4/14/2019 0 Comments Reflective Journal #13Speaking about strengths and weaknesses is always something I find very interesting, especially when talked about with my peers. For my first strength, I feel like I am very good at listening to my patient. When I am working with the athletes, I always try to create a personal relationship with them so that they feel comfortable while I work with them. I have heard some athletes talk about their time in the clinic, and some often struggle with feeling heard, whether that be about their lives, their treatments, or their pain. I make it a point to always ask the patient about their day, their classes, and what’s going on outside of school. I do this to assure the athletes that they are not a bother to me, and that I do care about them and what’s going on in their lives. Secondly, I always try to speak to my patients about making goals. One example of this was when a baseball player was coming into the clinic with chronic back pain. I asked him what his first goal would be, and he responded with, “I want to be able to sit through an entire class without any pain.” This gave me an opening to gauge his progress and a tangible goal that we could celebrate when it was accomplished. Lastly, I try to ask about once a week what worked that week and what didn’t work that week. If something new in rehab was working, I try to continue to incorporate it. If a treatment did nothing to help them, I try not to waste their time and my time, so I cut it out when I have the option to do so.
I believe my second strength would be diagnosing. I find it very easy to evaluate someone and narrow down my options for a diagnosis very quickly. I am lucky to have a good memory, so that helps me remember signs and symptoms for injuries and conditions. It also helps that I am very interested in pathology, so figuring out what someone has is like a puzzle to me. It may be unprofessional to call diagnosing a game, but sometime I just pretend it’s a game and I need to ask questions to the athlete to find the answer and win the game. My first weakness has been fairly consistent over the last several semesters - rehab. I still do not enjoy making rehabs, which makes it hard for me to want to spend time in that area. However, this semester I have had the opportunity to follow many baseball players rehabs, and we have been able to see some improvement. There is no better feelings than hearing an athlete tell you that what you have been doing for them is working. This has encouraged me to continue to grow and learn in this area. Another weakness I have discovered that I have is being comfortable with autonomy in new situations. This weekend we spent time at the AAU Wrestling National Championship, and I was nervous about it the entire week prior to going. I knew that we would have more freedom than before, and I knew we would be covering children, so I was very scared of messing up or not catching something important. When everything was said and done, there was no reason for me to doubt my ability, and I even had a great time with this new experience. I will be finding out if I am eligible for certification very soon, and I hope that in this last little bit of my time at Emory, I can find the confidence to practice as an autonomous clinician.
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