Physical Therapist Interview Essay

During the interview, the Physical Therapist I conferred with was very thorough and straightforward in his responses to the questions that were given. I decided to interview another one of my mother’s fellow co-workers, Mr. Stephen Chan, considering his new experiences in the Physical Therapy field. I met with Mr. Stephen Chan at the Kaiser Permanente Outpatient Orthopedic Clinic that is located in Union City. The essential subject matters that we discussed consisted of his Major and Minor in college, the Residency Program that he takes part in, variations of attitudes, and advantages in the workforce.
Unlike my first interview, we were able to schedule a ‘face-to-face’ meeting to provide answers to my questions. After we met, he led me to

his private treatment room. Due to their type of work, it is very important that each physical therapist is assigned this own treatment room. As is common with all medical facilities this room was extremely clean and very well organized. In his room, as I am sure with all other rooms he has a treatment table, a computer workstation, his diplomas and certifications, and various posters that pertained to his personal interests. I felt very fortunate that he appeared to be quite relaxed and was willing to devote his time to this interview.
He decided to go to UC Davis with a major in exercise biology and a minor in psychology. He thought that his major in exercise biology would be a great fit for physical therapy but also he found that his minor in psychology greatly enhanced his ability to deal with patients under stress. He expressed that, “You do not have to major in kinesiology or exercise physiology to become a physical therapist.”(Chan Personal Interview). When it came down to him choosing a University it was between UC Davis and UC San Diego. He decided on UC Davis due to logistics and the fact that he was raised in the Bay Area so could visit his family much more often. He alluded to, “Both are great schools, education is amazing, extracurriculars are amazing, so I knew I would be happy in each school in regards to those two things.”(Chan Personal Interview).
When asked about the Residency Program he quoted, “The reason why I went into the Residency Program is because you assess yourself and you see holes in your practice, you see things that you want to improve on.”(Chan Personal Interview). He also mentioned that he tried to improve on his own but realized that he needed a structured program and guidance from professional experts to help him address his weaknesses as quick as possible. I thought that his answer to the question, “Were you nervous to start treating patients at first?” and he generously responded by saying, “I went to school thinking I was going to get out of school and feel absolutely ready to start treating, but you get out of school and realize how much you do not know.”(Chan Personal Interview).This shows a lack of arrogance to complete 7 years of education and have the maturity to realize that he still has much to learn.
As this career choice came into mind I wondered what the attitude and behaviors of the patients would be like. Chan disclosed that, “That’s just the name of the game in healthcare, you are going in encounter so many different types of people and personalities go along with that.”(Chan Personal Interview). He then included that there will be some who are motivated and others who are not, and some who are understanding and not understanding in addition to wanting to increase their strength and wellness. Being able to maintain a quality social life is also a big issue when choosing an occupation. When discussing this Chan enlightened me about his social life saying, “This has really changed my lifestyle and I’ve had to rearrange my lifestyle to still be able to exercise...I would say that my social life has taken a hit as of right now.”(Chan Personal Interview). Needing to have the ability to deal with patients’ behaviors and wanting to maintain a good social life are both key points that are supposedly necessary when having this occupation.
During an interview discussing a career it is common for one to ask if the job would be recommendable for others.

Chan answered the question, “What you recommend this job and why?”, by saying, “I would but it's dependent on who you are, if you are someone who likes to do investigation instead of being told ‘it is this’ but you want to find for yourself what it is and if you are someone that is active and likes to promote activity then I think it is you.”(Chan Personal Interview). In this occupation you need to preach your knowledge not by speaking but by moving your body. When the interview came to a close, my last question was asking what the advantages and disadvantages of being a Physical Therapist are. He described that the disadvantages include the patient care load and the paperwork (where he explained that you need to document your work or ‘cover yourself’ per say); for the advantages he interpreted that you get to preach an active lifestyle, become a detective when figuring out the diagnosis, get to gather evidence through different methods, and treat the idea of what you think the diagnosis is. When being a Physical Therapist, as a reward patients get to feel less pain and feel as if they are functioning better in life; where as I understand from being an athlete, “Movement is Happiness!”(Chan Personal

Interview).
Throughout the interviewing process, I realized that physical therapy is becoming more of an interest to me and I am hoping to pursue this as a career someday. When i interviewed Mr. Stephen Chan it was delightful that he was so upbeat and excited to be telling me why he chose this occupation. I found all of the facts and information that he discussed with me to be very beneficial such as how you get to preach an active lifestyle by gathering evidence during the search to discover what the diagnosis can possibly be. As i obtained lots of information I realized how this was definitely worth my time and effort. I feel very fortunate to have interviewed someone who speaks ever so highly about their job and is capable of taking time out of their workday to inform me why they wanted to become a Physical Therapist in the first place.