Would you look at this Website!
This fall I returned to school. As a result I've been spending a good amount of time online. This has led to many discoveries. One of those is the APTA webpage, http://www.apta.org/. I knew the page existed. I'd been there a few times. I didn't know all that it had to offer. To complete my homework I had to do research. Doing research forces me to explore the web to find what I needed. In the process I learned what I've been missing from the APTA.
I'm an APTA member. I have been for several years. I'm not writing this to encourage anyone to join. As a member I had access to members only areas some of which were the most helpful. From the perspective of being a student my favorite site is Open Door, the research part of the APTA. From that page I was able to access various databases including CINHAL and ProQuest. Both are oriented toward healthcare journals. For no charge I could search either one as long as I wanted. I could print articles. The only limit was how many words I could think of to use as my topics. I was also able to search previous issues of the "PT Journal". Homework was so much easier after my discovery.
From the perspective of being a PT the home page was the best. From there I could learn about future events. I could use links to other sites to learn about specific topics such as Medicare. There is information about documentation and Risk Management. Each section has its own page. I can go to the Practice Act or find CEU courses. These are things that are meaningful on a day to day basis. If I want to know something I still have to look. Now I know where to look. I feel like I've become more involved with my profession
As long as I've been a therapist I've heard debate concerning APTA membership. I chose to join. I also belong to two sections. To me the membership is worth the cost. My course is nearly over. It has taught me what it set out to do. It has also taught me what else is out there. There are more courses in my future. I've added this web site to my bag of tricks to help get through them. I've also decided I need to check often to see what is going on and what is new. My goal is to be a better therapist. This is going to help.