JOANNA EDEN A.

GURTIZA BSPT-V JULY 29 2017

My Fourth Week
LORMA MEDICAL CENTER
PHYSICAL THERAPY INTERNSHIP TRAINING PROGRAM

My internship experience has consisted of its various challenges and excitements, as

my strengths and weaknesses have become more evident. Along this journey, I have
realized how much I still have to learn, as well as how much more I truly want to learn.
Preceding my 4th week of my internship, I have realized few things. My realizations and
learnings include; Make Style also stretches beyond treatment selection. It can mean
communication styles, body language and professional behavior. I made note of the
“silent” communication some staff demonstrated and now use things like gestures, and
demonstrations, that I watched help patients learn about their care. Another very
underrated but powerful tone of PT style is the use of humor. I have observed to some
staff and learned that they actively try to get patients laugh. Communicate! A clinical
rotation is a period of demonstration, practice and feedback. Without the feedback
portion, the other components of a clinical experience are susceptible to
underdevelopment or, worse, poor habit formation. Get comfortable commuting with
patients about the learning process. In this week I did dkm on my pt. and asked my
patients if my hand placement or pressure was similar to my staff, or if they felt like the
pressure was too much, too little or just right. The feedback from a patient always
trumped any other feedback I received. With this I realized that There will always be two
ways to do just about anything in PT, and getting feedback from the patient on what and
how they prefer things is vital to your success as a PT. Don’t discredit your staff’s
feedback though. Embrace discussions about clinical rotations. Talk to other
professionals or co-interns about their experiences. The best talks I had with other co-
interns almost always happened when we were having lunch and when we had our
preparation for the case presentation in this week, we stayed in one of my co-intern and
share some experiences while making our IE. With this I realized that talking to others
about their experiences is the only way you grow beyond your bubble. With my co-
interns I can say that we have the team work. Read. Then, read some more. Make your
time more productive, if there is any time to read, this is it. In this week we had our case
presentation about spinal cord injury with the PT-staff and a Dr. our knowledge was
tested and we were asked one by one.

JOANNA EDEN A. GURTIZA 1st month JULY 2017 PAGE 1