Volunteer/Observation Hours on nights or weekends

[scrawnyguy]

I'm planning on applying to a PT program next fall and I have stressing about the observation hours. I am currently deployed with the military and I will not be home until late winter which doesn't leave me much time to get the 80 hours I need to apply to Saint Augustine. I have spoken to my supervisor doesn't seem to be too receptive to giving me an afternoon off a week when I get home to get my hours. After deploying twice in the past 3 years (and another time a few years prior) I was hoping they would be at least somewhat supportive of my career change.

To make things more complicated the place I was planning on volunteering at decided recently that they are revamping their volunteer/internship program and they are not taking anyone for a while.

Do any of you know of types of clinics that with evening or better yet weekend hours? Is there a particular type of clinic that I should seek out (SNF, acute care, etc)? This may sound crazy, but have any of you heard of any "immersion" experiences, possibly abroad, where you can spend 2 weeks of so helping out in high need areas? Something like that would help me gain hours, but more importantly it seems like a great way to make a difference.

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[spartangal]

I did hours at a hospital's inpatient rehabilitation ..They were open on Saturday and Sunday!

 

[Myosin]

Almost every hospital has physical therapy on the weekends.

There are plenty of outpatient clinics that do half days on Saturdays.

Where are you currently located? I'll help you search online when I get time.

 

[lovepixie]

I'm planning on applying to a PT program next fall and I have stressing about the observation hours. I am currently deployed with the military and I will not be home until late winter which doesn't leave me much time to get the 80 hours I need to apply to Saint Augustine. I have spoken to my supervisor doesn't seem to be too receptive to giving me an afternoon off a week when I get home to get my hours. After deploying twice in the past 3 years (and another time a few years prior) I was hoping they would be at least somewhat supportive of my career change.

To make things more complicated the place I was planning on volunteering at decided recently that they are revamping their volunteer/internship program and they are not taking anyone for a while.

Do any of you know of types of clinics that with evening or better yet weekend hours? Is there a particular type of clinic that I should seek out (SNF, acute care, etc)? This may sound crazy, but have any of you heard of any "immersion" experiences, possibly abroad, where you can spend 2 weeks of so helping out in high need areas? Something like that would help me gain hours, but more importantly it seems like a great way to make a difference.

Healthsouth inpatient does PT on Saturdays and most hospitals do too.

 

[scrawnyguy]

Almost every hospital has physical therapy on the weekends.

There are plenty of outpatient clinics that do half days on Saturdays.

Where are you currently located? I'll help you search online when I get time.

When I get back to the states I will be in Sacramento, CA. I really appreciate the help. There is a large Shriner's hospital there that I am going to check out. when I get home that may work.

 

[LOADWOAD]

I work full time and had to take classes twice a week so the few days i didnt work or have class i needed for homework and "life balance whether it be relationship, friends and or family" so i was able to get some weekend hours at the local hospital in the Acute Inpatient unit. I usually put in 6, 7 or 8 hour days to try to get the hours when i could. Hope this helps but i would call your local hospital or even nursing home to get some hours. I would of liked to have had more hours but i just found it hard to get find the time but i got about 45 hours or so from weekends.

 

[scrawnyguy]

I'll have about 6 months to get all the hours in. It's going to be crazy. After being deployed a year I would love to take some weekend trips with the girlfriend but it doesn't look like it will happen. I suppose it will all be worth it when I get that acceptance letter. Then maybe I can relax a bit. At least until school starts

 

[DPT0318]

I'm planning on applying to a PT program next fall and I have stressing about the observation hours. I am currently deployed with the military and I will not be home until late winter which doesn't leave me much time to get the 80 hours I need to apply to Saint Augustine. I have spoken to my supervisor doesn't seem to be too receptive to giving me an afternoon off a week when I get home to get my hours. After deploying twice in the past 3 years (and another time a few years prior) I was hoping they would be at least somewhat supportive of my career change.

To make things more complicated the place I was planning on volunteering at decided recently that they are revamping their volunteer/internship program and they are not taking anyone for a while.

