Inpatient Hours vs Hospital Employement

[chsPTgirl]

I am applying to PT school with over 850 outpatient observation hours but no hours in any other settings. I've worked in a hospital as a transporter for over a year. Do you think this will be okay or should I try to secure a spot shadowing at the hospital?

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[ralfloran]

If you can get a PT at the inpatient setting to verify your transporter hours, you should be fine.

 

[CareerSwitcheroo]

I agree - the more settings the better.

 

[LOPISF]

Wait - do transporter hours count as observation hours? I work as a secretary in rehab, but I didn't file them as actual obs hrs, just under employment - since I don't actually follow them around

 

[ralfloran]

Wait - do transporter hours count as observation hours? I work as a secretary in rehab, but I didn't file them as actual obs hrs, just under employment - since I don't actually follow them around

You can always ask your PT if you can use that for volunteering. Ask the PT first. They need to simply verify it

 

[Bones26]

I would try to secure a spot actually shadowing a PT. I doubt most PTs would sign off on that as hours for school as most transport techs have little to no interaction with PTs or physical therapy.

 

[amlope03]

I feel like the only downfall to this is the possibility of them asking questions during your interview about your inpatient experience (aka it may be a bit of a stretch).

 

[jtb93]

I would try to secure a spot actually shadowing a PT. I doubt most PTs would sign off on that as hours for school as most transport techs have little to no interaction with PTs or physical therapy.

It really depends on the facility, specifically the rehab director in my situation. I was a full-time rehab tech for over a year, and I was allowed to shadow whenever I had down time. In the end, the PT I spent the most time with was comfortable signing off on 100+ hours. Facilities have different rules for their techs, but some definitely allow more interaction with PTs and their patients.

 

[chsPTgirl]

Clarification: I'm not using my transport hours as PT hours. I have 875 real hours under a PT, transport is completely separate.