I'm still not quite sure how it happened, but I'm finding myself with only a week to go in finishing my first 11-week clinical affiliation! It's been a great experience and part of me is really sad to see it coming to an end.
I have to admit that I was a little nervous before starting this affiliation. Like I've mentioned in the past, we have to do three different long affiliations in three different settings. Since I worked in acute care as an aide for several years, and am wanting to go into pediatrics and love neurology I've always felt more confident and excited about my rehab and acute clinicals in the winter and spring. That, of course left outpatient orthopedic, the area in which I had the least experience. Many consider this to be the "easiest" setting and we'll see as my clinicals go on whether this is the case. For me though, without a lot of experience or ever having been exceptionally athletic (unlike most of my classmates), I thought it would turn out to be a huge challenge. Well, it was challenging, but in a good way - it made me think and use my reasoning. I saw patients of all ages and diagnoses, different body regions, different personalities. My CI was great and the clinic was a supportive, comfortable environment to learn and grow in. And growth is huge - I know that I've grown a ton in my ability to be a confident, efficient therapist, though I'm not fully there yet.
As for my next two clinicals, I've had some news there too. Starting the 4th of January I'll be at Valley Children's Therapy, which is part of Valley Medical Center in Renton. I just received a packet from them with tips to prepare and even a preliminary schedule - wow! I'm excited to finally be working in pediatrics, and having shadowed the school therapist here in Enumclaw for a couple of days while my CI was on vacation made look forward to it even more. It will definitely be good for my creativity! This spring I'll be at Emanuel Hospital in Portland. I got an email from the person who will be CI there letting me know that he just accepted a new position working acute (as in just stabilized) trauma and burns - he then asked a few questions to see if he thought I'd be able to handle that environment. Long story short, he just officially confirmed the internship which is exciting. I think those settings are really going to push me, especially since Emanuel is a level 1 trauma center, putting it on par with Harborview, but I'm actually really excited for them.
It's going to be an exciting few months before graduation in June!
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