Today we returned to the clinic where we hosted Sunday’s patients, but today we worked with the Regulars. This was a mix of children and adults, with diagnoses ranging from orthopedic to neurologic. There was a patient with TBI, a child with microcephaly, several women with low back pain, one woman who was post-surgical traumatic lower leg injury, and some children with developmental delay, one due to jaundice in infancy.
It was a really nice pace today; there was no pressure to speed patients through the process, no line of 27 patients out the door. We were able to take our time and truly get to know our patients. This reminds me of one of the primary reasons I chose physical therapy over any other medical profession... I want to hear my patients’ stories, I want to know what is important in their life, and I want to use that knowledge to do my part to help them live their best possible life.
We also worked side-by-side with several Guatemalan physical therapy students. This was a great opportunity to hear about their educational process and how it differs from ours. We were able to provide some level of guidance in clinical reasoning and the importance of standardized outcome measures. I hope this is a relationship that will continue to grow and that I can return here someday and share more knowledge and experiences back and forth.
