Skills and Assumptions - 12/7

When I pictured myself in my mentorship a few months ago I thought it was going to be very difficult. I imagined that it would be really hard to make friends with my mentors as well as talk to the patients, and I thought all I would be doing was running errands. At this point I realized I was very wrong. Making conversations with my mentors came easy, they were very nice and understanding. Furthermore, the patients were very nice and easy to talk to as well. I haven't met a single person that wasn't afraid to talk about why they were in rehab in the first place. And instead of just running errands for my mentors, I actually get to perform exercises for different patients. It feels like just another job and it is very fun. What I pictured to be very difficult and frustrating, actually turned out to be very fun and entertaining, and I look forward to helping out at Atlanta Rehab each and every week. There are also skills that I see are very important, those being knowledge and communication. It is important to be knowledgeable of all the body parts and exercises to perform for each injury.It is also very important to communicate appropriately with each patient, insuring that they trust you and your procedures. Knowing all this has made my mentorship quite the experience.

Essential Question - 11/30

How some physical therapists with no athletic background decided on their career choice?

I selected this as my essential question because I expected most physical therapists to have some sort of athletic background. My passion for sports is what drove me to pursue physical therapy, yet I work with a couple physical therapists that have no athletic background.  I know a few other interns that are student-athletes and excites my interest in what pushes non-athletes toward physical therapy. I believe this question gives me a desire to dive deeper into this topic and further research my career choice. I hope to find out what it is that truly excites people about physical therapy, and maybe I will find my true passion for this career. I will also soon ask what drove my mentor's to this career field and hopefully they will enlighten me on the subject.

Social Intelligence - 11/16

These days many recent college graduates struggle when it comes to handling the work place. Students will either treat it like their room: sloppy and unprofessional. Another problem is that the youth are obsessed with their identity, and when asked to change for the sake of the costumers, they refuse. The article "The First Soft Skill to Develop in Students" describes this as a lack of social intelligence. Social intelligence is defined as "The capacity to effectively negotiate complex social relationships and environments." In other words, it is the ability to handle all matter of social situations. Social intelligence is important because adults need to have the ability to communicate effectively, especially when it comes to the workplace. It is really hard to build healthy relationships when communication skills are lacking. One thing from the article that really spoke to me is that social relationships have an impact on certain aspects of our health. It says the deeper the relationship, the larger the effect it has on you. I learned that I really need social intelligence in my career field. Keeping conversations with patients is very important to build relationships, and to keep business flowing. I will surely remember to keep this in mind throughout my mentorship.

All information was found here: http://growingleaders.com/blog/first-soft-skill-develop-students/

My Mentorship 11/9

My mentorship thus far has been very educational and enjoyable. Every day is a new experience and it is always something I look forward to doing each week. I have learned a lot about physical therapy in the past month. Even though most of the time I am doing busy work (laundry and cleaning tables), I get a lot of hands on experience with the patients.  I've been learning a lot of strength exercises and beneficial stretches to give to patients, it's as close as I have ever been to the real thing. I can not wait to learn more about physical therapy, though schooling will be tough and long, it is definitely higher up on my list now because of this mentorship.

If there is any one class that I have taken to help me prepare for my mentorship, it would probably be a class I am taking this year as well, Essentials of Healthcare and Human Anatomy. Learning about the human body is very important for a PT, however, that  is not the only reason this class has helped me. My teacher designs the class to help her students gain all the knowledge of the career field as possible. We have either made fake job applications, or taken various surveys to help us decide on the careers that we want. All of this has helped me develop my future, learning how to act and such. It surely has helped me, and I am only learning more as I go through the year.