Updates...The First Clinical

It's been a busy few weeks as I've settled into my clinical here at Performance PT in Enumclaw. Hard to believe but I'm starting the fourth week of my clinical (my third here since I spent the first week in the Bonney Lake clinic). Next week is already midterm! So far things are going really well. The clinic is very small, made up only of my clinical instructor, a physical therapist assistant and the receptionist...and well me too right now. While some at the Bonney Lake were warning me about how slow and quiet it is, I've actually found it to be really refreshing and a great place to learn because the pace isn't crazy hectic. My CI has been slowly giving me more and more to do and taking less of a direct role. The first evaluations he did while I watched, then I did the interview and he did the tests, then I did it all and he sat back. Today I evaluated a patient on my own while he was doing treatment on someone else, did the interview, all the tests and measures, came up with a preliminary diagnosis and showed them how to do a few easy exercises to get started. I know that this is what I've spent the last two years taking classes and training for, but let me tell you, to finally do it all by myself, just me and the patient, felt really good! I know that I'll still be relying on my CI for a many things...especially with more complex patients, or trying to get creative with advancing treatment plans, but my eval this morning was a great confidence booster. I'm really looking forward to these next six weeks and I continue to grow in my skills and follow my patients to discharge :) Lunch is almost over so this is a quick post, but it was time to fill everybody in - more later!