Salt Lake City, UT; Veteran's Hospital Physical Therapy - Kirk

           This spring and summer I had the opportunity to be an intern at the Veteran’s Hospital (VA) Outpatient Physical Therapy Clinic in Salt Lake. On a typical day, I’d arrive at the VA at 8am. For the first half hour or so, I’d clean up around the clinic: changing sheets and covers for the treatment tables, putting away equipment, storing clean linens, and wiping down exercise machines. I viewed keeping the clinic clean and organized as my primary role. When I was finished, however, I was able to jump in with the therapists and shadow as they evaluated and treated their patients. This was exciting for me to have hands-on experience watching the therapist at work—something I haven’t had before. Because shadowing was the reward, it was extremely motivating to me to work hard and quickly so that I could soak in as much as possible. Most of the therapists were extremely accommodating and would teach me as they worked. My day alternated frequently between shadowing and cleaning.

          For approximately a year and a half, I’ve worked at a privately owned physical therapy clinic here in Provo. During this time, I’ve become familiar with their model of physical therapy care. Patients typically come in 2-3 times weekly and rely heavily on the therapists for stretching, unlocking and releasing joints, and maintenance. The therapists see each patient for 15-30 minutes. The VA, however, has a very different model. Because of the large number of veterans needing care, the VA is unable to see patients on as frequent of a basis as a private practice. Instead, they spend 30-60 minutes with each patient and only see them every 2-3 weeks. Rather than a heavy emphasis on manual therapy, the therapists spend extra time evaluating the problem and designing a home exercise program for the patient that will address their problems. This has been extremely eye opening to me. This approach focuses on self-reliance and long term care. The responsibility is shifted from the therapist to the patient, putting their health in their control.

     
            Overall, one of the biggest things I’ve learned from my experience this summer is that while all physical therapists have the same schooling, their workplace is what will largely determine how their schooling is used. It has opened my eyes to the various routes therapists can go and makes me want to continue researching different work options. The differences are tremendous and there are benefits to each style of care. I’m excited and grateful for the exposure I’ve had this summer and look forward to continue preparing for a career as a physical therapist!

Iasi, Romania; Physical Therapy Internship - Jenna

        From the beginning of September until the end of November 2012, I participated in an international internship in Iasi, Romania. Half of my day was spent with a specific group of children in an orphanage while the other half of my day was spent with children in a hospital. Many of the children I worked with had disabilities or developmental delays. I had the opportunity to work with a physical therapist’s assistant at the orphanage. I observed and participated in therapy sessions in which she taught me exercises and activities I could do with the children.

          In the orphanage I was assigned to work with fourteen children ranging in age as well as in physical ability. With the children who could walk on their own, I facilitated group dancing and games to help them to be active. Three of the boys I worked with had muscular

development issues so I would try to spend time with them each day
massaging and stretching their muscles.  The two boys I worked with most both had cerebral palsy. Through attending their physical therapy sessions, I learned exercises I could do with them each day. The older of the two boys had difficultly using his arms and had very little control over his legs. He and I worked on bending and stretching his legs and arms a few times a week. To help with his muscle control in his arms, we would also play a game where he would

grab a toy from one side of his body and place it in a container on the other side. With the younger boy I focused mostly on standing.  Ana showed me activities we could be doing to strengthen his leg muscles and increase his balance. Each day I would get him out of his wheel chair and he would crawl around the room first to stretch his muscles. Next I would stand him up at a table upon which he rested his arms for balance. This allowed him to straighten and strengthen his legs. On my last day at the orphanage, he pulled himself into standing position at the table. It was amazing to see what even a minimal amount of physical therapy could do.

            Through this experience, my appreciation for and understanding of physical therapy has increased. As I practiced what I had been taught, I felt more confident in my ability to facilitate therapeutic exercises.  The practice also taught me that doing therapy is not a one-person deal. I had to get the children I was working with to participate for the therapy to be most effective. This internship has made me want to pursue a degree in physical therapy even more because of the good that I saw accomplished by even small amounts of therapy.

  

Provo, UT; Utah State Hospital Physical Therapy Clinic - Phillip

My internship at the Utah State Hospital has been a great and unique experience. I have had patient responsibility and been able to work directly with several patients. After the Physical Therapist evaluates a new patient, he will create a treatment program for them. It is then my responsibility to help the patient through their treatment program each day. This includes exercises and modalities that focus on recovery as well as improving strength, endurance, and flexibility. Having already taken classes at BYU in Anatomy, Physiology, Kinesiology, Biomechanics, and Psychology, among others, helped prepare me for this experience working with patients.

Patients of all ages come to the physical therapy clinic (there are units with pediatric, youth, adult, high-risk forensic, and geriatric patients). Each patient is very different and deals with physical difficulties as well as mental illnesses of varying degrees. Because of this, I have learned to be adaptable in many different situations. I have developed greater patience and care for others. It is challenging to work with those who are struggling, but also very rewarding to know that I am making a positive difference in their lives.

