. The hospital at which I volunteer had just completed its one-year pilot program when I started volunteering a few months ago. I think this model of care (a more team-based approach which starts discharge planning as soon as the patient is admitted and does everything possible to prevent decline) will probably eventually spread to more and more hospitals, though. A new medical director came in to this hospital and had seen ACE at an academic hospital, and decided to institute it. You can google "ACE Unit" to find out more. I had never heard of it, either, before I started volunteering.

Most of the patients who come in DO need "PT/OT" to evaluate them. (I go to the meeting which the clinicians call "rounds" and they talk about what's wrong with the patients, and what has already been done. No OT goes to this meeting, unfortunately, so I never get the details on what they've done.) The point of ACE is to get the patients back to independent living as soon as possible, so there isn't much ongoing OT work actually on the unit, but OTs will work with them when they go home, too. (So basically the geriatric population in general is a big practice area, of course.)

I guess I won't knock myself out trying to get shadowing hours, but I'll just try to see as much as I can so that I'll be well-informed and will be able to demonstrate that I know what OTs actually do.

 

[jlr5585]

How do you manage this - is this shadowing ONLY? I'm wondering about situations such as mine where there don't seem to be opportunities to actually volunteer to work directly with OTs, but there are opportunities to observe... I can't imagine just watching someone work for 150 hours... it seems like it would be annoying to the OT.

It was about 50 hours in each of the three settings and I did it over the couse of about a year-a year and a half. It was shadowing the OT. First I did it in a school, then called up a hospital and got shadowing hours in their outpatient rehab/acute care dept. and then went to another outpatient rehab center. It worked out nicely and I really enjoyed it.

 

[lizzo76]

It was about 50 hours in each of the three settings and I did it over the couse of about a year-a year and a half. It was shadowing the OT. First I did it in a school, then called up a hospital and got shadowing hours in their outpatient rehab/acute care dept. and then went to another outpatient rehab center. It worked out nicely and I really enjoyed it.

Hmmm. It seems like it would be an easier thing to set up if I were in some sort of pre-OT major at an institution with formal arrangements with clinical facilities. So far what I am getting on my own (well, through the observation coordinator in the volunteer office at the hospital in which I am volunteering) is maybe a half-day to follow around an OT. So 4 hours with one, then 4 hours with a different one, which had to be set up separately. It would take me AGES to get 150 hours of pure shadowing. I don't think I could get it in even one and a half years because I would have exhausted the local resources. Oh well, I'll just try to cobble together volunteering and shadowing. Maybe my problem is the woman I'm working with to set up the shadowing. When I talked to her about setting it up, first she tried to dissuade me from the observation part, saying that adults (I'm 34) get more from just having a discussion with the clinician. I had to convince her that I really NEEDED to observe and would get a lot out of observing. (This is weird... her whole role is to set people (mainly students) up to observe, so she should realize the importance of that, even though I don't need it for course credit at the moment, but rather for applications.)

 

[jlr5585]

Where do you live? Can you try another hospital or inpatient rehab? I just really cold-called places until I found an OT willing to work with me. Most of them were willing to let me come in as often as I needed to get hours. The hospital was the most strict though, I had to fill out paperwork, submit a physical and get two PPD's and a toxscreen before I could observe there. To make matters worse, the volunteer coordinator was NIGHTMARE TO COMMUNICATE WITH. I had to call her at 8AM (when I knew she'd actually be in the office) to get her on the phone. Otherwise if I left a message she'd never call me back. I was just super persistent. After that was put in place though it was great, the OT made me a schedule to follow to come in and see different OT's in action (Acute care and outpatient...the only thing I didn't get to see was TBI which I would have liked to)...anyway, good luck! Let me know how everything works out!! 🙂

 

[OT2Be2013]

Maybe my problem is the woman I'm working with to set up the shadowing. When I talked to her about setting it up, first she tried to dissuade me from the observation part, saying that adults (I'm 34) get more from just having a discussion with the clinician. I had to convince her that I really NEEDED to observe and would get a lot out of observing. (This is weird... her whole role is to set people (mainly students) up to observe, so she should realize the importance of that, even though I don't need it for course credit at the moment, but rather for applications.)

Now that's just bizarre. What does your age have to do with anything?