Do any of you know of types of clinics that with evening or better yet weekend hours? Is there a particular type of clinic that I should seek out (SNF, acute care, etc)? This may sound crazy, but have any of you heard of any "immersion" experiences, possibly abroad, where you can spend 2 weeks of so helping out in high need areas? Something like that would help me gain hours, but more importantly it seems like a great way to make a difference.

Is there a PT or something similar where you are stationed/deployed? You could get hours that way as well

 

[DPTHopeful2012]

Scrawnyguy, I suggest looking up the hospital(s) where you want to volunteer and see how long it takes to become a volunteer or if there is an application/orientation you need to do before you start. That process of applying to hospitals, waiting to hear replies, and going to orientation took almost 2 months for me, so I suggest looking up info before you get to the States and email any people beforehand. Some hospitals receive a high volume of applicants, so definitely do some research beforehand, since some might fill up and not have space for you.

 

[okramango]

Scrawnyguy, I suggest looking up the hospital(s) where you want to volunteer and see how long it takes to become a volunteer or if there is an application/orientation you need to do before you start. That process of applying to hospitals, waiting to hear replies, and going to orientation took almost 2 months for me, so I suggest looking up info before you get to the States and email any people beforehand. Some hospitals receive a high volume of applicants, so definitely do some research beforehand, since some might fill up and not have space for you.

I agree with this. Last year I began contacting hospitals for inpatient observation in May, and finally began my first observation in October. Some hospitals never responded to me, and one hospital told me I could shadow PTs after volunteering in their gift shop for 50 hours. Once I finally found a hospital rehab center that accepted me as a volunteer, it was another month to go through the orientation and vaccination process before I could start.

Another suggestion that could make the process go a lot faster is to try contacting PTs directly, rather than going through the hospital volunteer departments. You can find the Rehab Center of a hospital and look for PT contacts there. None of the volunteer departments that I dealt with even understood what I meant by "shadowing" a PT, and I didn't get anywhere with them. I finally got results after contacting PTs directly, and I ended up completely bypassing the Volunteer Department.

It also seems to be much easier to get shadowing hours at outpatient clinics, and some may also have weekend hours available.

 

[1109]

I did a PT internship abroad for 2 months that counted as most of my hours. I know you could do something for a shorter time period too. theyre super flexible.

http://www.projects-abroad.org/projects/medicine-and-healthcare/physical-therapy/

 

[scrawnyguy]

Scrawnyguy, I suggest looking up the hospital(s) where you want to volunteer and see how long it takes to become a volunteer or if there is an application/orientation you need to do before you start. That process of applying to hospitals, waiting to hear replies, and going to orientation took almost 2 months for me, so I suggest looking up info before you get to the States and email any people beforehand. Some hospitals receive a high volume of applicants, so definitely do some research beforehand, since some might fill up and not have space for you.

I mailed off 4 apps today. They should be back in the states in a couple of weeks. Hopefully I can get the ball rolling over here so I can hit the ground running once I get home.

 

[scrawnyguy]

I agree with this. Last year I began contacting hospitals for inpatient observation in May, and finally began my first observation in October. Some hospitals never responded to me, and one hospital told me I could shadow PTs after volunteering in their gift shop for 50 hours. Once I finally found a hospital rehab center that accepted me as a volunteer, it was another month to go through the orientation and vaccination process before I could start.

Another suggestion that could make the process go a lot faster is to try contacting PTs directly, rather than going through the hospital volunteer departments. You can find the Rehab Center of a hospital and look for PT contacts there. None of the volunteer departments that I dealt with even understood what I meant by "shadowing" a PT, and I didn't get anywhere with them. I finally got results after contacting PTs directly, and I ended up completely bypassing the Volunteer Department.

It also seems to be much easier to get shadowing hours at outpatient clinics, and some may also have weekend hours available.

I might have to give that shot. A couple of the hospitals I applied to actually only allow pre-PT students to volunteer in that dept. I imagine there are a lot of students trying to get those positions. One plus about being in the military is that I am up to date on immunizations. The Army is anal about those things.