Overall, my internship at the Utah State Hospital Physical Therapy clinic has been a wonderful experience. I’m sure I will remember these experiences for the rest of my life.  I have become more aware of mental disorders and I have become more kind and understanding. I also feel more prepared for my future in the health care industry where I will be working with patients on a daily basis.

Provo, UT; BYU Dance Training Room - Sean

For my internship, I spent a semester shadowing Dr. Ron Nuttall who is a certified physical therapist as well as the athletic trainer for all of the dance majors and members of the dance teams here at BYU. Ron intrigued me from the moment that I heard the way other people talked about him. They say he is the master and has a miraculous healing touch. I came to understand what everyone was talking about when I met him and saw him work. He definitely has his own way of doing things that most physical therapists don't apply. The effectiveness of his techniques was seen in the progress of his patients.

What I liked most about Ron is that he is very much an on hands sort of physical therapist. Most of today's physical therapists will throw you into a machine and let it do all the work. Even though it saves the physical therapists arms some exhaustion, it is not nearly as effective. 

Despite most of my internship being observation, I still learned a lot of things. I learned things like how to check alignment, correct an up and down slip, massage and perform positional releases for knots and how to properly heat and relax muscles through ultra sound and other techniques. It was definitely a rare and worthwhile experience.

Iasi, Romania; Sf. Andrei's Orphanage -Britta

Iasi from my window

 When I first got to Romania, I had no idea what to expect. I hardly knew the language and I knew little about the people and customs, but I knew that I needed to be there and that my semester there would change me in ways I could not expect.  (sidenote: I cannot post any pictures of Romanian children as it is illegal to take pictures of any institutionalized children)

Trip outside of Iasi

Tomesti

outside of Iasi

Romania is in itself an interesting and beautiful place. The countryside in particular is gorgeous and varied.

me and my co-interns 

At the orphanage, I ran a room of 8-11 children, depending on the week. It was a special needs orphanage so most of my children had some sort of disability. The children ranged in ages between 6 months and 7 years.  I spent my mornings with those children Monday through Friday. I taught the older ones to read and write and I worked on all of the children's lingual skills and fine motor skills. My emphasis was to increase motor abilities and I worked closely with the resident Physical Therapist. I did a lot of PT and I saw a lot of success. I received a 2 year old who could not even lift up his head. After a month of rigorous PT, he could not only lift up his head, he could roll over and sit up! He was such a happy and fun little guy. I have many other similar stories but I cannot convey how fulfilling it is to see the results of your hard work, prayer and faith in helping a child.

Co-interns in scrubs coming home from the hospital

In the afternoons, I worked at a Pediatric Hospital and saw some of the most heartbreaking things of my life. I used the PT I learned at the orphanage to help all the little ones without parents who were sick at the hospital and all by themselves. It was so sad to walk into a room of 4-5 babies knowing that each of them had been abandoned either by the death of a parent or by a negligent living parent. I worked with these children to prevent bedsores and muscle atrophy, as well as to try to keep them on-track developmentally. Sometimes a child would be so ill that the best things I could do  was hold them or pat them gently to comfort them. I saw children in so much pain that death came as a relief as it ceased their suffering. In Romania I definitely had both the best and the worst days of life. 

Golia Monastery in Iasi

The very best thing about Romania was the people that I met. The children that I worked with are incredible little people. I am not capable of explaining just how much I love those little ones and how much they have changed me. Nor can I explain how difficult it was to leave them. I’ll just say that if Romania ever changes their adoption laws, I will desperately try to adopt any one of those children. They are so fun and wonderful. Yes, they were difficult at times, but overall they were such a joy. Their ability to love and grow was so inspiring and they really just bring me so much happiness with their sweetness and curiosity. Besides the children, the Romanian people were very kind and helpful. They were quick to try to help us with the language and with finding our way. Our neighbors were kind and interested in helping us and bringing us food. The branch members were the same. The people were really so loving and appreciative of the work we did.
 
I was told before I went that no matter how much I change the children's lives, they will change my life so much more.  This definitely has been true. I would go back to Romania in a heartbeat.  It was an amazing experience and I really am so grateful for it.  I'm grateful for the places I visited, the things I saw, the lessons I learned and the people I met.  It was worth the heartache, the break from school, the expenses and the time. I wouldn't trade that experience for anything.

me at a monastery

Ghana, Africa; Kennedy Center Ghana Field Studies; Katie McDiarmid

This past Fall semester (2011), I had the great opportunity to perform a field study in the Ashanti region of Ghana and to work with the Seventh-Day Adventist hospital there. I volunteered with one of the only physical therapists in the region as well as the maternal and child health clinic there. As part of my field study, I conducted a research project addressing the affects of cultural tradition on westernized medicine in rural areas of Ghana. I was blessed to be able to interview many physicians and patients, learning from them in the process. I was also able to work with the physical therapist in advocating physical therapy as a viable form of medicine. There isn't a lot of support for physical therapy (from the government or the public), as it is a relatively new system in third-world countries. I plan to use my research and the experiences I have had to further my education in international development and health promotion so that someday I can return (or travel elsewhere) to establish physical therapy clinics and outreach programs in rural areas of Africa.