What’s up guys! If you’re new here, I’m Jazmine, and I applied to PT school for the 2024-2025 cycle, and earlier this week I received my first acceptance!!! (yaaayyyyy!!!!) Today, I’m sharing tips on how to get your observation hours done! It was the first thing I started working on last year in December of 2023, so let’s dive into it.
My Observation History
- Drayer PT (Outpatient): 40 hours in 2 weeks
- Local Hospital (Inpatient): 80 hours in 4 weeks
- Sports PT Facility (Outpatient): 80 hours in 4 weeks
That makes 200 total observation hours on my application.
“How many hours do I need?”
The answer to this question depends on the schools you are applying to. I applied to four schools, and only one of them had an observation hour requirement. The other three did not. Sometimes on the PTCAS Directory Site, you will see that certain schools do not require observation hours but do have a recommended amount. My rule of thumb was to have more than the recommended amount of hours for whichever school has the highest amount of recommended or required hours on your list.
For example: If school #1 on your list recommends that you have 250 total observation hours, and school #3 on your list requires at least 50, then I would go for at least 300. Even though 250 is only a recommendation, it’s the higher number, so if you shoot for 300 hours, you’ll have more than enough for both school #1 and school #3. I hope that makes sense. (Leave comments asking questions if it doesn’t!)
“Can I get my hours in one place?”
Yes, BUT!!!! Generally, schools want to see that you have observation hours in more than one setting, but that is usually just a recommendation and not a requirement. A lot of applicants have jobs as PT aides/techs and so they apply with hundreds if not thousands of hours at one location, and that’s great. More is not always better, however. Getting quality hours in different settings will help you stand out more than just having a large quantity. (Not saying a large quantity is bad, it’s just not everything).
Some examples of different settings you can get your hours include:
- Chain outpatient clinics such as Drayer PT
- Outpatient ortho clinics
- Outpatient sports medicine clinics
- Inpatient nursing facilities
- Hospitals (inpatient acute care)
- Hospitals (outpatient care) — some hospitals have outpatient PT clinics as well!
- Pediatric outpatient PT clinics
- Women’s pelvic floor specialist (sometimes these are PT’s who work with women)
How to Get Your Observation Hours
Disclaimer: There is of course more than one way to go about getting your hours, these are just my recommendations based on my own journey! Let’s start with outpatient.
I have one, simple, scary-but-effective tip: GO IN PERSON AND ASK. I know it can be nerve-wracking, but not only will you get an answer right then and there, but once you do it the first time, the second and third (etc.) times get easier.
Get on Google and search up things like:
- outpatient PT near me
- physical therapy clinics
- physical therapy chains (based on the list of chain establishments, search to see if any are located near you)
Once you have a place in mind, think about how many hours you want. After that, print out your resume and put on a business casual outfit, and strut your stuff to their office! Introduce yourself: “Hi, my name is [your name], and I was wondering if any of your therapists are allowing students to shadow them?” or something like that! In my case, I went in the morning because it wasn’t busy. I spoke to the receptionist, and she then went and got the clinic director. He asked how many hours I needed, I told him, and he asked when I wanted to start. The rest is history! I didn’t need to give him my resume, but I had it just in case.
I suggest going in person rather than calling or emailing because sometimes these places are busy and it takes a while to get back to you. If you read my first post, then you saw that it took me a MONTH to get my inpatient observation opportunity because of the wait times from emailing. I also recommend getting outpatient observation hours first as an opportunity to network if you aren’t in school while getting your hours done. Typically, schools have connections with inpatient clinics for their students, but if you’re like me and doing this after you already got your degree, then try outpatient first to build those connections.
Now, for inpatient…
This part may be a little more difficult; ever since the pandemic, some facilities have stricter rules on allowing students to shadow their therapists. Just be patient and keep trying, and if it’s not working out, don’t stress, find a different kind of outpatient setting to go to instead.
My first tip for getting inpatient hours is for those who do their outpatient hours first: NETWORK. I know, it’s scary, very scary, but you can do it.
While you’re at your outpatient setting, talk to the therapists and get to know them! If they’re nice, they’ll ask questions about you in return. Once you have a good rapport built, ask them if they have any colleagues that work in inpatient care because you’re in need of inpatient observation hours. If they do, they may connect you with them– as was the case with me. If they don’t, then continue to ask around the clinic to see if you get any luck.
Another way you can get some observation hours is to go in person to a local hospital and find their visitors desk, typically found in the lobby. Ask them who you can speak to about job shadowing and if they need more information, explain to them that you are applying to physical therapy school and would like to shadow a physical therapist at their hospital. If this is something they allow, they’ll point you toward someone else to talk to, and from there, you just follow the breadcrumbs until you hopefully get your inpatient opportunity set up!
There are some inpatient facilities where you might have to call instead of going in person, just be sure to do your research first. If you do have to call, then be persistent, and leave a message if you have to. If it becomes obvious that they do not intend to get back to you, shake the dust off your feet and move onto the next option! It can get a little discouraging at times, but keep your head up. Remember, inpatient hours are much harder to get, and many students apply without them. If this is the case for you, focus on finding as many types of outpatient clinics as possible.
DON’T FORGET THIS PART!!
When you’re getting your hours done, print out or download some sort of observation hours log so that you can document the amount of hours you do each day, and have your supervising PT sign off on it at the end of each day or week. This is how you will verify your hours when you apply to schools on PTCAS. (Trust me, it’s much easier than having PTCAS try to contact these PT’s to verify if you shadowed them.)
“When should I start getting my hours?”
Excellent question! I would start as early as possible! It makes things far less stressful for you in the long run to not have to worry about that part of your application. Now, there are some ways to be strategic about getting your hours as well:
I recommend asking for opportunities 1-2 months before school semesters start. So if the Fall semester for colleges/universities in your area starts in August, start setting up those opportunities (especially for inpatient) in June. If the Spring semester starts in January, start setting up your opportunities in December or November. If the Summer semester starts in May, start setting up your opportunities in March.
The idea is to get ahead of the curve because there will be a sudden influx of students around these times that are seeking their hours, and because some of these locations have contracts with those schools, they give those students priority when giving out opportunities.
I personally started shadowing in the first week of December, and this worked really well for me because most schools are wrapping up their Fall semester, and students are preparing for winter break and likely not thinking about shadowing. Try this out for yourself and see how it goes! Remember, working professionals don’t get “winter breaks” like students do, so they will be there doing their jobs while students are at home relaxing.
Now, obviously, have some ettiequte if you ask in December. Don’t wait until Christmas Eve to ask. Definitely don’t try to contact them on Christmas Day (they probably won’t be working that day anyway). I would generally avoid the major holidays in that time frame to be respectful, but before Christmas and after January first, all bets are off, ask away, haha!
This is a very long post, and I’m sure there are typos, and I’ll correct them soon, but I think this is a good place to end this post. I hope it was helpful, and if you have any questions for me be sure to comment and ask!
OH, and I have a YouTube channel where I talk about these things as well, here’s one of my videos on observation hours:
See you next week!
