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Career choices as a physical therapist
Career choices as a physical therapist
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The two clinical settings that I have had experiences in are an outpatient setting and a nursing home setting. At both locations I assisted the Physical Therapist with patient exercises and care. The experiences that came from these two facilities expanded my knowledge and need to help others. These internship experiences provided me with an opportunity to watch professionals with many years of experience show me the variety of ways that they treat patients. The first setting that I started my job as a rehab aide was in a nursing home with two Physical Therapists and one Occupational Therapist. In this setting I completed three hundred and fifty hours of experience. The clients in this facility ranged in capabilities from being almost totally dependent to needing …show more content…
At this job there was usually four to five Physical Therapists and one Occupation Therapist on the premises. I completed three hundred hours of experience in this setting. The requirements for my job in this setting were to keep patients in order and to complete necessary exercises with them. At this facility we saw roughly thirty to forty clients a day so it was important that we kept our patients on schedule and completed the necessary exercises with the patients. The outpatient facility again showed me the importance of making a connection with patients because even though we saw so many patients a day, each patient felt special and we were repeatedly told how much of a difference that made to them. At this facility we saw a variety of patient injuries anywhere from car accident to sport injuries. The Physical Therapists at this facility showed me the importance of being versatile; no matter the injury they would find a way to target it even if that meant hours of research or inventing their own way of exercising it. The outpatient facility gave me the opportunity to learn something new and exciting every day I went
Observing therapy assistants in the field and seeing what they do in their jobs was an eye opener for me. Getting to experience on-the-job shadowing helped me to identify the roles of a therapy assistant better than reading or talking to people about the job description. First, I shadowed at Athletico Physical Therapy, an outpatient facility in Festus, MO. Paul Kohler is the Occupational/Hand Therapist that I shadowed during my experience. There were several different injuries that I saw, ranging from people with work related injuries to jamming fingers in machines. After observing Mr. Kohler throughout the day, I got to see him interact with patients and perform activities that helped his patients in their rehabilitation phase of recovery. He told me that the improvements he sees first hand from his patients is rewarding and he feels achieved when he sees patients make steady recoveries. From this experience, I also learned that occupational therapy offers a diverse number of avenues for employment. I was pleased to know that I can specialize in a specific area if I desire to do so in the
The first location where I performed observation hours was an outpatient clinic, Glastonbury Physical Therapy. A wide variety of patients of all ages are seen at this clinic. I viewed the physical therapists working with patients recovering from surgeries, injuries, a patient with cerebral palsy, and many older patients with back pain and radiculopathy. I loved going in for observation hours, and tried to fit in as many hours as I could. Completing the 75 hours at this facility over the course of summer, winter and spring breaks during my sophomore year of college solidified my resolve to become a physical therapist.
During my undergraduate career, I have been heavily exposed to the field of physical medicine. I have worked as a PT technician for almost a year in an outpatient clinic, and have actively sought out other observation in other physical therapy settings. I have had the chance to observe PTs in acute care at the local hospital and a pediatric therapy center. Through these observation opportunities, I have a gained a great understanding of the role the physical therapist has within society as well as the benefits of participating in physical therapy. Physical therapists are allied health professionals who collaborate with other health care providers to assess, develop and organize a treatment plan to ultimately improve the quality of life for their patients. It is the duty of the physical therapists to create and participate in rehabilitative programs that improve mobility, alleviate pain, increase strength, and enhance or remedy incapacitating conditions resulting from injury or disease. It is crucial that physical therapists have the ability to properly educate individuals on their role and purpose in the patients’ continuum of care. PTs must also inform people about the great benefits of participating in physical therapy. A few benefits of physical therapy include: reducing or eliminating pain, recovering from an injury, improving mobility, avoiding surgery, and managing other health conditions. As a PT technician, I have had the opportunity to understand the purpose and value behind therapeutic modalities, prescribed exercises and manual therapy techniques. Consequently, I have had explain my knowledge of the function and benefits of certain therapy practices to patients. My experiences in different physical therapy settings have given me a strong comprehension of a physical therapists role in
From a young age I was interested in the medical field. As I became more exposed to the various options, I decided physical therapy was the right career for me. My experience has proved the field to be interesting and fun. I enjoy working with people and the versatility of therapy. There are many areas to specialize in and I look forward to learning which one is right for me. At the moment I am interested in pediatric acute care but I am also interested in sports and orthopedics. As I continue my studies, I look forward to learning about the different fields in which physical therapy will take me. My future views may change which physical therapy field I wish to pursue, but right now I look forward to learning as much as I can about physical therapy and helping others.
The title of the first presentation was Practicum Experience at Oklahoma Heart Hospital. Joshua Moore is from the Kinesiology-Exercise/Fitness Management and he did his internship at Oklahoma Heart Hospital. Joshua made programs using dumbbells for his group of clients at his Internship. Other responsibilities he had was to monitor them while they exercised, check their ECGs and paperwork. He mentioned that checking their ECGs was the hardest part of the job since he was not very familiar with it from the beginning. Overall, Josh enjoyed working at a cardiac rehab center.
