A Day in the Life of a PT Student : Workplace Issues

Interacting with PTAs

Veronica Haywood — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 14:45:00 GMT

This week I was discussing the roles between PT's, PT students, and PTA's with my professor. I mentioned that, though I have had interactions with PTA's during my last two clinicals, it has been relatively limited in me directly supervising them. While...(read more)

Outpatient Physical Therapy and Psychiatric Help

Veronica Haywood — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 13:28:00 GMT

OK, so I just want to start by saying I LOVE MARQUETTE PT AND ALL MY TEACHERS. Just as a clarification. While I was working in an outpatient practice I realized that it was not easy to handle situations where patients needed possible psychology/psychiatric...(read more)

Constructive CIs

Veronica Haywood — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 14:07:00 GMT

I have been extremely fortunate to have two great CIs thus far. Though very different in their approaches, they have both contributed greatly to my nurturing development. I would just like to take the time out to thank the both of them... Diana Correa...(read more)

Treating Complex Patients

Veronica Haywood — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 13:23:00 GMT

The past week has been quite exciting. I now have patients with polymyositis, post reactive streptococcal arthritis that lead to a total shoulder arthroplasty, MS status post ORIF, and a post polio syndrome/post cervical fusion patient who is now fused...(read more)

Paperwork, Paperwork, Paperwork!

Veronica Haywood — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 12:27:00 GMT

My caseload is rapidly increasing and I love it! Well, most of it. For some reason I don't think I realized just how much paperwork is involved. There's evaluations, daily notes, progress notes, discharge summaries, billing. I'm officially convinced that...(read more)

A Different Perspective

Veronica Haywood — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 14:04:00 GMT

I am loving my internship! I have finally gotten to the point where I pretty much have my own schedule of patients. The ones that I evaluate independently are the ones that I treat in addition to some of my CI's other patients. I am not going to lie,...(read more)

A New Setting

Veronica Haywood — Thu, 14 May 2009 15:06:00 GMT

This week I finally started my next clinical. This one is completely different from my last clinical experience! I am currently working in an outpatient orthopedic setting at a major Chicago hospital satellite clinic. No more 4-wheeled walkers (well so...(read more)

Don’t Uphold Poor Standards

Veronica Haywood — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:40:00 GMT

I think a really good article to check out is the "Addressing Unequal Treatment: Disparities in Healthcare" by Gillian K. Steelfisher of The Common Wealth Fund. It hits a lot of the same points as the National Healthcare Disparities Report, but it also...(read more)

Disparities in Health Care

Veronica Haywood — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:48:00 GMT

Disparities in health care can be viewed from different perspectives. It can be viewed looking at the disparities when it comes to service and the disparities examined within each field. Now when I say disparities in service, this is more or less in reference to the services health care providers provide for the community. Some may feel as though no disparities exist, however, there is a large array of different disparities.

Disparities can be seen as 1) limited services to a certain community demographic whether it is based on race, class, employment status, religion, disease/disorder etc; 2) limited resources within a certain field such as lack of racial, ethnic, male or female presence; 3) unfair treatment in the field; or 4) unfair treatment in services.

One of the largest things discussed in the media relates to the limited services to a certain community demographic in reference to access to health care and quality of health care. Surprisingly, many don't notice how profound this is. I offer a challenge to anyone who thinks otherwise. Examine the differences in care you receive at your regular health care provider and then at a county hospital or local inner city clinic. One will quickly notice that staffing is often an issue as well as efficiency.

The following are examples provided by the National Healthcare Disparities Report accessible at http://www.ahrq.gov/qual/nhdr03/nhdrsum03.htm#Inequality. It's very interesting and I urge everyone to take a look at the site.

Inequality in quality exists

Minorities are more likely to be diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer and colorectal cancer compared with whites.
The use of physical restraints in nursing homes is higher among Hispanics and Asian/Pacific Islanders compared with non-Hispanic whites.
Blacks and poorer patients have higher rates of avoidable hospital admissions (i.e., hospitalizations for health conditions that, in the presence of comprehensive primary care, rarely require hospitalization).

Disparities come at a personal and societal price

Many racial and ethnic minorities and persons of lower socioeconomic position are less likely to receive recommended immunizations for influenza and pneumococcal pneumonia, the most common type of pneumonia. Once hospitalized, some ethnic and racial minorities, as well as lower income patients, suffer worse quality of care for pneumonia. These differential rates of vaccination and hospitalization present opportunities for provider-based and community-based interventions to reduce disparities.

Differential access may lead to disparities in quality

Many racial and ethnic minorities and individuals of lower socioeconomic status are less likely to have a usual source of care.

Opportunities to provide preventive care are frequently missed

Many racial and ethnic minorities and persons of lower socioeconomic position are less likely to receive childhood immunizations.
Many racial and ethnic minorities and individuals of lower socioeconomic status are less likely to receive recommended immunizations for influenza and pneumococcal disease.

Knowledge of why disparities exist is limited

Many racial and ethnic groups, as well as poor and less educated patients, are more likely to have report poor communication with their physicians.
Many racial and ethnic minorities and poor patients report more problems with some aspects of the patient-provider relationships.
Asians, Hispanics, and those of lower socioeconomic status have greater difficulty accessing health care information, including information on prescription drugs.

