STRENGTHS
1. Compassion and caring – I am extremely
compassionate and caring, both in clinic with
patients and with people in the community. I
always want to lend a helping hand when possible
and a lot of people really inspire me and tend to
touch my heart in many ways.
2. Good communication skills and easy to talk
to - I communicate well with people of all ages,
and I feel as though I really make people feel
comfortable enough to talk to me about whatever
they need or want to.
3. Open to criticism - I take criticism well from
people who have experience and knowledge in the
area I’m learning, because I understand that I
don’t know everything or that there may be a
better way to doing something than the way I
already know.
4. Professional - I am professional in
understanding and dealing with different types of
people, their attitudes and beliefs, and their
cultures, even when they differ from my own.
OPPORTUNITIES
1. Job - There are some job opportunities and a
need for a pediatric PT in my small delta
hometown of Cleveland, MS.
2. Clinical knowledge - Since pediatric PT is my
area of interest, it is a big opportunity for me to
get to go out of state to do a pediatric clinical. This
will enable me to learn from other therapists and
to see how the clinic is run in another state. This
could benefit me if I get a job in pediatrics in MS,
to bring forth the good qualities I will learn and
gain, to my place of work.
3. Further education – There are many
opportunities to take courses in order to
specialize in an area of physical therapy or to take
CEU courses throughout our career. This is an
advantage to expand our knowledge base and to
help us grow as physical therapists and possibly
better our ability to be hired in the future.
4. Involvement – Being a current physical
therapy student and a future DPT, this allows me
to become involved with the MPTA and APTA and
to meet a lot of people to gain from and to be in
connection with. It also allows me to have an
opinion and a voice in legislative decisions made
for future physical therapists.
WEAKNESSES
1. Confidence – Although I think I exude
confidence most of the time in my life, when it
comes to the PT world, I am not confident in
knowing how to answer some questions asked by
patients/families, and I am not confident in my
skills of clinical reasoning when trying to figure
out a diagnosis/problem a patient is presenting
with.
2. Change – I don’t do well with a lot of change. I
like things to be planned out and to run in a
smooth, orderly fashion.
3. Doubt – Because of past relationships in my life, I
doubt a lot of people and I find it hard for me to easily
trust people. It takes a lot of time and getting to know
someone well for me to truly trust someone.
4. Self-critique – I am pretty hard on myself and I am
often a pessimistic person (I let it negatively affect me
in some way). I beat myself up mentally when I realize
something about me that I don’t think is good. I don’t
do well with a turning something negative into a
positive.
THREATS
1. Reimbursement – Because of all the changes
within the government and with healthcare, and
reimbursement policies, this could really hinder a
physical therapy job, because reimbursement by
insurance is one of our main pay sources for most
patients we see.
2. Classmates – Even though there is a high demand
for us as physical therapists, especially in rural areas,
I think it is a threat for us as students to all find a job
in the setting of our choice if we all happen to be
looking for the same job opportunity in the same area.
Other students could possibly be our competition for
a position in the future.
3. Advocating – If other physical therapist don’t
advocate for our practice and provide knowledge to
our society of what physical therapy is all about There
are a lot of people, even doctors, who don’t know
what all is in our scope of practice and this could
affect our patient load and who comes in to see us,
especially when direct access takes effect.