Reflection - 5/2

I have gained so much from my mentorship over the past year. Most of this included the hands on experience that I obtained from the staff at the Atlanta Rehabilitation and Performance Center. I learned so much about the career of physical therapy and the different job skills required for the job. I was also able to apply the exercises I learned at my mentorship to my own life. This definitely opened my eyes to the importance of this career field. Being able to see patients see improvement, and actually experience the improvement myself was definitely quite the opportunity.

I took a lot of action in order to gain the most from my experiences, the big one was staying informed. If I did not know a certain exercise or a piece of equipment I never hesitated to ask. The more that I knew about physical therapy, the better. My mentorship has also greatly helped me for the future. I now know what it takes to become a physical therapist, and the things that I expect to learn in college. This experience has also shown me that I do want to pursue this career, and I will at nothing to ensure I get there.

My mentorship has also greatly changed my view on this career field. I have learned so much about the different titles and roles of the employees at Atlanta Rehab. For example, physical therapists do not only specialize in sports injuries, they work for the rehabilitation of all people. Athletic trainers are the ones that work solely with athletes. Learning this swayed me more to the athletic trainer side, because I want to specialize in sports injuries. And finally, the advice that I would give to future hmp students is: pursue your passion. If you do not enjoy doing something, don't force yourself to do it. And most importantly, do not let anyone persuade you to do something aside from what you enjoy doing. Physical therapy is my passion, and I did not need anyone to tell me that. I discovered it on my own, and so should you.

Picture URLs:
Top: http://atlantarehab.org/images/header_03.gif
Middle: http://ptlifetime.indefree.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Physical-Therapy.jpg
Bottom: http://www.bayareapt.com/images/whatispt.jpg

Public Speaking - 3/14 Assignment

Public speaking has always been a struggle growing up, but as soon as I get started everything just flows. The video I watched gave me various pointers that helped me develop public speaking skills. I learned that posture is important; what you eat before the speech can effect your stomach and make your nerves worse; and it's super important to relate to your audience to keep them captivated. All these tips I plan to use in the future, and they are very important when it comes to my video presentation. Since my video is already complete, I regret not making these things more important. The next time I am required to speak publicly, i will keep all of these tips in mind, so I can have ta great speech and/or presentation.

Summary - 2/15

Hayhurst, Chris, and Donald E.Tepper. “Physical Therapy’s Emerging Leaders.” PT In Motion 6.9 (2014): 36-42. Consumer Health Complete – EBSCOhost. Web. 13 Mar. 2016.

            The article I found is called “Physical Therapy’s Emerging Leaders.” The article begins

by introducing two physical therapists that were athletes when they were younger. Both of them were injured and required physical therapy at some point, which sparked their desire for this career. In the article they share a few experiences. First they answer the question “what is a natural leader?” Natalie Garland explains how important it is to build relationships and help out in the community in which you work. It is impossible to lead if no one follows, so get involved. Also putting patients first is key. If the needs of the patient are put before the needs of the PT, then the more likely they are to return, and the more likely you will be a successful PT. The main points of this article touch on the desire of physical therapy and how they develop over the years.

            There are also a few potential quotes in this article. The first one being: “Nathan Nevin, PT, DPT, discovered physical therapy in high school when he tore his ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow…” (1). This quote is significant because he found physical therapy in the same way I did, from a sports injury. Another quote is: “It’s key to build relationships of familiarity and trust quickly. As someone with a marketing background, I believe it’s even more vital to start building relationships before physical therapy is even needed.” (2). This quote means a lot to me because I learned the same thing at church. You cannot be a good leader without building relationships first. Learning this from two different sources makes my thoughts on the validity of it even stronger.

            This article credible because it is written by a group two people that have written numerous articles on physical therapy, each one posted on a credible research sight. All of the information gathered are accounts from different physical therapists. They talk about their experiences and thoughts on what it is to be a physical therapist, and how they got to where they are today.

