My reflection with patients

 Patients

As mentioned in my previous blog post, I am working with Cardinal Physical Therapy as an intern. In physical therapy, there are different areas that people can work in. Cardinal is an outpatient clinic, meaning any patient can do therapy there regardless of the injury. I was nervous on my first day interning because I didn’t know any of the patients. I didn’t want to make them feel uncomfortable. In the last few days, I have become acclimated with many of the frequent flyers. We often strike up a conversation related to a topic of their interest. Many of the patients love to talk. Marie, the person I shadow, brings such an energetic attitude to the job which radiates throughout the clinic. The patients love the energy from the therapists; it shows in their recovery process. Many patients come in ready to do exercises for the day, not only because they want to get better, but because they love being there. There are the odd few who come into the clinic and make everyone’s day more difficult. On my first day, I was assigned to look after one of those individuals because they are typically very mean to the therapists. After the person completed their therapy for the day, Marie thanked me for keeping the person in check. Outside of this patient, my experience with the patients has been amazing. The most common topic is baseball. Marie points every patient that likes baseball in my direction because I can talk about it for hours while they do their exercises. My time there begins at 8:30 in the morning and ends at 2:30 in the afternoon, so a majority of the patients I see are older because they have free time during those hours. The injuries range from total replacements to broken bones or weak muscles, but a majority of these patients have very little mobility, so the exercises are basic. Overall working with these patients has been a great experience, especially since they are warming up to me. I can’t wait for what’s next.