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Alternate Internship Assignment

Megan M. DeRoos

College of Western Idaho

HLTH 290 Exercise and Health Science Capstone

Professor Tim Curry

May 10, 2020

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Abstract

For my capstone internship this semester, I spent time job shadowing a physical therapist. In this

paper, I will briefly discuss what being a physical therapist looks like, what future challenges are,

pay, licensure, and the growth and demand of physical therapists for the next ten years. After my

time interning in a small PT clinic, I still intend to work toward becoming a physical therapist.
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Alternate Internship Assignment

For my internship this semester I job shadowed a physical therapist. I chose this field because it

is the career I am ultimately working toward, and I wanted to gain some experience, familiarity,

and knowledge of what day to day life as a physical therapist looks like.

During the internship, my intention was to learn ways to combine my college education with

hands on learning by working with actual patients. Although I was not able to complete 45 hours

of shadowing, I completed 26 hours, and found the hours I was able to accumulate valuable. I

was able to see how a physical therapist interacts with clients, and learned a tremendous amount

of bedside manner, so to speak. In this short time, I feel that I really grew from the experience of

interacting with both the patients and the PT. I observed how some patients arrive at a point

where they need physical therapy. I was able to notice how things that people do in their daily

lives lead to injury later down the road and end up heading them toward corrective surgeries. I

was able to understand what a rehabilitative recovery path looks like for a variety of individuals

and injuries. I was able to consult with someone who had been a practicing physical therapist for

almost 40 years and ask questions about things I didn’t fully comprehend regarding anatomy and

kinesiology of human movement. My time was well spent in this office.

The average day at the small outpatient clinic where I shadowed was fairly busy. For many

weeks it was the same people coming in multiple times a week for their therapy sessions with the

occasional consultation sprinkled in for good measure. When a patient would come in, they

would fill out a form to report how they were feeling in the area they had been receiving therapy

on in order for the PT to know how they were progressing. After the sheet was filled out, the
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patient would be called back to a room and put on an electrical stimulation, or e-stem, machine

where electrical impulses would target specific muscles in an area being addressed. After e-stem,

either soft or deep tissue massage was performed by the PT or their assistant. Depending on the

situation, and the person, after the massage it would be time for stretching and then exercises.

Occasionally, after the massage, assisted ROM exercises were done by the PT (mostly for

shoulders/rotator cuffs). I have heard that some clinics do e-stem at the end of a patient’s session,

but it made sense to me why this particular clinic did it first. Each person’s session took

anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour. Once in a while, dry needling was done, but it was rare.

The physical therapist I observed preferred to focus on shoulder and knee injuries and post-

surgery rehabilitation. I very briefly learned about electrical stimulation, applied stimulation, soft

and deep tissue massage, scar tissue, assisted mobility, palpations, diagnosis of

conditions/injuries, exercise prescription, dry needling, and other methods of physical therapy.

The therapist stated that he preferred working on shoulders and knees because he had two

shoulder surgeries and a knee surgery in his younger years and could understand the necessary

rehabilitation needed. While I did not have extensive amounts of time in the environment, I

found that I was also particularly interested in knee surgeries and that rehabilitation process.

There are several states where I have been considering attending physical therapy school. They

include Idaho, Illinois, Oregon, and Florida. According to the website salary.com (2020), the

median pay for a physical therapist in America is $87,637 annually. The website also lists the

median salaries for physical therapists in Boise, Idaho as $83,150, Chicago, Illinois as $92,895,

Portland, Oregon as $91,598, and in Miami, Florida as $85,314. To work in this field now it is
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required for a person to earn a doctorate in physical therapy and for them to take and pass a

licensure exam proctored by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy and stay current

according to what state they are practicing in (apta.org, 2015).

In a model by the American Physical Therapy Association (2017), there is a projected future

shortage of physical therapists. According to this research, there will a demand for additional

physical therapists ranging between 8,696 and 26,560 by 2025. There is a demand for physical

therapists, which is assuring. In a separate publication by the Health Resources and Services

Administration (2018), it is projected that the need for physical therapists will increase by 24-

26% by 2030.

According to Supplemental Health Care (2017), some of the top challenges of physical therapists

are: rising costs of education, obesity of patients, healthcare legislation, and being able to stay

physically fit after working long hours. While these stresses are apparent, how a person manages

their time, and how they deal with their stress, become incredibly important when overcoming

these obstacles. Many careers in the healthcare industry can probably relate, but hopefully the

reward of helping others outweighs the challenges.

After doing my research, and spending time in an actual physical therapy setting for a while, my

desire to become a physical therapist has stayed the same. I look forward to working in a variety

of physical therapy settings in the near future to see a spectrum of treatments, environments, and

a diverse mix of both patients and practicing physical therapists. I enjoy helping people and have

a passion for health and wellness. From what I was able to soak in during my time in the clinic, a
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good physical therapist can really help a person improve their mobility, comfort, strength, and

overall happiness in life.

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References

American Physical Therapy Association. (April 17, 2017). A Model To Project The Supply And

Demand Of Physical Therapists 2010-2025 https://www.apta.org/WorkforceData/

American Physical Therapy Association. (Updated October 21, 2015). Retrieved April 24, 2020

from https://www.apta.org/Licensure/

Health Resources & Services Administration (2018). Allied Health Workforce Projections;

Occupational and Physical Therapists; Allied Health Workforce Projections, 2016-2030;

Occupational and Physical Therapists.

https://bhw.hrsa.gov/sites/default/files/bhw/nchwa/projections/occupational-physical-

therapists-2016-2030.pdf

Physical Therapy Salary. (2020). Retrieved April 10, 2020 from

https://www.salary.com/research/salary/benchmark/physical-therapist-salary/boise-id

Supplemental Health Care. (October 18, 2017). Biggest Challenges Faced by Physical

Therapists. https://www.shccares.com/blog/biggest-challenges-faced-by-physical-

therapists