Since I was young, I’ve always loved to help people. What better way to do that by becoming an Occupational Therapist? Of course, there is other jobs like Fireman, Policeman, and Surgeon, but those require to work well under pressure, a skill I’ve never been very good at, in a life or death situation. Moreover, Occupational Therapists don’t just save lives, they get them back. An Occupational Therapist’s duties, work environment, and important qualities are the main ideas that only confirms: this is the job for me.
Occupational therapy has a multifaceted nature providing endless opportunities to serve a wide range of people within many environments, which is just one of the reasons I love this occupation. My long term goals enlist the desire to maximize my knowledge and abilities to care and supplement the lives of anyone that may cross my path in this career. I have seen occupational therapy positively impact the lives of people around me, and I strive to be a bigger role on the team helping make that happen.
Physical therapists can either specialize in specific areas, like paralysis or orthopedics, or they can treat a broad range of needs. Physical therapy is divided into three basic categories: acute care, neuro-rehab, and outpatient physical therapy. I am particularly interested in acute care, which involves treating patients in the hospital setting. Acute care involves treating patients following surgery, restoring patients' physical activity following an accident or illness, and helping patients to overcome disabilities. Teaching home exercises, preparing rehab programs, and explaining how to use assistive devices are the acute care therapist's main jobs. On the other hand, neuro-rehab physical therapists deal with patients who have long-term injuries, such as spinal cord injuries. Finally, outpatient physical therapists are usually self-employed and generally treat patients in the home. ("Information" 7) All three types of physical therapists perform the same general tasks. The goal of physical therapy is to help patien...
...ve an accident to recovery from an injury. I would like to help these patients and see how they have progress throughout the treatment. I discovered from this health field that to be a physical therapist is very important because you have to deal not only with patients but also with different equipment that are required for some treatments. Also, Physical Therapy is a lifelong learning career. Every day we have change in
Throughout my final ten weeks at my placement, I have grown and overcome so many obstacles. I have accomplished a wide range of skills since the beginning and have been improving on them as I gained experience. At my placement as a student nurse, I have gained a lot of confidence, skills, knowledge and experiences that have helped me act and work in a professional way. All the experiences I have had during the ten weeks of my student years have helped me in shaping me into a professional.
I believe placing student nurses in the clinical setting is vital in becoming competent nurses. Every experience the student experiences during their placement has an educative nature therefore, it is important for the students to take some time to reflect on these experiences. A specific situation that stood out to me from my clinical experience was that; I didn’t realize I had ignored the patient’s pain until I was later asked by the nurse if the patient was in any pain.
Walking into the cold building, I asked, "Mom, why do we have to go to the hospital again?". Mommy has to have a third hip replacement, she replied. Why and what does that mean? Mommy's body parts do not work as well as yours do. Therefore, I have to be fixed, so I can move around just like you. As a child I would often reminisce of the many years growing up in hospitals. Gradually, becoming inquisitive about health, movement and the healing process of the body. As a graduate of Bachelor’s of Science degree with a concentration in exercise sports science and a dance minor many questions were answered. Therefore, as a prospective student in a doctor of physical therapist degree program I gave careful thoughts toward exemplifying the American Physical Therapy Association core values of professionalism. Of the core values compassion, social responsibility, and integrity are the most prominent to me.
I first started in high school as a patient myself. As an athlete, I have sustained various injuries that have needed rehabilitation in a physical therapy office. My most significant injury required 5 months of intensive therapy to rehabilitate my lower back. During this time, I began to understand the requirements of a successful physical therapist, as well as what is required of patients throughout the rehabilitation process. Compliance to exercises and limitations in activity will help a person to heal the fastest. Although, it may be hard to do your exercises every day, or prevent yourself from participating in that one activity all of your other friends are doing. I believe that this will help me become a successful clinician as my personal experiences will help me to relate to patients as they go through their own
The American Medical Association (AMA) terms clinical integration as a method to synchronize patient care across multiple spectrums in to achieve the highest quality of care. Several physicians and health systems lack evocative networks and data exchange with other health care entities. Many office-based providers practice unaccompanied and may not have contact to colleague benchmarking and best practices, or apparatuses that can augment communication across locations and permit clinical amalgamations. Numerous hospitals are unable to implement clinical integration due to limited resources in swaying the conduct and choices of all staff involved in patient care. Patients receive care throughout the spectrum of the healthcare system and some of these facilities within the spectrum don’t have devices in place to track patient care across diverse
When working and during my clinical rotation in long term care I had patients with functional limitations due to chronic illness or patients that were there to stay and live there. It was limiting to certain clinical experiences. During this rotation I got hands on experience with patients with acute conditions, infections and accidents.