The Working World

It's tough, I tell you. School is such an easier schedule - off on Fridays and hardly ever 8 hours a day.

With that being said, however, God has again blessed me with an amazing clinical instructor (CI). The hours are different almost every day and the people are different as well. It's so different from the hospital setting where I did my first clinical. As you can tell, what I've noticed most is the difference between the outpatient setting and the hospital setting. I've yet to decide if I prefer one to the other.

But back to my CI: she is such a gifted instructor. One day we had patients cancel for the hour, so she had me lie down on the table and she did some neck assessments on me. Then we switched and I got to practice on her and she could correct my hand placement. She also asked me what I felt uncomfortable with (measuring people's motion with one hand while supporting their body part with the other and making sure my axis and angles are where they belong). What does she do next? She again gets up on the table and lets me practice on her. By the end of this clinical, I also will have good posture. Seeing as she has already pointed out that I have poor posture and that it's from weakness and not a combo of weakness/tightness, it will be addressed.

Seeing as the patients volitionally attend therapy instead of being in the hospital, my interaction with them has changed. I get to know them better and have more of an opportunity to build a relationship with them, which is an aspect of PT that I love. Each patient teaches me something new.

All in all, I love my clinic setting, the instructor and the patients. I learn so much every day and am finally getting the chance to apply all the ortho knowledge I've been taught. And I learned my placement for my next setting. I called my pediatric instructor for her advice and changed my number one pick that I had thought I had wanted for the past year. I will finish out my clinicals with a 12 week at my new number one, a pediatric setting that seems like an awesome environment.