This has been a very long and eventful year, filled with moments of extreme stress, joy and a tremendous amount of new information. Coming into this program, I thought that, having already been through PTA school, I would feel a notable advantage. And in the first semester this was true, for the most part. But as we progress through the curriculum and the emphasis changes from memorization to critical thinking, I think what has been most surprising for me is realizing just how little critical thinking I did as a PTA.

Obviously, there is a large difference between the education that a PTA receives that what a DPT receives. I realize too that the current curriculum has been created to prepare each of us for the possibility of working in a state which allows direct access, so the breadth of knowledge that we require has increased to keep up with this. With that in mind, I feel more responsibility to truly learn and be able to implement as much information as I can in order to protect and best serve my future patients. I had this feeling of responsibility as a PTA as well, but there was always also a sense that I could defer to my supervising PT. Throughout this year, I have come to realize that that safety net will not be there after I graduate. Moreover, there will likely be other clinicians, including PTA’s, who look to me to be their safety net. This is what motivates me to try to push past the discomfort of learning how to think critically, which is something that has always been a challenge for me.

Over the course of this year, I have realized that there is a very big difference between what I thought my study abilities were and what they actually are. I often think back to the type of student I was in undergraduate studies, and it always strikes me that I am grateful to have taken a few years off to work before applying to graduate school.

My attention span is not much better than it was when I started college nine years ago, but I have discovered a number of strategies to keep my focus on the present, and be engaged. These strategies have been tested this year, with the addition of challenges such as insufficient sleep, stress, and trying to maintain my personal relationships without it being detrimental to my studies. I am still challenged by time management, but I feel that I have come much closer to achieving balance. Essentially, I have discovered what it means to truly put forth maximum effort in all of the aspects of my life, and it is very different from what I perceived as maximum effort one year ago.

In terms of areas of personal strengths, I feel that while I am still trying to discover more efficient ways of studying, I have finally found what is most effective. Identifying my particular learning style has been very helpful, because it allowed me to realize why I am more comfortable with certain styles of education than others. This realization, in turn, facilitated a better interaction with my clinical instructor in the spring.

I have also come to realize that I have not managed conflict very well in the past, neither professionally nor in my personal life. I have applied what I have learned about conflict resolution to both my class life and my personal life, and the results have been very encouraging. I realize that this is a skill that I will need to continue to practice and reflect on in the future, but I feel that I have made great strides in being able to resolve small conflicts before they become an insurmountable obstacle in my relationships.

Time management is something that I am sure all students struggle with, to greater and greater extents as they progress to higher levels of education. This has certainly been an area that I have struggled with throughout the year. I still feel that there is not enough time in each day to complete the assignments, study, maintain my house, and maintain my relationships with my fiance, friends, and family.

What I have come to realize, however, is that setting expectations of committing a certain percentage of each day to each of these areas is not only not feasible, it is not effective. Instead, I can see that there will be days that the house does not get cleaned, or I am not able to speak with my parents. But this will not ultimately lead to any kind of failing in the relationship with my family, nor will my house fall into disrepair in one or two days. The key is to focus entirely on the person or task at hand, for some amount of time that is entirely for that person or task. This leads to more fulfilling interactions and more efficient task completion. In essence, I do not have to touch on each area of my life that needs attention each day; I just need to try to maintain a balance between all areas overall.

My greatest professional challenge of the past year has been checking my assumptions about patients and participants before actually working with them. This is a skill that I continue to struggle with, but I do feel that I making progress. Working at HSC Pediatric for my first ICE rotation was an eye opening experience for me. A large number of that families with children in this outpatient program have a very restricted income, have come from another country to receive better healthcare treatment. Throughout the ICE experience, I had to constantly remind myself to not assume that the families were coping with financial struggles until they stated it. It was also interesting to me that I made assumptions about the kind of medical care provided in countries like Eritrea and Ethiopia without any actual context for these assumptions. I believe that making assumptions in healthcare is not inherently a negative thing, but it is important to be aware that it is only an assumption, and to look up or ask for more information to confirm.