Questions to Ask an Occupational Therapist When Shadowing
For pre-OT students and career changers logging observation hours with an occupational therapist. The questions follow the day: what to settle on arrival, then the setting and caseload, what to ask between patients about the session you just watched, documentation and productivity, the hard parts of the job, the therapist's own path through OT school and fieldwork, and what to ask for before you leave, including hours verification and a recommendation. Each has a note on what a good or a worrying answer sounds like, or what to do with it.
The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The setting
What would you like me to do while you are with a patient: watch quietly, help, or step out?
Why ask it
Settle it before the first patient arrives. Some therapists want a silent observer in the corner, others will have you fetch a cone or chat with the patient, and nearly all have moments when you should leave the room. Hearing the rules up front means you never have to be corrected in front of someone's family.
How will you introduce me to patients, and can they say no to having me there?
Why ask it
Many sites ask each patient whether an observer may stay, and some will decline, most often for a bathing or dressing session or a difficult conversation. Agree on the wording beforehand, something like 'a student who is here to watch today', so you are not inventing a title at the door. When someone says no, step out without comment and use the time to write up the last session.
What does a typical day look like for you in this setting?
Why ask it
Listen for the shape of it: when evaluations happen, how many treatment sessions there are, where the notes fit, whether lunch exists. Then ask whether today is a normal one. A day that is lighter or heavier than usual gives you the wrong picture of the job, and the therapist can tell you which way to correct it.
What kinds of patients do you see most, and what are they usually working toward?
Why ask it
A useful answer pairs a group with a task: people after a stroke relearning to dress, children working on handwriting, adults with hand injuries getting back to a job. Write it in your hours log in the therapist's own terms. An application essay is stronger when you can say what the patients were trying to get back to, and not only what was wrong with them.
How many people are on your caseload, and how long do you get with each one?
Why ask it
The two numbers together give you the pace: a handful of hour-long sessions is a different job from a dozen half-hour ones. If the therapist sighs before answering, ask what number would feel right to them. Write both figures beside the setting in your log: laid next to the numbers from the next place you visit, they show the difference faster than any description.
Who else is on the team here, and where does your work stop and the physical therapist's start?
Why ask it
You are likely to be asked how OT differs from PT in essays and interviews, and an answer drawn from one building beats a textbook line. The useful reply is an example, such as PT working on the walk to the bathroom while OT works on what happens once the patient is in there. Where the two overlap in this workplace, ask who decides which of them takes a patient.
Do you work with an occupational therapy assistant, and how is the work split between you?
Why ask it
Who may evaluate, who treats and how supervision is set up depend on local rules and the employer, so let the therapist describe this workplace. If you are weighing the assistant route against the therapist degree, listen hardest here. Where there is an assistant on site, ask whether you could spend an hour with them.
How do patients end up on your schedule, and what does the referral usually ask you to do?
Why ask it
It might be a doctor's order, a school team, a hospital screening or a family calling in, and the rules differ by country, state and payer, so ask how it works here. The second half matters more. A referral that says only 'evaluate and treat' leaves the therapist to work out the real problem, and hearing how they do that is a lesson in itself.
How long do patients usually stay on your caseload, and what decides when they are finished?
Why ask it
In a hospital it may be a few days and in a school it may be years, and therapy does not always end because the goals were met. A candid therapist will name the other reasons: the patient left the building, the funding stopped, progress leveled off. That tells you how much of a patient's story you would get to see in this setting.
Which other settings have you worked in, and how did the job differ there?
Why ask it
One day shows you one corner of a wide field. A therapist who has moved from, say, a nursing facility to a school can compare pace, paperwork and pay without you having to shadow both. Note which setting they speak warmly of, and try to book hours in one like it next.
The session
What was the goal behind the activity you just did with that patient?
Why ask it
Ask it right after the session, in the hallway, never in front of the patient. Stacking cones or folding towels looks simple until the therapist tells you it was about standing balance, getting steps in order or using a weak arm. If you can ask only one clinical question all day, make it this one, and ask it about several patients.
What did you find at the evaluation that led to this plan?
