Doctoring Profession
Professionalism
My View on Professionalism
"With patients, I believe in interacting with compassion and presenting education as informative and encouraging rather than degrading."
"Interactions with superiors should be communicative, honest, and vulnerable...including giving feedback about how the workplace is functioning, seeking feedback about how you as a clinician are performing, or expressing conflicts in the workplace with grace and sensitivity."
"In the hospital setting, PT's are apart of an interprofessional team...we must be a team player; maintaining communication...including coordinating with nurses and pharmacists for time between medication administration and exercise, working with occupational therapists to determine which ADL’s we want to pursue, and how we can work together to get the patient functioning as quickly as possible."
"Shannon has been able to positively impact the outcome of the patients that she treats by frequently communicating with OT and SLP. Through frequent communication, we are able to increase and encourage patient progression and safety upon the patient's discharge to their preferred environment. For example, Shannon was able to determine that a shared patient of ours would benefit from being 'independent in their room' to increase their confidence prior to discharging home alone"
Renee Phillips, OT
Professional Behaviors
Where and how do I desire to improve?
Communication/Interpersonal Skills
Respects differences in personality, lifestyle and learning styles during interactions with all persons - "I am in the minimization phase of intercultural competence, I want to learn to recognize and appreciate people’s differences and work toward moving into the acceptance phase."
Recognizes the non-verbal communication and emotions that others bring to professional interactions - "I want to be able to recognize my patients limits and reservations they have regarding treatment without them verbally expressing it. I also want to create an accepting environment where any patient can express their emotions without judgment and feel safe."
Use of Constructive Feedback
Demonstrates receptive behavior and positive attitude toward feedback - "demonstrate active listening, repeat key points to ensure correct interpretation, ask clarification questions, and follow-up on performance related to feedback"
Utilizes feedback when establishing professional and patient related goals - "check in with patients, use their feedback in combination with clinical reasoning to improve their plan of care and reflect on efficacy as a clinician."
Critical Thinking/Problem Solving
Critically analyzes literature and applies it to patient management - "Follow evidence-based practice by continuing to educate self on effective treatments for diagnosis, while individualizing treatment to patient's impairments and preferences."
Prioritizes patient problems - "Communicate with patients about which functional activities they continue to struggle with, pursue accomplishing the patient's goals, and use best clinical judgment on progressing patient toward desired function."
Service & Social Justice
Explore My Work
Reflections
Service Learning
"The main benefit of service learning for me was being exposed to various populations and learning how to effectively communicate and treat people from different walks of life"
"Opened my mind to the opportunity to learn about people with different cultures and beliefs"
"Encouraged me to ask questions and continue to learn about my patients’ values so I can make their recovery an individualized experience"
Intercultural Development
"My goals are to embrace each patient as their own person and to try and incorporate their culture and interests into their treatment."
"I want to practice open body language, creating an inviting and accepting environment for my patients to interact with me."
"I will continue to practice patient-centered language and adjusting my knowledge to communicate at a level they can understand."
Disability
"I learned to be dynamic in interacting with people with disabilities and I learned how to follow their lead."
"I feel like a societal stigma about people with lifelong disabilities is that they need help from someone who is able. I have found this to not be true. When volunteering with All-Stars, my 'buddy' in a wheelchair was attempting to navigate a ramp, when I offered assistance, he kindly asked me not to help. This was a huge learning moment for me."
See My Progress:
"My service-learning opportunities taught me to be receptive of factors in a patient’s life that may be affecting their health or their motivation to participate in therapy; to be cognizant of what resources they may have access to and adapting my plan of care to best suit the patient’s needs with the supplies they have."
"I have learned that professionalism is not just about interactions with others, but it also includes many self-reflective components that are important to continue learning and growing into the best clinician I can be."
Autonomous Practice
APTA Vision 2020:
"Physical therapy, by 2020, will be provided by physical therapists who are doctors of physical therapy and who may be board-certified specialists. Consumers will have direct access to physical therapists in all environments for patient/client management, prevention, and wellness services. Physical therapists will be practitioners of choice in patients’/clients’ health networks and will hold all privileges of autonomous practice. Physical therapists may be assisted by physical therapist assistants who are educated and licensed to provide physical therapist-directed and -supervised components of interventions.
Guided by integrity, life-long learning, and a commitment to comprehensive and accessible health programs for all people, physical therapists and physical therapist assistants will render evidence-based service throughout the continuum of care and improve quality of life for society. They will provide culturally sensitive care distinguished by trust, respect, and an appreciation for individual differences.
While fully availing themselves of new technologies, as well as basic and clinical research, physical therapists will continue to provide direct patient/client care. They will maintain active responsibility for the growth of the physical therapy profession and the health of the people it serves."
How do we advocate for our patients? See below, a simulated version of a Letter of Medical Necessity - a document used to communicate between two professions to obtain equipment that best serves the needs of the patient.
Intercultural Development Inventory
"Intercultural competence is the capability to shift perspective and adapt behavior to cultural difference and commonality. Intercultural competence reflects the degree to which cultural differences and commonalities in values, expectations, beliefs, and practices are effectively bridged, an inclusive environment is achieved, and specific differences that exist in your organization or institution are addressed from a 'mutual adaptation' perspective."
Reflection
Improved developmental orientation score by 10.69 points (89.52 to 100.22)
Still in minimization orientation - tend to focus on commonalities across diverse communities that can mask deeper recognition of differences
Positive characteristics: seeks to avoid stereotyping and biased behavior by treating each person as an individual, interested in differences in diverse communities, recognizes essential humanity of every person and tries to act in tolerant ways
Negative characteristics/areas to improve: Tends to assume people from other cultures are basically “like us” and applies one’s own cultural views to other cultures in ways that minimize importance of cultural differences, may not be aware of how one’s ideas & behavior are culturally grounded, limited ability to adapt to other cultural practices
Decreased orientation gap by 5.32 points (29.75 to 24.43)
Still over-estimating my perception of how culturally competent I am, but am more self-aware of actual developmental orientation
Areas of continued growth: in order to move toward acceptance phase, I need to gain a deeper understanding of my own culture and continue learning about general and specific cultural frameworks for increased understanding of patterns of difference that emerge in interaction with people who are from other cultures