10 Reflections

Now that I’ve officially finished my first year of PT school, it seems like a great time for reflecting on the last 12 months. I say reflections and not lessons because many of these things I already knew coming into my program but they were certainly reinforced!

1. Spend time and effort to receive benefit

This isn’t limited to school and learning or work and money. It also applies to mental health, physical health, changes you want to see, and just about anything in life (unless you are highly privileged). One observation that sticks out to me is I frequently see PTs voicing malcontent toward our professional organization but I don’t notice these same people talking about what they’ve done to try and make a difference. This isn’t to say that they don’t do anything but if they do, it’s not highlighted where I can see it. I don’t believe profession-wide changes are made by paying dues then idly waiting to see what happens. PTs, PTAs, and students can learn about how our organization works, speak to representatives, engage with our communities, vote, run for office, or ask mentors how to get the result you want.

2. Don’t lose your idealism

While I am constantly aware of the challenges in our society, I find it easy to imagine potential solutions, even if I know it would be a complex endeavor that would take years to accomplish. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing to pursue things that seem unattainable. First of all, you don’t know until you try. Second, if you go for the gold and get the bronze, that’s still more than you’d get if you didn’t show up for tryouts. I could let the thought of hurdles and lows stop me from doing what I want but that just sounds kind of miserable. I’d rather do the thing because I’ll either succeed or learn.

3. Get comfortable with potential

You’ll hear more people say “Get comfortable with gray areas” but that visual gives me “I’m lost” vibes. I prefer to think of situations with no one right answer as having a multitude of possibilities to choose from because it gives me some semblence of a sense of direction. From my experience, this is a really big difference between undergrad and grad school. My doctorate program professors truly emphasize reasoning and justification for why I chose a particular intervention, exercise, action, etc. When it came to topics that were more subjective, it felt like my undergrad professors (In general, there’s always exceptions!) would say they cared more about reasoning when they were actually looking for answers that mimicked their own thoughts. Getting comfortable with potential can also be applied to decision-making in work, personal, and family choices.

4. More interprofessionalism please!

A few things we learn quite a bit about in school are what other healthcare providers do, the fact that many of them don’t know how much PT and early rehab can benefit their patients, and physical therapist perspectives on issues in our field. I would love to have guest lectures from people in other fields, especially if we could get a panel-like format to hear several perspectives at once. I want to see more conversations between PTs and non-PTs so we can all learn and share information.

I don’t use photos of other people without asking them first, so my interprofessional images are me in the community garden that our program maintains with help from students in Nutrition, pandemic hospital nightshift housekeeping me, and a trail I helped maintain as a Parks and Rec employee (real life Parks and Rec is not too disimilar from the TV show!).

5. The PT field is changing

Practicing as a physical therapist used to require fewer years of education and fewer expectations. The doctorate requirement is a recent change and PTs graduating now are expected to understand enough pathology to make differential diagnoses, determine an accurate level of urgency for a suspected condition, and be able to refer patients to the appropriate specialist. The PT profession is essentially moving closer to a primary care provider and/or physician-extender role, especially in rural areas where fewer specialists are available. So, if you’re considering PT as a career, know that expectations are high!

6. Higher academia has room for improvement

This experience is not reflective of my program alone but is moreso observations from interactions with a variety of programs. Grad school is hard, especially when your program has a very stringent timeline and schedule where you’re required to attend full-time (no part-time option) and have to pass every single class to keep attending. There are not many breaks and “mental health days” are generally not an acceptable excuse for absence. Students are often encouraged to take care of their mental, physical, and emotional health but universities like to put 100% of this responsibility on the students and don’t acknowledge that the university bears a portion of that responsibility as well. Things like weekly class schedule, breaks (or lack thereof) between semesters, cumulative coursework at a given time, environments that ensure collaboration between professor and student, and teaching how to manage stress specific to a program or career all have an impact on students’ health. When universities push the boundaries of how much they can load onto students before they break and also accept 0% responsibility for their impact on student health, it sets students up to enter the workforce with a self-destructive mindset. My program isn’t perfect but does do a good job of making sure we take frequent movement breaks during class, listens to student concerns, has a more collaborative atmosphere, and sometimes uses the 1st 10 minutes of class for meditation.

7. Prepare for tech

Okay, maybe this one is just for my fellow members of the 30+ club. I seriously didn’t have that much of a gap between undergrad and grad school but the use of tech in the classroom is completely different. I don’t know if it’s a grad school thing, my university, specific programs, or something else entirely. When I finished undergrad, people tooks notes on laptops, we’d have assignments using different programs, and we used clickers to answer in-class questions displayed on screen. Now I use a variety of collaborative sites almost daily, clickers aren’t needed because there are websites for that now as well, screens and tablets and electronic pens are everywhere, and it would take me half a day to list out everything else. See if you can find the ipad on a segway in the image!

8. Balance

Good work-life balance looks different for different people, which is probably an obvious statement but it’s important to keep in mind. Some people need alone time after class every day, some need to sleep for a whole day every other week, and some need big time socialization every Friday. Some people are fulfilled doing the work they’re paid to do and spending the rest of their time enjoying home life, some are happier spending extra time on policy making, and some find the best balance with part-time work or school. And all of it is okay. The important part is finding the balance that fits you, if you have the immense privilige of choosing your balance, and maintaining your boundaries so you can live that balance.

9. Adapt

I started PT school knowing I need to be adaptable to succeed and I came in being great at adapting my plans but I still struggle with adapting what I’m doing in the moment. When I’m trying to move someone out of a hospital bed while monitoring their vitals and making sure lines aren’t pulled and keeping the walker and wheelchair within reach and being careful not to break precautions and answering questions and trying to plan my next move, it’s hard to pull up simple modifications that I know I know, like raising the bed to make standing easier for the patient. Being a great PT requires adapting future plans AND adapting on the fly.

10. You don’t have to wait

You don’t have to wait to be a working adult to have an impact on your community. You don’t have to wait to have 10 years of experience to start researching business ownership. You don’t have to wait to be on a committee to learn how the organization that represents you works. You don’t have to wait for your entire house to be clean to enjoy a hobby. If there’s something you want to do, you don’t have to wait to start putting pieces together. You might have to wait to finish the puzzle but you can learn a lot from doing the prep work ahead of time.