 

[scrawnyguy]

I did a PT internship abroad for 2 months that counted as most of my hours. I know you could do something for a shorter time period too. theyre super flexible.

http://www.projects-abroad.org/projects/medicine-and-healthcare/physical-therapy/

Thanks. This is pretty cool. It looks like most of the PT sites are a month or more, but a small handful offer 2 week placements. Togo even offers a week placement. A little pricey but I might do this regardless of whether I find a slot somewhere else or not. They have an information station not long after I get back in the Bay Area that I probably check out. Even after I become a PT I want to do some work abroad. One thing I've learned in my travels is that we have it good it the US. Thanks again for the link.

 

[okramango]

They have an information station not long after I get back in the Bay Area that I probably check out.

Do you mean the San Francisco Bay Area? If this is where you will be looking for PT shadowing opportunities, I can give you some contacts where I shadowed in the east bay. Send me a PM if you're interested.

 

[scrawnyguy]

Do you mean the San Francisco Bay Area? If this is where you will be looking for PT shadowing opportunities, I can give you some contacts where I shadowed in the east bay. Send me a PM if you're interested.

No, I am based out of Sacramento. The SF Bay area is just the closest info session to me. Do you know anyone up in the Sac area by any chance?

 

[okramango]

No, I am based out of Sacramento. The SF Bay area is just the closest info session to me. Do you know anyone up in the Sac area by any chance?

No, I don't. Sorry, and good luck!

 

[scrawnyguy]

I found another spot that does volunteer trips abroad. Some of these are shorter which may work better since my job is unlikely to give me more than a couple of weeks off at a time.

http://www.islonline.org/programs/physical-therapy/

 

[scrawnyguy]

With the ISL place that I listed about you get about 50 hours in a two week period of actual observation time. I found another place that does trips to Ecuador where you get between 70-80 hours over a 2 week period.

www.unitedplanet.org

 

[Solider4Life]

HI, I am in Southern California (Long Beach area) and I am trying to accrue the physical therapy observation hours for my application to physical therapy programs but I am experiencing a very challenging time finding an office that will allow physical therapy observation hours for people not already accepted into a program. I would appreciate any suggestions about how to go about getting the hours so I can complete my application. I have checked with a few inpatient clinics but they say I have to be a student or they claim liability issues. Please help!!!!!

 

[scrawnyguy]

HI, I am in Southern California (Long Beach area) and I am trying to accrue the physical therapy observation hours for my application to physical therapy programs but I am experiencing a very challenging time finding an office that will allow physical therapy observation hours for people not already accepted into a program. I would appreciate any suggestions about how to go about getting the hours so I can complete my application. I have checked with a few inpatient clinics but they say I have to be a student or they claim liability issues. Please help!!!!!

I've been thinking about heading to to SoCal to finish up my prereqs when I get out of the Army. Here is one that I have found. Not sure if they require you to be a student or not.

http://www.athleticpt.com/intern

 

[okramango]

I've been thinking about heading to to SoCal to finish up my prereqs when I get out of the Army. Here is one that I have found. Not sure if they require you to be a student or not.

http://www.athleticpt.com/intern

Since this link lists their staff who are certified clinical instructors, it implies that they are referring to PT students who are going on their clinical rounds as part of their PT programs. People who are just going to observe or shadow, before even starting a PT program, don't need certified clinical instructors to supervise them.

It's strange that places are saying you need to be a PT student in order to observe, Soldier4Life. How are you presenting your case with them? Are you telling them that you simply want to observe physical therapy? Who are you talking to?

 

[scrawnyguy]

Sorry, I meant to post this link. They also take volunteers.

http://www.athleticpt.com/volunteers

 

[jessierose24]

First of all from one veteran to another thank you for your service. Second of all are you taking some sort of block leave (that's what we call it in the army) when you return? If so I would take that time to do my observation hours. I did alot of my observation hours at the post hospital and with the special operations physical therapist. I was working full time when I was trying to get my hours so everyday on my lunch hour I would go and observe the PT, it took a while to accumulate hours, but I got them all nonetheless. I also took a few days off and knocked out the hours in chunks so that helped a little bit too. Another option is to try local schools, alot of them (especially on military bases, I work at one) have a physical therapist on staff for children with special needs. Most of the time they are more than willing to have an extra set of eyes in the classroom with them and it can get you some exposure to a different type of PT. Hopefully some of these ideas help. Good luck and stay safe.