Why ask it
You usually arrive in the middle of someone's therapy, so this fills in the start. A good answer links a finding to a choice: grip was weak, so we began here; attention ran out after five minutes, so the session is broken into short pieces. If you are offered the chance to watch an evaluation, take it, because so much of the reasoning happens there.
How did you decide how much help to give during that task?
Why ask it
Watch the therapist's hands next time: when they step in, when they wait, when a word does the job of a touch. Many therapists have set terms for levels of assistance and write them into the note. Having those explained once makes the rest of the day easier to follow, and shows you why waiting is sometimes the treatment.
When a task turns out too easy or too hard, how do you change it on the spot?
Why ask it
Therapists call this grading: a heavier object, a lower seat, fewer steps, more noise in the room. Ask for the exact change they made in the session you just saw and what told them to make it. A vague reply about 'meeting the patient where they are' is your cue to ask for that example.
When do you work on getting an ability back, and when do you teach a different way or bring in equipment?
Why ask it
It is one of the central judgments in the field, and it turns on the condition, the time available and what the patient wants. The best answers come as a case: the person handed a sock aid on the first day, or the one who was asked to keep practicing. If the therapist says the payer or the length of stay often settles it, that is an honest answer, not a bad one.
How were that patient's goals chosen, and how much of it came from the patient?
Why ask it
The answer shows whether goals start with the person or with a template. A strong reply includes a story, such as the man who cared less about dressing himself than about getting back to his workshop. Follow with what happens when the patient's priority and the family's are not the same.
While the patient was working, what were you watching for?
Why ask it
You saw someone butter toast. The therapist was tracking posture, which hand led, how long before fatigue set in and whether the steps came in the right order. Ask early in the day and you will start seeing those things yourself in the sessions that follow.
How do you measure whether a patient is getting better?
Why ask it
Expect a mix: standardized tests, timed tasks, the level of help needed, the patient's own rating. Ask which measure the therapist trusts and which one they record because they have to. The gap between the two is a small window onto the system around the job.
What do you send patients or families home with, and how do you find out whether they did it?
Why ask it
Sessions are a small part of a patient's week, so the home program and the teaching of relatives are part of the treatment. A realistic therapist will admit that some programs go undone and tell you how they shrink the plan to fit a real household. If a family member is being taught something while you are there, watch that closely.
What do you do when a patient refuses, or just does not want to work that day?
Why ask it
Refusal turns up everywhere, from a toddler under the table to an adult in pain who has had enough. Good answers are specific: offer a choice, shorten the task, come back later, find out what is behind it. Be wary of an answer that is only about pushing through.
What precautions were you following in that session, and what should I never do as an observer?
Why ask it
Patients can come with limits you cannot see: how much weight a leg may take, a fall risk, lines and tubes, a restriction on eating or drinking. The therapist can tell you which applied. The second half protects everyone: observers are commonly told not to help a patient stand, move or eat, however natural it feels, but ask what the rule is here.
Paperwork
How much of your day goes to documentation, and when do you actually get it done?
Why ask it
The first half often gets 'more than I expected'. The second half is the telling one: during the session, between patients, over lunch or at home. If notes follow them to the kitchen table, ask whether that comes from the setting, the employer or simply how this therapist works.
What has to go into a note for a session like the one I watched, and who reads it?
Why ask it
Notes may be read by other clinicians, by whoever pays and sometimes by the patient, and each wants something different. Ask whether you may see a blank template or an example with the identifying details removed, and accept a no without pushing. Seeing the headings once explains why the therapist asked the patient certain questions.
How do you write a goal so that someone else can tell whether it was met?
Why ask it
A measurable goal usually names the task, the amount of help, the conditions and a time frame, and it is harder to write than it sounds. Ask the therapist to say one of today's goals aloud. Then try wording one yourself for a patient you watched and ask how they would fix it.
Is there a productivity target here, and how is it counted?
Why ask it
Some employers expect a set share of the working day to be billable time with patients, and how strict that is varies a great deal from one workplace to the next. Ask what counts toward it and what does not, such as notes, team meetings or walking between rooms. A four-word answer and a quick change of subject usually means the target is a sore point, so leave it there.