I will discuss the remainder of the points in my next couple of blogs!

Cultural Preference

Veronica Haywood — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:52:00 GMT

One more week before I start classes! Hope everyone had a great new year! While on my internship, I realized just how important the last thing that I want to talk about is: cultural preference. Though it doesn't apply to everyone and this is just based off of my own observation, I have noticed that some people are more comfortable when they are working with people who share their same cultural background.

I initially noticed this when I first volunteered at the hospital I currently work at. No one was ever rude toward their therapist, but certain comments were made insinuating that they would prefer if they worked with someone of their same cultural background.

The same thing more or less occurred while I was on my internship. Though the patients enjoyed every therapist they worked with, they would comment that it was nice working with X because she is X and also speaks X.

Though certain patients may have their preferences, I never took offense, and I do not feel as though anyone should. We all choose our friends, etc., based on certain shared commonalities and as physical therapists we spend so much time together with our patients that we often times develop somewhat of a friendship with our patients. For many, when initially meeting someone, a shared cultural background initiates that commonality.

Overall I guess my message is that no one should become upset or offended if their patient expresses a cultural preference. I wouldn't imagine that someone would express this preference rudely, but even if they do, remember that you are the professional.

The End of an Internship

Veronica Haywood — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:13:00 GMT

My internship has ended and it was GREAT!!! I have had the wonderful opportunity to work with many health care professionals, but most of all I had the opportunity to work with an excellent CI. She was able to help me grow so much during the course of my internship to the point where I was able to practice with my own caseload.

During this internship I have grown so close to my patients. I worked at an SNF where many of my patients were there for long-term care, so I worked with some of my patients every single day. There were good days and bad days, but all in all I will miss them all so much.

An internship is a great experience very unlike the classroom experience. You never truly put everything together until you are there one-on-one with a patient and their families. You have to make split-second decisions and explain those decisions in a way that can be communicated to the patients as well as the patient's doctors, nurses and support staff.

The patients' and families' dependency on our knowledge is so critical to their perception of the care they received, but I found that the most important thing to them was knowing that their therapist was compassionate to their situation and actually cared about them. This is so critical, especially in a setting where most of the patients feel as though they will never get better.

Something else that I also noticed is how important cultural competency is... but you'll have to wait until next week to hear about that!

PT Takes a Toll

Veronica Haywood — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:54:00 GMT

I have just completed my second week at my internship! I cannot believe how fast time flies. I feel like I have learned so much in such a little time.

The one thing that has become very obvious to me is that this profession takes a toll on your body. We do so much help for others to improve their body mechanics, gait, strength, etc., yet it causes so much micro- and macro-damage to our bodies.

Lifting patients every day has helped to tone my body (which I am not complaining about), but it also leaves me wiped out and sore at the end of the day. During the first week there was a time when my rotator cuff was so fatigued by the end of the day, I could barely lift it to wave!

However, I love doing this because the gratification you get from seeing patients improve is amazing. But I think I may have to take out insurance policies on my UE and back just in case (like Mariah Carey did for her legs). Well not really.

Week One

Veronica Haywood — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:50:00 GMT

I have officially completed an entire week of my internship. So far everything is awesome. It sort of took a few days to get used to the environment, since I am not used to being in a long-term care facility, but I have become much more comfortable there.

It is very interesting to see the large range of patients. Some patients are nearly independent while others are completely bed ridden and unresponsive. Some are extremely impulsive and motivated to get better, while others desire to do absolutely nothing. Some are pleasant, polite and cooperative, while others are the complete opposite. I have come to realize that no patient is the same.

One has to utilize many techniques in order to motivate a patient and encourage them to continue with their therapy. It amazes me how you can work on the same things with different patients and how they need to be taught so vastly different. It also amazes me as a PT, how much of a toll physical therapy takes on your body. Each day when I return home I am so tired that all I can do is sleep. Hopefully this doesn't last too long!

Preparing for Our Internships

Veronica Haywood — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:10:00 GMT

I am now counting down the days until my internship. 25 MORE DAYS!!! I got the opportunity to speak with my clinical instructor as well as the director of my facility this week and they sound awesome. I am so excited.

I almost want to start packing, but I know that it is too soon. I'm at a point in the semester where I am just ready for a break-we all are-so our internships will be a nice change of scenery.

As a part of our internships we had to complete a test as a part of the new CPI tool. It seems as though the tool will be very beneficial, but between the CPI tool and all of the other things we need before and after we go to our internships, there is a TON of paperwork! I guess this a hint at the future to come.

Internship Apprehension

Veronica Haywood — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 15:56:00 GMT

OK, this past week we had our PT Olympics. My wonderful class took second place. So... Lisa was right, the 6s won. Even though there was extreme competition between the two classes, we all joined together to have a great time at our annual gathering where the 5s play host to the 6s. It was an excellent time for our classes to get to know each other better, since our interactions are limited.

At the gathering, I got the opportunity to talk with the 6s about their experiences on their clinical internships. I found that there was a large range in everyone's experiences. Some people absolutely loved their internships and others noted that it wasn't what they expected.

This made me both excited and concerned about starting my internship. I guess I assumed that everyone would love their internship. Either way, I can't wait for my clinical. I'll get to work at what appears to be an awesome rehabilitation facility and I'll get to be in much warmer weather!