Clinical Rotation Series – Part 3 of 4
Year 3 – Outpatient Ortho – 12 weeks
I was fortunate to have my last two affiliations back near home in Oregon. My PT program was located in Pomona, CA. My last day in Cali was a final and a celebration with my class (there may have been a party bus) and when I got home, I woke my husband up (around 3 am), took a 30-minute nap while he showered and we hit the road. 18-hour drive back to Oregon.
My last affiliation was at a private practice run on the 30’s. We worked 4-10’s and it was perfect and I loved the schedule because we had 3-day weekends. I learned so much in these twelve weeks. My CI enjoyed being challenged with clarifying questions and would give me mini-assignments that if I didn’t know an answer to a condition, he’d have me look it up and tell him the next day. I’ll never forget Marfan’s syndrome/EDS because that was one of the many things he assigned.
Instead of telling me what those conditions were, he had me seek out the answer myself.
We co-treated for most cases and he was amazed at how fast I could type. Our teamwork was so fluid that by the 6th week, it took little effort to organize and plan out our schedules. He was in the treatment room with me for nearly every patient and I preferred it that way. He’d always use the phrase, “can we talk shop?” to the patient when he’d pause for a teaching moment.
I learned from him as a PT but also with his expertise in finance.
He was the first person to get me interested in learning about how to manage my money. He had me start with “Rich Dad, Poor Dad” by Robert Kiyosaki which I hadn’t read before. He shared with me his strategies and a side business of rental properties which had inspired me to get smart about investing instead of spending.
I am grateful for the time with him because he challenged me in the clinical perspective but also in life skills and sparked an interest that I never had before. When I told him that I bought my first house 2.5 years later, he responded, “Congrats. Where? When da party?”