How does whoever is paying shape what you can do with a patient?
Why ask it
Insurance, a public health service, a school budget and a family paying directly each bring their own rules about how many visits, for what, and with what proof. Those rules differ by country, state and plan, so take this workplace's version as one example. Notice whether the therapist talks about working inside the limits or about fighting them.
Besides treatment and notes, what else fills your week?
Why ask it
Team meetings, calls to families and doctors, ordering and fitting equipment, supervising students or assistants, cleaning the gym. None of it is visible while you are watching sessions. If the list is long, ask which parts they would hand off and which they would keep.
Hard parts
What is the hardest part of this job that I would not see in one day?
Why ask it
A shadowing day shows the sessions, and the strain often sits elsewhere: the pace across a whole year, a patient who died, a family that blamed the therapist. Give them a moment to think. An answer that comes with a particular memory is worth more than a general remark about being busy.
How hard is the work on your body, and what do you do to protect it?
Why ask it
Transfers, lifting, kneeling on the floor with children and long hours standing are part of some settings and nearly absent in others. Ask whether they, or anyone they trained with, have been hurt at work. If you have a physical limit of your own, this is the moment to ask which settings would suit it.
What are your hours here, and do weekends, holidays or evenings come with this setting?
Why ask it
Schedules differ more by setting than most applicants expect: a hospital unit may staff therapy on weekends and holidays, a school post tends to follow the school calendar, and home visits can run into the evening. Ask what a full-time week really adds up to here, and whether part-time or per-visit work is common. A therapist who picked the setting for its timetable will say so, and that is a fair reason to choose one.
How do you handle it when a patient stops improving, or is getting worse?
Why ask it
Some of the people an occupational therapist sees will not recover, and the work turns to comfort, safety or keeping a skill a little longer. Listen for how the therapist redefines a good outcome. If the whole answer is about discharge paperwork, ask once how it feels, and let them decide how much to say.
What do you find hardest to say to a patient or a family?
Why ask it
It may be telling someone they are not ready to go home, or that they need more help than the family can give. Ask how they learned to say it and whether school helped. Keep this one for late in the day, when you have earned a fuller answer.
Have you ever felt burned out, and what did you change?
Why ask it
Asked with care, many clinicians will answer, and what they changed is the useful part: a new setting, fewer hours, a different employer, a firmer line about notes at home. Someone who says it has never happened may be lucky, or may not want to discuss it with a visitor. Either way, do not press.
How often do you have to explain what occupational therapy is, and what do you say?
Why ask it
Patients and relatives may confuse it with physical therapy or assume it is about finding work. Borrow the therapist's one-sentence explanation and try it on a friend, because you will need your own version for interviews. Whether the constant explaining wears on them or amuses them tells you about a small daily cost of the field.
What sort of person do you think would be unhappy doing this work?
Why ask it
Easier to answer than 'who makes a good OT', and usually more candid. You might hear: people who need quick results, people uneasy with touch and bodies, people who want to work alone. Hold your own reaction up against the list on the way home.
Career and school
Why did you choose occupational therapy over physical therapy, nursing or another path?
Why ask it
The same question will be put to you when you apply, and hearing a working therapist's reasons helps you test your own. Good answers are concrete: a relative's rehab, a job as an aide, liking the mix of body and mind. Some will admit it was partly luck, which shows the choice does not have to be a calling.
What do you like most about being an occupational therapist?
Why ask it
Save it for after the harder topics, so the conversation does not end on burnout and paperwork. Notice whether the answer is about a patient, a puzzle solved or the team. If the same kind of moment appeals to you, that says more than any list of pros and cons.
What route did you take into the profession, and would you take the same one now?
Why ask it
Degrees, entry requirements and registration differ by country and have changed over the years, so a therapist who trained a while ago may have come in by a path that has since closed. Ask what they tell students today. Then check anything that sounds like a rule against the programs you are applying to.
Has the level of your degree made any difference to your pay or your work here?
Why ask it
Where programs offer more than one entry-level degree, the choice affects cost and years in school, and applicants agonize over it. A practicing therapist can say whether it changed their pay, their duties or their options at this workplace. Treat it as one employer's answer and ask the same thing elsewhere.
