Personal Narrative: A Career In Physical Therapy

Beyond the educational requirements for physical therapists are the many other attributes that are needed to be successful. A career as a physical therapist requires a lot of studied skills, personal characteristics and physical fitness. A physical therapist should enjoy working with people and helping others. An ability to listen to patients and understand is important to success. Patients are often a victim of a traumatic experience, injury or are afflicted by a debilitating disease. The emotional distress can often be as trying as the physical dysfunction. (Kottler 11) Communicating and teaching skills are needed to help patients learn new movements and exercises to practice on their own. Physical therapists help patients set goals, regain and strengthen muscles and flexibility. Helping a patient find confidence in the program helps them to

I know that you have a background in ballet, but can you tell me a little more about yourself? How did you get into this field ?

As a young athlete, running had always been my least favorite activity. Unfortunately, every sport I played was dependent on that very act. Countless suicide runs and lay-up drills in basketball, and even more base runs in softball, served as a distraction from this mundane activity because at least I was running for a purpose. My brief time on the cross-country team demonstrated that while I may have excelled at sprinting, long-distance running was not my forte; and also materialized by my omnipresent side stitches. However, my senior year of high school came and to my surprise, running would be the one thing I missed dearly. My short time as a starting varsity player in basketball came to an end when I tore my left ACL. A host of changes came from just this one incident. After sustaining this injury and enduring surgery and physical therapy, my career goals took a dramatic turn; I went from an aspiring visual artist embarking to Rutger's Mason Gross School of the Arts, to extremely interested in the field of physical therapy.

It hurt to walk as I stepped into physical therapy on that spring morning. I was coming into here for my second round of physical therap. I thought I had healed up the first thirteen weeks I had gone to physical therapy a year earlier, but three years later, I had still felt pain. I still can recite every detail on how I got here. I was at one of my gymnastics meets way back in 2012.

On September 8th, 2015, I first began interning for Dr. Dawn Cox and her staff of experienced Physical Therapists at PRANA Functional Manual Therapy in Lancaster, PA as a Physical Therapy Aide. Intermittently, on the first day of my internship, I would ask the therapists “Why choose Physical Therapy as a profession?” One of the Physical Therapists conveyed that aside from the substantial benefits a job provides, it was the intangible materials that gave the profession a meaning. As a student exploring the field of Physical Therapy, I have infallibly witnessed professionalism at PRANA and other Physical Therapy facilities through the therapists’ altruism towards patients -without violating ethical practices as professionals; their apposite use of communication with each individual at the workplace; and their sense of accountability when things go unforeseen.

Being a DPT student is much more than just sitting in a classroom and studying. As a physical therapist aide for three years, I bring to the field of Physical Therapy a unique set of skills built from life experiences and abide by the standards of practice that are set forth by the American Physical Therapy Association. Throughout my experience as an aide in Belle Mead Physical Therapy, I have not only grasped the true meaning of professionalism, but have also shaped what it means to me as an aide as well as a student pursuing a career as a Physical Therapist. As APTA states, “Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants should strive to apply principles of altruism, excellence, caring, ethics, respect, communication and accountability

At this point in time, I am only furthering my skills as a physical therapy technician. Through this experience, along with observations, I have been able to learn about people when they are specifically in a physical therapy setting. I have come to understand that in these situations there must always be a professional relationship. However, every patient feels differently, for some you are a friend or counselor, for others you are strictly a physical

This is evident by APTA’s vision “ Beyond Vision 2020” which now focuses on “transforming society by optimizing movement to improve the human experience.”3 Moving in that direction, physical therapists have to step up to the plate and take on additional administrative, supervisory, and clinical responsibilities across the continuum of care provided. This has only been possible in many instances with physical therapists judiciously delegating care to support personnel, especially physical therapist assistants who joined the ranks of licensed physical therapy professionals in the late 1960s. From here on slowly but surely, physical therapists (PTs) and physical therapist assistants (PTAs) have learned to work collaboratively as a team. Each is co-dependent on the other and to some extent accountable for the actions of the

Other responsibilities included scheduling, verifying insurance, cash management, collecting copayments, registering patients, and scanning clinic records. New Patient Services Representatives (PSR) were trained, medical records were reorganized, and streamline processes improved patient flow. Work also entailed creating a wait list protocol and working with Rehab therapists to coordinate and handle scheduling issues, that may arise.

My love for the physical therapy field began in a high school athletic training room as an injured volleyball player. The trainers informed me of the benefits that physical therapy could provide to athletes and I became interested both for my own rehabilitation, as well as a prospective career choice. A couple of years later in college, I accepted an opportunity to work with physical therapists in a post acute setting. Although there were few athletes at this facility, it was this setting that broadened my horizons of what the physical therapy field had to offer and I found that I have a passion for it.

Did you know that most physical therapists see about 30 patients per day with varied injuries? A student who researches the nature of a job, it’s working conditions, employment facts, the education and training requirements, along with the future job potential and earnings will be wiser and more knowledgeable when determining a career path to choose. Physical therapy is an interesting career path because they help people with injuries recover, help people with disabilities achieve highest standard of physical function, and they teach stretches and exercises that allow patients to be active.

As a child, did you ever dream of becoming a wealthy doctor, or a nurse? Have you ever wanted to help someone in your family who struggles on a daily basis? Everyone will have that feeling at some point in their life. That is what physical therapy is composed of. It is, and was the start of the medical field, but can also be bypassed for a doctor or nurse practitioner. From repairing torn ligaments, to fixing broken bones, physical therapy is the most beneficial form of diagnostics. However, what you do to start a career in this field will determine the level of success. “The future depends on what you do today.” (Gandhi). Becoming a physical therapist requires a high level of education and skill to even enter the workforce, and there are many ways to begin your upcoming future in this career.

To have a better understanding of why my skills are well suited to the job of a physical therapist, I need to explain why I want to embody this position. At the age of thirteen, I became aware of what physical therapy entailed. My first experience of insight towards this area of treatment was a personal experience that involved my father. He had been hit by a vehicle, suffered a closed-head injury, and completely shattered the bones in his left leg. Once he had become cognitively present, he was to enter several settings of physical therapy in aims to walk once again. As an observer, I witnessed what would be a very trying case for a therapist. There were occasions in which his neurological instability caused frustration that actually lead to a few violent occasions. He was eventually fortunate enough to

Physical therapists are taught to correctly evaluate and identify the cruelty and nature of a patient's condition or conditions, develop a rehab service made specifically for the individual, and follow through with the treatment. People that require physical therapy come from all walks of life, can range in age from infant to older adult in age, and come in all shapes and sizes.. As a result, physical therapists should be trained in depth to confirm that they can satisfy the public’s needs.

After my outpatient observation, my impression of the Physical Therapy profession changed in the sense that I gained more respect for those in the field. The profession of Physical Therapy requires skill, knowledge, and many years of education. Before my observation, I did not truly understand what the profession took to be successful.