Culminating blog Reflection.

I feel as if I learned a lot through the many sessions I had with my mentor. Even though physical therapy cannot eliminate all problems, it is a big recovery factor that makes big differences in a lot of athletes. There is a lot more that involves physical therapy than to learn how to help a body recover from disabilities. It involves creativity, a set of good communication skills, and a set of organization. Firstly, I had to organize my research in not just the history of physical therapy, but how exactly is it used to be one the best recover treatments. While I was working on my hours with my mentor, I had to know how to act really well with a patient just so they could feel comfortable with me. I am not very good when it comes to speaking in front or to people in certain way which had to be something I had to work on a lot. It wasn’t something I was afraid of doing. In fact, it made me push myself into getting used to communicate with people because I know I would have to be using that in the future.

This Capstone experience made me gain a lot of time management, organization, and responsibility. Meeting up with my mentor every work did interfere with my normal schedule. I had to pick a certain to meet with, and at the same time I had to make time for practices and my other school work. It was quite difficult but in the end it prepare me of what is yet to come after high school. I learned that organization comes a long way as too because things can get hectic when becoming a physical therapist. You have to know a variety of muscles, medications, exercises for a patients, and what suits them. Watching my mentor keep up with what he has to do on a daily basis overwhelms me because I would feel more stressed out if I would have to do.

Capstone project opened a lot of doors for me. And at the same time, it made me realize that physical therapy is not something I plan on doing after high school. I’m glad I was able to go through the hours with my mentor because it made me realize that something I considered on doing in the future, is not what I’m fitted for anyway. It did however educate me because I know a lot more about physical therapy more than I ever it. Without this project, I would have been taking classes that would relate to it, when the capstone was a great chance to make me realize that it’s not for me. Even though the capstone project was difficult, I was able to decide early that Physical Therapy isn’t right for me.

Blog #6 (3hrs) Total=25 hours

For the last final hours I had with my mentor, I met up with him this morning to again review what I learned, and also to discussed how I see physical therapy differently. My mentor provided me with different environments that physical therapists work in. They could be in either nursing homes, private practices, and even in an emergency room depending how bad the conditions they are in. He walked me through the path I would have to take to be successful, which of course including going to college and taking classes to help me a lot more with it. For the last hour I had with my mentor, he showed me different techniques that can be used when improving someone’s ability to perform better. The basics steps that he showed me are some things I can be able to do myself in very small minor injuries that can happen when playing sports.

Blog #5 (3 hrs) Total=22 hours

On Saturday morning (May 4), I met up with my mentor to discuss last several medications used for physical therapy, as well as the different types of machines and massaging techniques to help a person in recovery. Since these are the final hours meeting with him. We talked about the basics from beginning to end, to refresh my memory with with what I learned throughout the entire process. After an hour of going over them, my mentor decides to down to the rehabilitation area to view some of the physical therapists helping other patients. Although this was the second time entering the rehabilitation time, it was much different because there was a lot more patients who allowed me to shadow them during their process. In total I got to shadow 5 patients over all. I actually got to see the different functions on how physical therapy is. It was a really big experience but it was very overwhelming because there is a lot that i have to learn and how correctly I have to do it.

Blog #4 (6hours) Total=19 hours.

I met with my mentor this week on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday mornings. Each day was a total of 3 hours. Since we previously discussed about the different types of machines used in physical therapy, this week we reviewed the medicines that are used among several patients going through recovery. We took it step by step so I could be able to understand how the medications are used and why.

On Monday we started off the basics by going through what what each medicines are. They are precisely organized by category so it would be easier or doctors to detect which medicine suits best for some patients. I thought going through them was an easy task until we went through the definitions of them. Medications are used to help the body heal better.

On Tuesday and Wednesday he was able to show me images of the different medications that are used. Since I wasn't able to use them I was only able to view samples of them. It is important to have a good understanding of what certain medications are for patients because each medication is different each other as well as the number of dosages taken.

Although I took notes on the different medications that we're mentioned, I know that I still have much to learn about them. This pushes me to learn more about it in college if I was to become a physical therapist in the future. I plan to meet with my mentor the next following 3 days as well.

Mentor blog 3 (5hrs), Total=10 hrs

Today I met with my mentor once again and got to review each and every one of the machinery we previously covered last week, only this time we took our time reviewing so I actually got to really understand what they are, do, and how helpful they are to a person. After the first 3 hours, there were people who came inside the center so I also got to see how hands what they do to improve their physical ability. 

Each person trying to recover to their original athletic performance was helped by another physical to help them move their body in a certain way. It was interesting because usually they do not allow visitors shadow them when they ste goin through physical therapy. But they were interested in my topic so they were happy to have my observe what they were doing. 

What I learned new and was also interesting was that as I shadowed the physical therapist, I noticed the same structure over and over which my mentor told me it was to shape their body to get used to moving in that direction. 

In total, I spent a total of 5 hours with me total. The next time I will meet my mentor will be sometime in the end of the week. 

3/12/2014

I wasn't able to blog last week, I did however still met up with my mentor on wednesday, the 12th. I was with him for almost 3 hours. We discussed the different types of tools and medicines used for patients when in involved during physical therapy and during the recovery. He skimmed through each tools and machinery quickly and told me a brief definition of them, but next week we are actually going to go through them again, and my mentor and I will actually get to see how each machinery and tools work and how can it can improve a persons body recovery. Even though he went through the different types in a fast pace it was interesting how there was a lot more that people can use to gain their athletic ability back in profession. It interests me because before the session with my mentor I only thought there was a selective few of certain machinery to help someone heal better. Luckily I know there's a lot more, which makes me a lot more obligated to learn about the different types not only during the project, but after high school as well. 

3/5/14

Today was the first day that I met up with my mentor. Even though we did not straight into our major accomplishments, I was able to discuss many of the basics that me and him are going to cover through the project. What I like about my mentor was the fact that he took his time to cover all the basics and materials that I 'm going to learn about during our hours together. It really helped me a lot so each time I plan on meeting him I would know exactly what type of material in physical therapy that him and I will cover in.