Acute Care
This current clinical is my first exposure to acute-care physical therapy, and up until last week, I wasn't finding myself intimidated like the average PT student. Maybe it's because my CI was shielding me from the most complicated cases and kept my workload pretty low, but I remember classmates and friends talking about the complexities of acute care and I just hadn't been having the same experience.
Last week seems to have been a turning point and while I still don't think I would use the word "intimidated," I can definitely see how things could become overwhelming. Particularly when it comes to keeping up with documentation. I was thoroughly impressed with myself for being able to manage nine patients in one morning. What I didn't realize was that I had barely completed any of the paperwork. Needless to say, I spent my entire lunch break scrambling to catch up and still needed extra time in the afternoon (and a lot of guidance) to complete everything. Definitely not my most efficient day in the clinic, but I learned a lot.
In general, I don't think acute-care PT is where I see myself working in the future. However, I'm definitely starting to realize the value of this clinical in terms of patient management. In learning how to monitor both the medical status of a patient and also the volume that we see, I feel like I'm gaining very valuable clinical skills.