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Pta Clinical Observation Reflection

The document summarizes the author's observation of a physical therapist, Jake Ereckson, at his clinic called Redwood Injury Treatment Center. The author observed Jake's daily routine, which included evaluating patients, developing treatment plans, performing exercises and administering modalities. Jake typically sees 11-14 patients per day and around 300 patients per year. The clinic has several rooms for evaluations, private treatments and modalities. Physical therapy intrigues the author as a career where they can help people recover from injuries while being their own boss and enjoying their work.

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125 views6 pages

Pta Clinical Observation Reflection

The document summarizes the author's observation of a physical therapist, Jake Ereckson, at his clinic called Redwood Injury Treatment Center. The author observed Jake's daily routine, which included evaluating patients, developing treatment plans, performing exercises and administering modalities. Jake typically sees 11-14 patients per day and around 300 patients per year. The clinic has several rooms for evaluations, private treatments and modalities. Physical therapy intrigues the author as a career where they can help people recover from injuries while being their own boss and enjoying their work.

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Brandon Cervantes

PTA 1010 Intro to Physical Therapy


Clinical Observation Reflection
Professor Stacey A. Romney
Clinical Observation Reflection
Physical Therapy is a career that many people find fun and fulfilling. It
is a profession where you can meet multiple people and make connections
with them as well, while you help them better their lives by improving their
overall health, especially if they are recovering from some sort of physical
trauma. Physical Therapy makes patients feel better and it also makes them
feel happy because they are able to feel or perform as they did before their
injury. The physical therapists can be the cause of that happiness since they
allow the patients to continue to live their lives healthy, and allows the
patient to go back to doing the tasks they may have struggled with while
injured. It is important for the physical therapist to form some kind of
connection with the patients in order for the patient to be comfortable while
the physical therapists works on them. If the patients are not comfortable
then they may not allow the physical therapist to perform properly since the
patients may be too tensed and not allow proper movement.
When I visited a physical therapists clinic called Redwood Injury
Treatment Center, located in Taylorsville, I was able to learn a lot about how

the day of a physical therapists goes on. I mostly observed a physical


therapists named Jake Ereckson, who is a physical therapist at his own clinic,
I also observed his aides and a couple of his PTAs. Seeing the environment
they work in and also the people they work with really intrigued me since it is
a laid-back career per say. On rare occasions when they are not seeing
patients and have cleaned the clinic they may have time to socialize for a
few minutes which is great for them to recharge and have some fun at work.
There is a lot of work to do but having a good relationship between your
fellow coworkers and also your patients can make your job as a PT a lot more
enjoyable. I noticed that in between seeing patients there is free time for the
PT, which he takes to complete paperwork which is also a big part of a PTs
day. Jake told me that he usually starts and ends his day completing
paperwork he was unable to finish the day before. His aides also have free
time which they use to clean around the clinic and get everything ready for
the next patient.
Jake told me that a physical therapist may make house calls or have to
work with certain patients at their home if they are too weak or their injuries
are too severe for them to travel to the clinic. In these cases the PT sets up a
weekly or biweekly appointment, usually on the weekends or early in the
morning, and works with the patient from the comfort of their home. The PT
helps the patients perform a series of exercises or small functional tests that
are intended to improve or eliminate pain levels and also help the patients
regain mobility or function of their injuries. I noticed that there are

worksheets of the functional tests and instructions that the physical therapist
puts together for the patients condition. He then assesses their performance
on a 0-4 scale, 0 meaning they need maximal assistance to perform that
function and 4 meaning they were able to properly perform without any
additional help.
It is important to make sure the patients will work with you and
perform the exercises that are meant for their interventions. An intervention
is a procedure or procedures the PT and PTA compose for the patient in order
to reach a desired outcome. Progress must be slow and steady because if a
physical therapist pushes a patient too quickly and too early then the patient
may end up re-aggravating their injury which can be punishable by the
jailing of that physical therapists since they would be breaking the law and
going against the Physical Therapists core values, also in this case a patient
can therefore sue a physical therapist. As long as you respect the Physical
Therapists Core Values then you wont come across these type of situations.
There are many laws, regulations and policies that a physical therapist must
follow and also there are many different consequences that come from
violations of those laws and policies. These are made for the safety of the
patients and also for the physical therapists. Once you understand this then
it becomes easy to not cross or violate these laws. Violations of these laws
can result in incarceration of the physical therapists, loss of physical therapy
license of practice, termination of the physical therapists.

