As part of my senior year, I chose to take an elective course which would enable me to spend my first semester alongside a mentor at the business of my choice. Continuing where I had left off with my previous LINK Internship, I decided to dive back into physical therapy at the same hospital where I had interned before. I began interning with a different mentor than I had previously interned with, which I found to be a useful insight into the many different forms of practice within the vast field. Mercy Regional Medical Center was where I first began my semester long internship, but when my mentor made a transfer to a second clinic, a subset of Mercy Physical Therapy, I too made the transfer. It was an interesting process to see both the changes between the clinics, physically, and the changes within the group of Physical Therapists, all of which had different forms of practice.
As part of the experience, and much like last semester's project, we were instructed to synthesize the new and solidified information into some sort of project, in order to both show growth and reflect. To do so I expanded and refined the project which I had created during my previous internship, using both the newfound and clarifying knowledge while also focusing on another aspect of physical therapy. Physical therapy is a broad field, and involves picking and choosing methods in order to help a specific patient, however there are some forms of physical therapy which are specifically designed to be used under certain circumstances. Parkinson's disease, for example, has a specific treatment that many physical therapists will follow; a specialization if you will. I chose to add on to my previous project by diving a bit deeper in to one of several specialties that physical therapists use for certain ailments.
As part of the experience, and much like last semester's project, we were instructed to synthesize the new and solidified information into some sort of project, in order to both show growth and reflect. To do so I expanded and refined the project which I had created during my previous internship, using both the newfound and clarifying knowledge while also focusing on another aspect of physical therapy. Physical therapy is a broad field, and involves picking and choosing methods in order to help a specific patient, however there are some forms of physical therapy which are specifically designed to be used under certain circumstances. Parkinson's disease, for example, has a specific treatment that many physical therapists will follow; a specialization if you will. I chose to add on to my previous project by diving a bit deeper in to one of several specialties that physical therapists use for certain ailments.
There were many things, as I look back now, that were learning experiences both because of success and because of challenge. One of the biggest accomplishments that I felt I had achieved throughout my time at the clinic was being able to use some of the knowledge I had gained last semester towards shaping questions. This was relative both towards the way in which I used terms, correctly, and in some of the more complex questions I had but had never been able to say for lack of knowledge. I could clarify both what muscle was being manipulated, and then use that to infer the purpose of the manipulation, which I did with general consistency. One of the most common challenges, and maybe the biggest hinderance towards the whole of this internship, was my lack of preparation for the challenges of senior year in relation to workload and stress. When I signed up for the LINK 2.0 elective, I admit I drastically underestimated the difficulty of senior year, and so I found myself flaking out on my commitment within the first couple of months of the internship. The impeding stress of college and the advanced courses I enrolled in caused a fight or flight reaction where I would end up feeling the only way to work through the stress was to focus on school, not my internship. The first months of the internship were not as consistent as they had planned to be, and I take full responsibility for my personal and external miscalculations. Despite this, I felt that there was no other challenge I faced. I was eager to learn the information when I could, and although at times I would watch in long silence, I soaked up all I could in preparation for the future.
As far as the future, I have no doubt in my mind that this is the line of work in which I feel a direct affinity towards. I stay engaged while only watching the manipulations and control that my mentor practices, so it seems even more exciting to think that I could be the one doing the work. I applied to two of the best colleges for undergraduate programs which highlight physical therapy, Baylor University and the University of Pittsburgh, and was delighted to find out I had been accepted into both. That was the real first step for me, and is both comforting and nerve-racking in the sense that I know that my journey is about to begin. All in all this internship further solidified my wish to enter this vast field of work, while my mentor also opened my eyes to the other branches of physical therapy. There is no doubt that this internship, despite the few challenges, was a definite success.
As far as the future, I have no doubt in my mind that this is the line of work in which I feel a direct affinity towards. I stay engaged while only watching the manipulations and control that my mentor practices, so it seems even more exciting to think that I could be the one doing the work. I applied to two of the best colleges for undergraduate programs which highlight physical therapy, Baylor University and the University of Pittsburgh, and was delighted to find out I had been accepted into both. That was the real first step for me, and is both comforting and nerve-racking in the sense that I know that my journey is about to begin. All in all this internship further solidified my wish to enter this vast field of work, while my mentor also opened my eyes to the other branches of physical therapy. There is no doubt that this internship, despite the few challenges, was a definite success.