Reflection

1. HLTH 4200 Final Evaluation
April 2016
1. Review your goals and objectives for your internship and assess your internship site
as it provided a setting for achieving those goals and objectives.
• My internship site, The Care Center, provided an excellent setting for me to
work towards and achieve my set goals and objectives. The staff was extremely
supportive and helpful. They would always take the time to explain all aspects of
a patient and their treatment to me and answer any questions I might have. The
patients and parents were also very welcoming and helpful, they were more than
willing to talk with me about their varying stories and allow me to connect with
them and their children. The large variety of different diagnosis and treatment
plans that The Care Center accepts and works with greatly enhanced my
learning experience as an intern. I believe this internship opportunity greatly
contributed to me deciding my future career plans as a physical therapist.
2. Explain and show how you achieved the goals you set.
• My first goal was to expand my knowledge relating to physical therapy
treatment techniques and patient diagnoses. I was able to reach this goal by
being exposed to new and different patients each day. This allowed me to take
notes, ask questions and do independent research on a large variety of new
information and learn as much as possible. Each week I would go through my
notebook and do additional research on any words or techniques that I did not
completely understand. Completing a case study on a patient also allowed me to
learn a great deal about a focused diagnosis and treatment plan. I feel that I have
learned a great deal of vital information that is necessary in the physical therapy
field.
• My second goal was to form a better understanding of what a career working
directly with children and their families would entail. As time went on at my
internship I began to grasp just how involved a physical therapists becomes with
the families of each patient. I was able to build relationships of my own while
also observing those of the other staff members. This was done by spending time
with the children during their appointments, and talking with parents before
and after. I found that I really enjoyed being able to entertain and motivate a
child through what could potentially be an unenjoyable experience. I was also
able to witness and learn about what goes into maintaining patient privacy when
dealing with children, in regards to both pictures and medical information.
• My third goal was to conclude my internship by deciding if pursuing a career in
physical therapy was the right path for me. I gained a lot of valuable and helpful
information after talking with current practicing therapist and current PT
students in varying programs doing rotations at The Care Center. This led me to
do further research into the field as a whole, along with different PT schools
around the country and jobs in the area. I am now very excited about my
decision to continue with my plan to become a physical therapist.

2. 3. Choose one project/assignment and describe it as follows:
a) How well do you think you accomplished the project or dealt with the
experience?
• I believe I completed the celebration service project very well. I was able to
combine many small assignments and projects that all contributed to a
bigger end result. I assisted, took the lead, and greatly contributed in every
area of the event. I organized and distributed raffle tickets to be sold prior to
the service; Gathered, organized and scanned pictures to create a slideshow
to be shown at the service; Created posters that I held with others to greet
the patients and families when they arrived at the church. I think I combined
all of these aspects in a very effective and manageable way.
b) What skills did you use?
• To complete this project I used a variety of skills. Communication skills were
important when talking with my preceptor and deciding exactly what she
wanted and expected from me. Time management and organizational skills
were used to keep track of all the aspects going into the project and making
sure they were properly completed on time. Both creativity and computer
program skills were used when creating the picture slideshow on iMovie.
c) Point out your strengths and weaknesses. What would you do differently?
• I would say my biggest strengths when working on this project were my
strong work ethic and organization. On the other hand my weakness would
have to be my patience. This project took over a month to complete and
involved a great deal of tedious work. I realized at the beginning of the
process that I would have to stay organized all throughout and keep my work
ethic up in order to complete the project the best I could. My patience was
definitely tested when having to scan in over two hundred pictures to a
computer, but I am very proud of the end result. If I could do one thing
differently, it would be to make the slideshow more dynamic and add in a
more attention grabbing aspect.
4. Assess your contribution to the internship site.
• During my time as an intern I feel I was able to contribute to The Care Center in
many ways. I would not only observe therapy sessions, but would help in setting
up, treating the patient, and reorganizing the gym afterwards. I also helped the
therapist keep their notes organized and charting up to date. Overall this lead to
the clinic being able to run more smoothly and put less pressure on the
therapist. My project of helping run and plan a fundraiser and celebration
service was also a big contribution to both the staff and patients of The Care
Center. I tried to bring a positive and motivating attitude to every situation and
patient I encountered.

3. 5. Has your experience changed or reinforced your career goals? Changed or
reinforced your educational goals? Could you see yourself as a professional in this
field?
• My experience interning at The Care Center has reinforced both my career and
educational goals. I am even more passionate about continuing on to PT school
and pursuing a career in physical therapy. Getting to serve others daily while
also being able to work in the medical field and continue learning new
techniques and treatments sounds like a wonderful career for me. I can most
definitely see myself enjoying working in this field in the future.
6. Relate your internship experience to your academic work on campus. List at least 5
specific courses either in your major or outside your major that were useful at this
site.
• Anatomy and Physiology – this class covers the human body, what it is made up
of and how it functions. The knowledge I gained in this class was very useful
when the therapist would talk about the patient’s symptoms and what the
treatments were specially targeted at helping.
• Abnormal Psychology – this class covers the diagnosis and symptoms of mental
health disorders. It was helpful to be able to know about and understand not
only the physical aspects of patient diagnosis, but also the mental aspects if
present. Two examples of mental diagnosis we saw were autism and operational
defiant disorder.
• Lifespan Development – this class extensively covers all aspects of human
development from birth to death. Learning about the normal sequence of
development made it much easier to see and understand when it becomes
disrupted or is delayed, which is often why children undergo physical therapy.
• Health Care Systems – this class goes through all the different levels of the health
care system and how it runs in this country. The Care Center is a privately
owned and run clinic so it was very helpful to know about all the different
aspects that go into running a medical office.
• Introduction to Human Communication – this class covers all aspects of
communicating with others and how best to do so. It prepared me to talk with
patients and parents in an effective manner. it is imperative to get the point
across in a friendly and informative way, while maintaining a professional
relationship.
7. Were there instances at your site where the health literacy training was utilized?
Explain.
• Due to the setting of my internship site being a pediatric physical therapy clinic,
there were no instances where the health literacy training was utilized. The age
and intellectual level of most of my patients was too low to expect literacy of any
kind. It is possible that an encounter with a parent or older patient could bring
up a health literacy issue, but I did not encounter this type of situation.