General Admissions & OTCAS Volunteer vs. Observation Hours

[danidoodle]

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I'm starting to work on my observation hours to apply for occupational therapy programs and was wondering if the schools distinguish between observation and volunteer hours. Most of the schools have a requirement of about 40 hours of observation, so does this mean I need to have completed 40 hours specifically observing? Or is being a volunteer at an OT facility considered the same thing?
My understanding so far has been that I need specifically 40 hours basically job-shadowing OTs and then if I want more hours I should volunteer at various facilities.

 

[AustinOT]

I think as long as the opportunity provides some ability to observe therapists, it's okay if you aren't strictly observing for all of those hours. Some of the settings I observed in, I was mainly just shadowing, while others I was helping around the clinic and observing on occasion. The schools I applied to allowed me to use all of those as hours. This is the description for one of the programs I applied to:

• The applicant must provide documentation of at least 20 clock hours of observation, volunteer or paid experience in one or more occupational therapy settings prior to the time of application. The applicant must be independently locate volunteer settings.