Being the naïve optimist that I am, I spent the Sunday evening prior to my first day of placement raiding my closest for professional attire, setting out the lunch bag and skimming through my Magee textbook briefly before settling in with a cup of tea and a the last few chapters of Twilight. All we need to do for the next six weeks is run around the clinic, attempt to show our deepest empathy for our clients’ pain, and bask in the glow of our well-educated, well-dressed and all knowing Clinical Instructor. How hard could it be, right?
Three weeks since that lovely, relaxing Sunday evening already feels like a long lost life. No one told me that running around the clinic actually meant that I had to know where I was going, and what I was doing. Showing empathy for one client is easy enough, but try ten in one day? And as for the all knowing CI – how could anyone that “all knowing” ask so many questions, to a student none the less! Something is seriously not right here.
By the end of week one, I was ready to bust out the muscle relaxant and sleep the week-end away. By the end of week 2, My frustrations over recalling ultrasound parameters were beginning to show. By week 3 I managed to mobilize a client’s ankle correctly, only to find out that they were really coming in to get their low back treated instead.
Just another typical day for a PT student.
Now, the final weeks of placement are already here. I thought I would take the chance to reflect on my hectic experience at the clinic, and assure myself that in the midst of the uncertainty, the lack of confidence and overwhelming desire to throw my Magee textbook across the room, I am growing and learning. Certain skills are now coming along more easily, yet there is still so much more to learn.
I thought I would take a moment to share 4 lessons that I felt really hit me in the eye, and opened up my perspective to this challenging but exciting career.
Lesson 1: Always be on the radar for the latest Naturlizer and Feet First shoe sales.
Walking in the same shoes for 11 hours at a time is already an open invitation for blisters to come pay a visit. Having to that on top of balancing on a bosu, mobilizing a foot while walking, picking up dropped gel packs and negotiating tight corners in the hallway is a pretty foot’s worst nightmare. Not to mention a painful evening of slathering on Polysporin and band-aids.
Lesson 2: It is ok to look like a deer caught in headlights…once in a while.
Week 1, Monday morning, first client. My CI turns to me and asks “If Ms. Smith is complaining of back pain, why would it be a good idea to test her hip strength?” I nervously rack my brain, I let out an “em…” and when my memory fails me, I simply stand and stare. Sure, it may look like I slept through my lectures in class, but better to give no answer than a wrong one, right? I have no trouble admitting that the first week found me being caught in a fair number of “headlights”. The good news is that those headlights appear less often as the weeks go by. Whew.
Lesson 3: Charting treatment reports are NOT meant to be mini novels.
Yet I still cannot comprehend how to make them any shorter. While charting, I enviously look over my shoulder to see the other Physiotherapists scribble their way through a treatment report in less than 5 lines. Will having the initials RPT after my last name somehow magically transform my charting skills to be more efficient, precise and inclusive? I sure hope so, otherwise my writer’s cramp will soon need to get treated and charted about as well.
Lesson 4: Magee and Kisner/Colby texts double as excellent work-out equipment.
Sometimes, as students, we simply just don’t know the answer. We either haven’t gotten to that unit in our studies yet, or have way too much information in our brains to filter out the information that we need. What does it result in? Stress. Best way to deal with it? Pump some iron, or a pile of books in this case. Nothing beats a super set workout than walking back and forth at the clinic, each time with a larger textbook, in order to find the answer to your CI’s question.
As I prepare to write a big, satisfying checkmark next to the PT881 on my to-do list, I think about the nervousness, uneasiness and lack of confidence during my first few weeks on placement. Realizing that I am now a little less nervous, a little more at ease, and feel a glimmer of confidence starting to sprout, I look forward to tackling the next placement block with excitement…
…and a new pair of Soft Moc shoes.
Natalia Monka - MSc (PT) Candidate (2010)
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