In this context, I mean "post" as in - Fort Drum is a military post. Apparently, only the Air Force and the Navy have "bases"! And here, PT means Physical Training - it's the running, push-ups, and sit-ups all the soldiers have to do. So it's important not to confuse physical therapy PT with Physical Training PT - so much to learn!
My first two weeks of my first clinical experience have been illuminating. It's a challenge to take a year's-worth of academic information and immediately be able to apply it in a live, fast-paced physical therapy setting - I should say settings(s) because they've got me driving back and forth on post to get between the gym, the outpatient clinic, and medical in-processing! My CI is very kind and patient, but I've still spent a lot of my time there so far trying to not sound and feel like a dunce ("oh my god, what is the name for the head of the femur? what is the name for the head of the femur??!! oh . . . it's 'the head of the femur' . . ." - that was the 'sour patch kids day'). I think I just have to remember that my priority should be to focus on LEARNING, not being right - as funny as that many sound :)
The family I'm living with is very nice - and very large! I share an upstairs bathroom with three boys under the age of 13 - use your imaginations . . . . In addition to the 5 kids, mom, and dad, and myself, there are also 2 dogs, a cat, a turtle, several fish, and a large snake. ! I must admit, the only thing I was not prepared for was walking downstairs the morning after I'd first arrived and being greeted by one of the twin boys (as if by destiny) "We don't drink coffee here because we're Mormon!" It wasn't the Mormon part that took me aback, it was the lack of coffee!! One major withdrawal headache later, and I was headed to Walmart to pick up a box of single-serve instant - kinda more like coffee-flavored weak tea but it would do in a pinch!
Fort Drum is a unique setting in which to be learning. The physical therapists mostly do evaluations and re-evaluations - not much actual rehab with the patients - the PTA's and techs do that. So I'll be getting REALLY good at evaluating patients - plus I do get to see some rehab when we go to the morning gym program, which is for patients more advanced in their rehab. Soldiers in rehab can be transferred to another post, go on leave, or be deployed in the middle of their treatment - it's a challenge to maintain continuity of care. Another interesting twist is that we are working with a population of - for the most part - healthy and VERY active patients. Here, the soldiers get a full medical examination AT LEAST before and after they deploy(ie usually twice a year). The majority are under age 30, so there is little diabetes, hypertension, or cancer. At the same time, a lot of soldiers return from deployment with TBI's or traumatic brain injuries - these injuries, whether mild, moderate, or severe, can have a range of effects from physical performance to mood to learning abilities. The environment is fast-paced and the PT's have a lot of experience, so during their examination of a patient, they are able to modify, skip, and mentally note bits and pieces on the spot - it takes me much longer and I need to learn the 'rules' of examination before I can be so expertly altering them! As a student, that is to be expected, and my CI knows that, which is nice! Though we go pretty quickly, he encourages me to be thorough and to ask lots of questions.
One of the interesting things we do is a foot screen of every soldier who goes through medical in-processing when they first come on-post. These could be soldiers back from their 3rd deployment to Afghanistan or fresh from Basic Training - but, they all . . . run! So the physical therapy department has them take off their boots, take a quick look at their arches and foot alignment, and walk/run across a force plate. The force plate lets us take a computerized image of their foot movement during weight-bearing activities like walking and running. We can see if they are able to maintain their arch or if they flatten out! Based on what we see in that quick little assessment, we recommend different types of running shoes and refer them to set up a physical therapy eval if they are having any issues. We can get through 20 or so soldiers in one morning - I'm learning alot about feet!
I'll try to keep y'all up to date on my time at Fort Drum. I'm pretty busy (studying a bit almost every night!) and I do have to be careful about revealing identifying patient information - so I'll be tweaking what I say :) Will probably be posting on the weekends when I've got time to collect my thoughts and reflect.
Love love love
Caitlin
ps - sorry for the lack of pictures - Miss Nally is sending my camera soon! *hint hint* ;)
absorbing, how it will shape my future PT practice, what lessons I'll have taken from this experience on an army post . . . We have the same schedule each week, but every day I'm honing my skills, picking up on the nuances of things that I thought I had 'down cold' - I can feel my confidence in my ability to communicate my knowledge and ideas to patients growing! That is a nice feeling - I insert my foot into my mouth only on special occasions now ;)
Dead at the top of his lungs :)
inge - an EBAY rug binge - an ebay persian rug binge! We've put some down in the high-traffic areas of the house. I'll post some pictures here for you to take a look - they really make the rooms feel cozy (I feel like I say that with every new addition to the house, but it's true!).