I second what JLR said. Try cold-calling places, and I would also suggest trying to volunteer in facilities that take a lot of university students, even if you aren't attending there. Also try to reach out to family and friends if possible. I was able to do one of my observation experiences by asking my sister to talk to the powers that be at the school where she works. I wasn't even sure if they offered OT- the conversation went something like this: "Um, so Sister, do they do OT at the school where you work?" "Yeah, we have OT!" And then I asked her to please hook me up 🙂

 

[lizzo76]

Thanks for all your advice.

I guess the woman in the volunteer office who coordinates observation experiences generally works with high school students and university students. Most "adults" (apparently university students aren't adults) just volunteer, and most of the volunteers don't even work directly with patients, although I do. I don't know why she'd think an adult would get more from talking to someone while a younger person would get more from observing... maybe she was just thinking I, as an adult, would be more comfortable having a discussion with an OT while younger people are less comfortable with that? I don't know... it didn't make sense.

I had my first shadowing experience today, and it was a GREAT experience. But, it was only 4 hours, which is apparently typical. After 4 hours I did begin to think the woman was getting tired of not being able to just go about her day, even though she was really nice and made sure to explain to me exactly what she was doing. This was inpatient OT in a hospital. It's my only shadowing experience so far, but I really liked that environment. She sees the full range of the patient population. It's also apparently much heavier on the medical issues than a lot of other practice areas might be. (She's worked in several areas.) She had to look at the patient's chart and understand the details of why they were admitted, what clinical tests had been run, etc., and it's all totally different depending on the patient. (Good thing I'm done with my two semesters of A&P! It definitely helped when she was talking about "an MI" or "dypsnea" or the chart gave the "GFR" etc..) Among other things, we did a couple initial evaluations, which were fascinating. One was of a woman who had had a heart attack and had hit her head. She had memory problems and other neurological issues which affected her strength and coordination, plus loss of strength from the heart problems. For some reason I also didn't realize that OTs take vital signs and all that. Anyway, it definitely increased my already strong interest in OT... I can see why schools want shadowing, since it makes the abstract description of the field much more clear.

I'll do an outpatient OT (at the hospital) next, which will only be another 4 hours. There's also a rehab hospital on the campus of the community hospital at which I am volunteering (and where I am shadowing) so I'll call them, though again, I doubt I'll get many hours.

This hospital does have a lot of university students, which I think is actually squeezing me out. They HAVE to have hours for their programs, whereas I'm just sort of an afterthought.

I'm in southern NH right now so I am close enough to Boston, which is a major center of healthcare, and I took my prereqs at Harvard so driving there is no big deal. But, Boston is also a huge college town, so the opportunities might be outweighed by the demand.

How important do people think it is to shadow in all practice areas? I really do NOT want to work in a school. I have zero interest in that and would prefer to work with adults, regardless of the setting, although I am not totally against working with kids in a hospital or rehab setting.

 

[jlr5585]

I know you said you def do not want to work in a school, but it may be a beneficial experience for you to get a few hours working with children. I thought that FOR SURE I wanted to be a Pediatric OT and I didn't think I would like OT with adults; after my shadowing hours in the outpatient rehab I realized I actually enjoyed it and may need to keep my options open. I'm not saying this is going to happen to you, I'm just saying maybe take the opportunity to broaden your horizons 🙂 You never know what will happen. Shadowing in Pediatric OT will just give you another perspective if anything even if you continue to not like that setting.

 

[lizzo76]

I know you said you def do not want to work in a school, but it may be a beneficial experience for you to get a few hours working with children. I thought that FOR SURE I wanted to be a Pediatric OT and I didn't think I would like OT with adults; after my shadowing hours in the outpatient rehab I realized I actually enjoyed it and may need to keep my options open. I'm not saying this is going to happen to you, I'm just saying maybe take the opportunity to broaden your horizons 🙂 You never know what will happen. Shadowing in Pediatric OT will just give you another perspective if anything even if you continue to not like that setting.

Maybe - I've worked with kids in other settings and I don't like 'em. ;-P Or at least I have no "passion" to work with them, and I have worked in a school and simply didn't like that environment. But I suppose it could help to at least experience OT with kids before I totally rule it out.

 

[prodigiousflame]

question about volunteering and settings...

There's one place that's willing to have me on as an observer/volunteer. They work with every kind of population doing exercises, therapy etc. Should I still bother observing at a nursing home even though this place works with senior citizens? For those who have found one place that does different therapies working with different populations...did you observe at less settings as a result? For example if you did inpatient and you got to observe various settings/populations in that particular setting, did you bother with many other settings?

 

[beestrng]

A lot of OTs work with senior citizens my friend.

A lot of OTs work in nursing homes (SNF).