PT/OT 1-16-13

Learning Report:

What were your responsibilities or duties this week?

On my day in the PT/OT department in the hospital, I worked with a physical therapist and learned many things about how to help a patient recover after a surgery. I talked with the patients about how long they have been coming for therapy, what treatments they have been receiving and I asked the therapist about how long they will need to come to fully recover. Then, I observed what the patients were doing to recover from their surgery. There were quite a few exercises and stretches that they had to do. 

What new knowledge or skill did you learn this week?

I learned a lot about ranges of motion because this is a very important part of physical therapy. Passive range of motion is when the physical therapist helps the patient move his or her body part, the physical therapist I worked with referred  to this as active assistant ROM. Active range of motion is when the patient moves his or her body part without any assistance from the physical therapist. 

What was the best thing that happened at the unpaid work-base learning site this week?

The best thing about the PT/OT was that the employees were very kind and seemed to be interested in helping you learn more about their job to interest you in this career. Another great thing about this area was that the patients who you were able to work with were happy to let you know about their treatments and talked to you about their treatment more than the actual therapist. 

What was the worst thing that happened at the unpaid work-base learning site this week?

Nothing bad happened in the Physical Therapy area. The therapists I worked with were very informative and I learned new information that I did not know before.

This week was: Good
I go to observe and talk to several patients, who were lifting weights on their weak arm or leg and doing various exercises to strengthen that body part. I would have liked it more if I was able to see different forms of therapy, but it was still great to learn about the area and talk to the patients and the therapist. 

Experience Record:

Technology observed- exercise equipment (i.e. treadmills), computers
Diagnostic procedures observed- none
Therapeutic procedures observed- exercise balls, pulley, weights, heating pad, treadmill
Diseases/disorders observed- none
Medical terminology/ abbreviations encountered- OT(Occupational therapy), PT(Physical therapy), Active ROM, Passive ROM

In this picture, the therapist is helping the woman keep balance while walking.

                                               Experience Journal:

  When I first entered the PT/OT, I saw several hospital beds, posters of muscles/bones of the body and an area with weights, different sized balls, and other equipment used to strengthen the weak body part. There were about five therapists working with a patient at this time and the therapist I worked with was doing therapy on two patients at one time and guiding them through various exercises after applying heat to their upper back. Together, the entire department works with the patients to decrease their their degree of pain each time they visit until they are perfectly fine. The equipment used was a heating pad to help the blood circulate, weights to help strengthen the weak arm, a pulley in which the healthy arm moved the unhealthy arm, a finger ladder to slowly stretch the arm, and a stick to move the arm side to side and up and down to increase arm movement. There was some athletic equipment present to also help the weak body part. 

  I observed that the therapists are very kind and make sure that you are learning something about their career and I also noticed that the patients will talk to you more than the actual therapist. The health care professionals don't always work with the same patient who always comes in(one patient who comes for therapy may have a different therapist the next time they come in) and can work with more than one patient at a time while still achieving their goal in helping them recover. They therapists can always switch around and help each other out if they are having difficulty with a patient or procedure. Both the therapists and the patients are very talkative and are excellent when it comes to communicate with the observer! The exercises that the patients were doing were based on how strong their body part currently is, so if it was too weak for a certain exercise, they would not be told to do it because that would be harmful for them rather than beneficial. The exercises were the main therapeutic procedures that would help restore the patients health. 

  I learned that after a surgery it can take a very long time to recover after therapy and that therapy is usually necessary to recover. I learned about different therapy's and learned new words which are related to physical therapy. I didn't learn new medical terminology but I learned about other words such as active and passive range of motion. Some skills I learned include how to apply heating pad, and how to guide the patient through exercises. 

  All in all, I had a fairly good experience of my first day at the hospital because I had a chance to talk with the patients and therapist to enhance my knowledge on the career. After seeing the therapy's I know know how little procedures can improve a person's health and this can help me in the future when I face a similar situation. If physical/occupational therapy is a career that someone is interested in, I find it to be a fairly easy job.