Personal Narrative: My Journey As A Physical Therapist

People’s experiences shape their lives and influence the choices they make, their expectations, and formulate their behavior and mindset. I have always loved to learn! As a child, I was constantly at the library and playing school. I recall being in 5th grade when my teacher handed me the science manual and a box of equipment, and asked me to ‘figure it out’ and recreate it for the class. I couldn’t have been more thrilled!

Prior to my clinical day, February 14th 2017, I developed clinical objectives to enhance my learning and clinical experience. One objective I created for myself was identify my patient and tasks to be completed for the day. Another objective, I created for myself, was properly complete a full head to toe assessment and examine my patient for a better understanding of his presentation. After assessing my patient I wanted to identify medications to be administered during my shift and administer all medications safely throughout the day. In addition to the objectives listed above, I made an objective to supply patient with more education and feedback on pertinent information for their condition, medications, and/ or personal questions.

In order to generate educational and occupational options for myself, I have looked at many resources ranging from volunteering in person to researching online. I have volunteered at a retirement home with a kinesiologist to determine if I would like that type work, and more importantly, the work environment. I have also volunteered at a physiotherapy clinic and Toronto rehabilitation institute to get a clinical and hospital experience as well. This has allowed me to get a hands on experience at various difference jobs in the field of healthcare. I have also looked at online resources such as research articles, government website, NOC, and DOT. Along with these resources, I have also gotten the opportunity to work at various jobs

Occupational therapy is a form of therapy for people who are recuperating from physical or mental illness that encourages rehabilitation through the performance of activities that are required for daily life (World Federation of Occupational Therapists). Being an occupational therapist has many different kinds of duties. They review patients’ medical history, ask the patients’ questions, and observe them doing tasks, evaluate a patient’s condition and needs. After evaluating patients, develop treatment plans and help demonstrate exercises. In order to do all of these duties, a person must pass the national examination administered by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy. Therapists must pass the board in order to have

As an aspiring occupational therapist, my essential goal is to provide services and opportunities to impaired individuals, specifically in under-developed communities, that may not have the proper resources and guidance. What made me want to dedicate my life to assisting individuals is from observing my grandmother take care of my great-grandmother until she passed away. While trying to maintain her own health, my grandmother helped her mother with tasks such as feeding, changing, and more all by herself. Watching her struggle with no support made me wish I could make life simpler for her. Also, I wished my great-grandmother had the utilities to help her interact with my family without dilemmas. Considering my great-grandmother and my future

As I pulled into the rehabilitation center’s parking lot Monday afternoon I couldn't wait to get inside and feel the breeze of the air conditioning as I escaped from the 95 degree blazing hot weather outside. I was very anxious because I wasn’t sure how this interview would go, let alone if it would happen. I wasn't certain the physical therapist I was going to interview would have time to fit me in. I was up the night before trying to figure out what I wanted to learn from this interview and what kind of questions I would ask. I decided to focus my questions towards the physical therapist I have been shadowing to get to know more about him and his experiences with the job. So far through out my research I have been focusing on the physical therapists and their relationships with patients. I wanted my readers learn more about the person who is caring for these patients and what goes on that patients do not see.

In the beginning, physical therapy made my recovery tedious. I was only interested because it allowed me the opportunity to learn numerous types of injuries from a variety of individuals. For example, I met a girl who broke her arm from falling off the monkey bars. Or the boy who had a complete elbow dislocation, while playing basketball. Although I was entertained by these interesting stories, they made me feel guilty. I was congratulating strangers for their quick recovery, while my own felt treacherous. Therefore, I grew frustrated and irritated with physical therapy and I denied any positivity in my recovery. I became envious until my envy evolved into a depression because I was incapable of physical activities. Therefore, I was forced

Today was the second day of my 6-week placement at Ward 3A-Logan Hospital, I have originally been paired with a demand casual pool RN, however, the said RN is not confident enough to handle me as her student nurse at the time. After the scrum at 7am, and the handover on the 4-bed bay + sides, I politely ask her if I could take one patient as it was one of the instructions of my CF during the orientation on day 1, but I was answered with “I’m not really familiar with the area and I’m from the demand casual pool...” Having sighted my CF at the corridors, I excused myself from the RN and discussed the matter to my CF, and she allowed me to be buddied with a very good EN, informing me that “she is an EN” before letting me to the bay and introducing me to my new buddy EN.

"If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?" And whenever the answer has been "No" for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something” (Steve Jobs). I remained undecided with which career I wanted to pursue for a period of time and thinking about this quote I knew I didn’t want to wake up every morning and dread the day ahead of me. I knew I wanted to remain in the activity of color guard but also wanted to help people with their personal goals. I had always had self-image issues growing up, and when I decided to change my life style and get in shape I knew I wanted to help people gain their self-confidence. I discovered that exercise science is a field that allows me to stay in the color guard world and help people, there are several fields that would allow me to do both, personal training, physical

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.

Physical therapy, also known as physiotherapy, is defined as the use of mechanical force and movements, manual therapy, exercise therapy, and electrotherapy, remediates impairments that promotes mobility and function. Physical therapy is used to improve a patient's quality of life through examination, diagnosis, prognosis and physical intervention. This discipline is very physical and often times literacy skills are something that is overlooked, but to be an effective physical therapist you need literacy skills and communication. Growing up I never wanted to work in healthcare, I wanted to explore the world, but my life changed five years ago when my nephew was born with both physical and mental disabilities. It was through countless research and working side by side with physical therapists that changed my career goals. I started to educate myself to help my nephew and that passion

In Physical therapy, the therapist's job is to give the patient exercises specifically designed for their injuries, and to help rehabilitate them. Physical therapy can only work if the patient puts in the time to follow the therapist’s instructions and is motivated to continue. Physical therapy is a treatment that almost everyone will have at one point in their life when health problems make it hard to move. This type of therapy is important because it helps relieve pain and improve physical function. The therapist’s key job is to work with the patient and form a treatment plan. This is where it is up to the patient to be motivated to follow the plan and better their body and life. Physical therapists work hard to help restore the patient’s

My father once said that one of his biggest regrets was not attending Rice University after being accepted. Ever since then, I have had the utmost respect for the university. Acknowledging their kinesiology program, I decided to apply as it is an amazing school to obtain pre-requisites in for physical therapy school. The program offers rigorous internships and provides an incredible independent study component. Seeing as this school is one of the top in the nation and is surrounded by a multitude of hospitals, it is a perfect fit for me and was a motivator for me to apply.

“Your ankle looks fine, it’s healing quite nicely. I agree that you could benefit from some physical therapy,” Doctor Karlsson told Anna as he noted something on her chart. She put her shoe back on and removed her foot from the table. “Thank you doctor, I’m so glad to hear that,” Anna sighed, finally some good news in her life. She only hoped that the good news would continue. He gave her a referral to see a physical therapist and sent Anna on her way.

Ever had aching muscles? Ever wish you could just sit back and relax as someone rubs those atrocious twitchings out of this life? Well you are in luck, massage therapists are the leading men and women of the modern day that contribute to reinvigoration of virility. Discovering and selecting a school that satisfied all my expectations was a tough but exciting task. I chose Texas Center for Massage Therapy as my school of choice because of the in depth course work they have to offer through their 32-week program. Massage therapy stood out to me a few years ago when I met a friend who was studying massage. I’ve always had an interest in the medical field beginning when I was a young child. The daily routine of a student wanting to pursue massage therapy would thrive to their