See what your fellow physical therapy school colleagues and professors are talking about!
Do you want to become a Guest Blogger at The PT Student? Send your 250-500 word essay to jennifer@theptstudent.com. Fame, fortune, book deals … who knows? Write it and see.
Guest Blogger: Dr. Michael Wong – New Grads, New Technology: The Perfect Match
Guest blogger, Dr. Michael Wong has been collaborating with a few of his colleagues to create a mobile app designed to develop clinical reasoning in new physical therapists.
By Michael Wong, PT, DPT, OCS, FAAOMPT
Navigating the maze of physical therapy education is challenging and often overwhelming. I remember what that was like; hundreds of pages to read about endless pathologies, special tests, manual therapy techniques and exercises. When I graduated, and got in front of real patients, sometimes it was hard to know how to put it all together!
Unlike clinicians with years of experience, newly minted physical therapists often have difficulty matching interventions (i.e., manual therapy and exercise) to relevant key findings, which can result in treating irrelevant impairments, and less than optimal outcomes.
So, why don’t physical therapists emerge from their doctoral programs with this mastery in place? Read more …
Guest Blogger: Jasmine Marcus – Surviving the Practical Exam
Guest Blogger Jasmine Marcus, SPT has done it again! She’s back with valuable advice for physical therapy students taking anxiety-inducing lab practical exams.
Although I’ve been taking multiple-choice tests since elementary school, nothing I’d done before PT school came close to resembling a practical. Although these tests strike fear into the hearts of many a DPT student, I’ve grown to appreciate these examinations that try to imitate real-life scenarios. With four semesters of nerve-wracking practicals now under my belt, I have some advice for those about to take their first round. Read more …
Guest Blogger: Jasmine Marcus – I Don’t Have Time For That! I’m In Physical Therapy School!
She’s back! Our guest blogger, Jasmine Marcus, returns with some valuable insights on managing your most precious resource in physical therapy school … your time.
In college, one of my friends had a saying whenever we were busy: “You’ll spend as much time doing your homework as you give yourself.” Despite pursuing a difficult biology major, she made time for extracurricular activities and friends, and graduated with near perfect grades … a semester early. I eventually discovered her saying also applied to me. During the semesters I spent 25 hours a week editing The Cornell Daily Sun, I did my homework efficiently, and got some of my best grades. Yet, as a second semester senior with fewer commitments, I often procrastinated and never seemed to find those 25 extra hours.
Although this lesson should have been ingrained in me, I was often scared to make myself busy during my first semester of PT school. I occasionally skipped the gym, missed seeing some friends, and generally allowed myself little time off from studying. I heard how much my classmates (said they) studied and felt like I had to do the same. By the end of the semester, I was exhausted and ready for a change.
So this semester, Read more …
Guest Blogger: Jasmine Marcus – Taking a Step Back to Move Forward
This post marks the first time we have ever had a guest blogger at The PT Student! We are very excited about it and hope to have more guest bloggers in the future. If you would like to be a guest blogger, please contact us at jennifer@theptstudent.com.
If I had a dollar for each time I’ve heard the phrase “I could never go back to school after taking time off,” I could probably pay for a semester of school. But while this refrain is common, I don’t actually think it’s valid.
As an applicant I worried that admissions committees would look down upon my status as “second career” since I studied psychology as an undergrad at Cornell and then went into journalism. It was only after one admissions representative told me that my choosing to take chemistry after college could only make me seem more serious, that I realized my path isn’t so unique. Read more …
Guest Bloggers