Staying in the Loop
I've been in my new job nearly four months now. It's going rather well and I like the work that I'm doing. I start traveling fairly extensively starting today. That being said, I'm missing the patient contact. My partner asked me, "What do you love doing?" I responded that I've actually become passionate about falls prevention in older adults. In the same way my fellow ADVANCE blogger, Dr. Patt, is passionate about working with those who have had a stroke. Part of my current work touches on it, but not in a clinical way.
So what am I doing about it? I'm looking for opportunities to work with local providers on a consulting basis. I'm reaching out to friends and colleagues and seeing what possibilities exist to keep my skills sharp in this area while expanding my horizons with physical therapy and public health. I had lunch with the nurses in my department last week. Everyone voiced that although they are not primarily clinicians in their current roles, they do something to keep clinically involved. Some teach clinical courses at universities, some do weekend clinical work and some have hybrid roles.
It seems that being a clinician is in one's blood. That's something I suspected when I taught in a PTA program in the late 1990s. Some students took to it like a duck to water, and some, although very bright and dedicated, just didn't seem to find joy in the work. I'm one of the lucky ones, I suppose. I can't ever imagine not being a physical therapist.