What were your fieldwork placements like, and which one taught you the most?
Why ask it
Placements are where students find out which setting suits them, and some therapists end up working in a place they first met as a student. Ask how placements were assigned and how much say they had. A story about one that went badly, and how they got through it, is worth asking for.
What was the hardest part of the program for you?
Why ask it
For some it is anatomy or neuroscience, for others the group projects, the pace, or the first time a supervisor criticized their work with a real patient. The answer tells you what to shore up before you start. If their hard part is your strong subject, ask what their classmates struggled with.
What did you do before applying that helped you most?
Why ask it
A job as a rehab aide, work with children or with disabled adults, caregiving, a particular class: therapists can usually name the experience that made school easier. Ask which they would choose if they could only do one. Then ask what they did that turned out not to matter.
What should I compare when I am choosing between OT programs?
Why ask it
A therapist who supervises fieldwork students sees which programs send people ready to treat, and may tell you off the record. Beyond that, expect a list such as cost, where the placements are, class size and whatever results a program publishes. Take any names as one person's view and read each program's own figures yourself.
What did school not prepare you for in your first year of practice?
Why ask it
Speed, documentation, difficult families and carrying a full caseload alone are the kinds of things that come up. Follow by asking who helped them through it. If the answer is a mentor, remember it: whether a first job comes with one is something you can ask about when the time comes.
Was the cost of the degree worth it for what the job pays?
Why ask it
You are asking for their reasoning, not their salary, and if they offer a figure, take it as one person in one setting. Tuition, loans and pay differ widely by place, so the useful part is how they weighed it and whether they would borrow the same amount again. Do not rush to fill a long pause, because the considered answer comes after it.
If you were hiring a new graduate, what would you want to see?
Why ask it
It moves the therapist from memory to judgment. You may hear things no program lists, such as asking for help early, finishing notes on time or being at ease with silence in a session. Those are habits you can start showing on your next shadowing day.
Is there a specialty or extra certification you pursued, or wish you had?
Why ask it
Hand therapy, pediatrics, driving, low vision, seating and wheelchairs: the field has many corners, and the route into each varies by country and employer. Ask what the extra training cost in time and money and whether it changed their work. It is also a quiet way to learn where they think the field is heading.
Before you leave
How would you like to verify my observation hours: a form, a signature, or an email from the program?
Why ask it
Bring the form or the program's instructions on the first day, and raise it before the last hour, when the therapist may be rushing to finish notes. Requirements differ between programs and application systems, so check what yours asks for and tell the therapist exactly. Keep your own log of dates, times and setting to match whatever they sign.
Would you be comfortable writing a recommendation for me, and what would you need to do it well?
Why ask it
The word 'comfortable' gives the therapist an easy way to decline, which you want, because a lukewarm letter helps nobody. One day of shadowing is rarely enough for a strong one, so a fair answer may be 'come back for more hours first'. If it is a yes, offer your resume, the deadline and how the letter is submitted.
Could I come back for more hours, or is there another therapist or setting you would point me to?
Why ask it
Therapists tend to know who nearby takes observers and who does not, which can save you a round of unanswered emails. If they offer a name, ask whether you may say who sent you. Ask about a setting unlike this one too, and check how each of your programs words its requirement on range.
Is there anything I did today that I should do differently next time?
Why ask it
It takes some nerve to ask. You might hear that you stood too close, asked a question in front of a patient or looked at your phone. Thank them and change it: you will also have shown how you take feedback, which matters if they later write about you.
What should I read, watch or practice before my next day of shadowing?
Why ask it
A narrow request gets a usable answer: a few terms to learn, a region of anatomy to review, a professional association's page to read. Do it, and mention it when you come back or write to thank them. Following through on a small suggestion is how an observer becomes someone a therapist is willing to vouch for.
What from today should stay out of my notes and my application essay?
Why ask it
Privacy rules depend on the country and the workplace, and the therapist or the facility will tell you theirs; some will have had you sign something on arrival. As a habit, keep names, dates and anything that could identify a person out of what you write, and describe what you learned instead. Asking shows you understood whose day it really was.