To be a physical therapist you must be interested in the profession and


actually want to help others for their best interests and not yours. That is
something that has always interested me and also the ability to help others
feel better about themselves really intrigues me. My observation of the Jake
Ereckson at the Redwood Injury Treatment Center clinic really gave me a
great example of how my life could be if I continue on this career path. I got
to see all of the equipment I may be working with and also how I would have
to deal and take care of patients in my clinic. I also noticed that it can be a
very team oriented atmosphere and that is something I pride myself on, my
ability to contribute to a team atmosphere. Meeting new people may be an
everyday thing at any physical therapy clinic since there will be new patients
on a daily bases. Jake told me he sees about 11-14 patients a day, he also
told me that there are busy and slow seasons and that he usually sees up to
300 patients a year. Personally I have always loved meeting new people,
even if it is just for a few days or weeks, if I am able to help them with their
troubles then that will just give my life a great sense of pride and joy.
Once meeting a new patient, first the PT must check with the doctor or
the insurance of the patient, if the patient is covered then the physical
therapist can execute an examination and evaluation of the patient which is
assessed by the physical therapist, then the PT must diagnose the patient on
the injury they have and come up with a plan of care called prognosis, which
leads to a development of an intervention which is a series of exercises or

stretches the PT may show and tell the patient to continue to do in order for
them to improve on their condition, also a time frame is developed by the PT.
In the Redwood Injury Treatment Center clinic I noticed that there are
multiple rooms, one room is for evaluations which is usually the first room
where the patients and the PT meet. There they discuss the injury of the
patient, history or cause of the injury, and also what movements are causing
pain or where the pain is felt. The physical therapists then goes on to set up
follow up appointments to begin treatment. There are also rooms that are
more private and secluded for those patients that want more privacy. These
rooms are great for those patients that are not comfortable or too shy to be
worked on in the main room. The main room has many machines used for
exercises and also massage benches, as well as modalities and instruments
the physical therapist may use. There are also rooms with certain modalities,
for example one of the rooms had a massage table and massage chair that
would massage patients on its own, another room had heat packs and
ultrasound, and I noticed that every room had a stop watch which the PT
aides would keep track of, these timers were set to go off every 8-10 minutes
since that is the usual time a modality is administered. This also gives the
physical therapist to rotate between patients if he has multiple patients at a
time.
Jake usually works with one patient then administers the modality or
has the patient perform an exercise or stretch for a few minutes while his
aides prepare the timers and are usually available to help with whatever the

PT may need. When finished with a patient, the PT lets them know they are
free to go and says goodbye and the PT aides help the patient schedule the
next appointment. There are usually 2 aides, while one helps the patient with
scheduling, the other aide begins to clean the room or sanitize the table the
patient was just in and get everything ready for the next patient. Each time
the PT, PTAs, or the aides deal with a new patient they must sanitize their
hands, there is always a bottle of sanitizer at their disposal.
Physical therapy is a profession that has intrigued me and one that I
will continue to pursue in my education. It is a profession where I can be my
own boss set my own schedule and have fun with those I work with, whether
it is with my coworkers or my patients. Having this opportunity to observe a
PT at his clinic gave me a real in-depth look at how the profession would
work for me. From what I observed I came to conclude that being a physical
therapist is something that I would love to succeed in. I will continue my
education to master this profession and be able to be a great physical
therapist when the time comes.

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