            This will help me with my research because it is on the topic of my essential question. It helps me with my point that most physical therapists have an athletic background, and what drives those who do not. It also presents skills that are most beneficial to PT’s and what it takes to be very successful in this career field. Knowing these things will help me as I develop my resume in physical therapy, and when it comes to interacting at my mentorship. 

Summary - 1/25

Malone, Daniel, et al. "Physical Therapist Practice In The Intensive CareUnit: Results Of A National Survey." Physical Therapy 95.10 (2015): 1335. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 30 Jan. 2016.

The article I researched is called "Physical Therapist In The Intensive Care Unit." This article describes the lack of training certain physical therapists have in the ICU. It explains how PT's in the ICU have the same amount of training as those that work in the typical rehabilitation center. This is an important topic because the hardest patients to treat are the ones fresh out of the ICU. It is said that the safety of the patients relies on the skills of the Physical Therapists. Special training should be required to operate in the ICU in order for the doctors and patients to thrive.

I have also gathered a few potential quotes from the article for my research. They include:“In the United States, however, there is a paucity of information describing how ICUbased physical therapist services are implemented…” (2). “The purpose of this study was to characterize current physical therapist practice, specifically, practitioner demographics, ICU staffing patterns, methods of training for ICU practice…” (2). These quotes express the idea that PT services are not recognized when placed in the ICU, as well as methods of training are not really apparent. These are a few things that need to be fixed in order for patients fresh out of the ICU to receive the most benefits.

The source I chose is valid because I obtained it from a school sponsored research cite. This is also an article written by a group of PT's that are serious about their careers. They believe that for the safety of all patients, training must be necessary. They have also used a variety of experiments and studies to test the validity of the problem, and how it should be solved. This article gave me insight on other areas that physical therapists study. I was not informed that PT’s operates in the ICU before reading this article. I will be able to use this article in the research of my capstone project and for future reference in my field of study.

2/1 Assignment

I have been working on my project so far by gathering information. At my mentorship I have been very observant and attentive when it comes to helping out. I have also began to ask more questions about the career field, ensuring that I get all the information I need. So far I have not gotten much on paper, but I am benefiting a lot by my time at my mentorship. All of this is going to help me out when it comes to my final project, and I can not wait to begin working on the visual aspects to get this project along further.

Graphic Organizer - 1/19

Bibliography	Malone, Daniel, et al. "Physical Therapist Practice In The Intensive CareUnit: Results Of A National Survey." Physical Therapy 95.10 (2015): 1335. Publisher Provided Full Text Searching File. Web. 30 Jan. 2016.
Annotation:	This article contains various studies on the training of Physical Therapists in the intensive care unit. It describes how there are several different types of training for PT’s in the ICU, but only in foreign countries. There have been few instances in the United States where training is clear. It is said that the safety of the patients relies on the skill of the Physical Therapist, and proper training should be required for them to operate in the ICU.
Potential Quotes:	“In the United States, however, there is a paucity of information describing how ICUbased physical therapist services are implemented…” (2) “The purpose of this study was to characterize current physical therapist practice, specifically, practitioner demographics, ICU staffing patterns, methods of training for ICU practice…” (2)
Assessment:	This article is credible because it is written by a group of PT’s that are serious about their careers. They believe that for the safety of all patients training should be necessary, and they used a variety of experiments and studies to test, and reveal that it is a problem.
Reflection:	This article gave me insight on other areas that physical therapists study. I was not informed that PT’s operates in the ICU before reading this article. I will be able to use this article in the research of my capstone project and for future reference in my field of study.

1/5 Assignment

There has been a lot of things driving my research this year. The biggest one is the thought that Physical Therapy might be a part of most of my life. The more I know and participate in now, the easier it will be in the future. My current essential question is -What drive's a person to become a physical therapist? It has changed a little since the beginning of the year, mainly because I will be able to get a little more information out of this one. The good thing is that I can still get the answer out of the new one that I wanted from the last one (In blog post labeled essential question). And for my final project I intend on creating some handouts as well as a type of presentation for further enhancement. For the real inquiry part of the project  I will most likely interview one of my mentors or a family member. I can not wait to dive deeper into this career field!