How to get the most from shadowing an occupational therapist
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before the day
Find out what your programs count
Before you book anything, read what each program you are considering says about observation: how many hours, in how many settings, with what kind of supervisor, and how the hours must be confirmed. The wording differs from program to program and changes from year to year. Bring the form or the instructions with you, so the questions under Before you leave take two minutes and not a chain of emails.
Ask the site what it needs from you
Some clinics, hospitals and schools want paperwork from an observer before the first day, such as a confidentiality agreement, health records or a background check, and some need weeks to process it. Ask when you arrange the visit. Ask about clothing and shoes at the same time: you may be on a gym floor, in a classroom or at a bedside, and the therapist knows which.
Pick questions to suit the setting
The setting, The session and Paperwork hold the questions whose answers change most from place to place, so they are worth repeating everywhere you shadow. In a hospital, lean on precautions, length of stay and discharge. In a school or a children's clinic, lean on goals, families and how play is put to work. Choose eight or ten for the day and mark the three you most need answered.
Learn a little vocabulary first
You will follow far more if you already know what activities of daily living are, what a transfer is, and the difference between an evaluation and a treatment session. Twenty minutes with a professional association's student pages is enough. It also lets you spend your questions on reasoning and not on definitions.
During the day
Ask between patients, never over them
A question about a patient asked in front of that patient puts the therapist in an awkward spot and can worry the person you are discussing. Hold it for the hallway, the walk to the next room or the gap while the therapist sets up. If the therapist invites questions during a session, keep them about the activity and not the person.
Tie each question to something you just saw
'Why did you move the chair before she stood up?' gets a better answer than a general question about safety. The questions under The session are written to be asked this way: fill in the patient and the moment. It also shows the therapist you were watching, which matters when you later ask for a signature or a letter.
Read the clock before you ask
Therapists often write notes in the gaps you were hoping to use. If they are typing, wait. Lunch, a canceled appointment and the end of the day are when the longer questions under Hard parts and Career and school fit. Asking 'Is now a good time for a couple of questions?' costs nothing.
Keep notes with no names in them
Carry a small notebook and write down what you saw and what the therapist said about it, leaving out names and anything else that would identify a patient. Follow whatever privacy rules the site gives you, and keep your phone away. Record the date, the hours and the setting as you go, since that is what a verification form will ask for.
After the day
Write it up the same evening
By the next morning the sessions blur together. For each patient you watched, write the task, the reason the therapist gave for it and one thing you would not have noticed alone. These short accounts are the raw material for an application essay and for the interview question about what you learned while observing.
Compare settings, not therapists
One therapist's caseload, documentation load and mood on the day are a single sample. Put the answers from each place side by side: pace, time on notes, who the patients are, what the therapist found hard. A pattern across three settings tells you about the profession. A single complaint tells you about a workplace.
Say thank you in writing
Send a short note within a day or two and name one specific thing you learned. If you asked for more hours, a contact or a recommendation, restate it plainly with any dates. Therapists host observers on top of a full schedule, and a prompt, specific note is what makes a second request easy to say yes to.
Mistakes to avoid
Stepping in to help
When a patient wobbles or struggles with a button, the urge to help is strong. Unless the therapist has asked you to, stay where you are. You do not know the patient's precautions, and the struggle may be the point of the session. The first question on this page, asked before the first patient, settles what you may and may not do.
Taking one workplace as the rule
How referrals work, what an assistant may do, how productivity is counted and what a payer will cover differ by country, state, employer and funding source. Write down what you are told as 'how it works there'. Check anything you plan to rely on with the program, the regulator or a second therapist.
Asking for a letter too early
A therapist who has known you for six hours can confirm that you came and behaved well, and not much more. If you want a recommendation that says something, ask what it would take: more days, a second visit, a volunteer shift. Then ask again once they have seen enough of you to have something to write.
Leaving without the hours confirmed
Chasing a signature months later, from a therapist who may have changed jobs, is harder than getting it before you go. Settle how the hours will be verified on the day, keep a copy or a photo of anything signed, and note the therapist's full name, credentials and work contact details as your program asks for them.