DPT Portfolios

Professional Goal Statement:

After graduating from UNC’s DPT program, my goal is to provide patient-centered care to patients in an outpatient orthopedic sports setting. I plan to work in a setting where I will see athletes of various ages, from youth recreational sports to the collegiate/professional level, and older adults participating in recreational leagues. I want to help these patients return to their sport as close to their prior level of function as possible. I also want to continue to treat general outpatient orthopedic patients in my caseload to continue to challenge my clinical skills. I aim to be a therapist who is compassionate, honest, and uses evidence-based practices to ensure the best outcomes for my patients.

Career plan:

Academic Career

• Appalachian State University (2018-2022)
  • Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science
• Currently attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (2022-2025)
  • Anticipated graduation in August of 2025

Clinical Experiences

• Novant Presbyterian Medical Center: Charlotte, NC
  • Acute: June-August 2023 (8 weeks)
• UNC Hillsborough Hospital: Hillsborough, NC
  • Acute Inpatient Rehab: February-April 2024 (8 weeks)
• Kinetic Physical Therapy: Sanford, NC
  • Outpatient Orthopedic: Aprile-June 2024 (8 weeks)
• Byoung Physical Therapy & Performance Center: Raleigh, NC
  • Sports Physical Therapy: May-July 2025 (12 weeks)

Elective Courses

• PHYT 875 Advanced Orthopedic Assessment
• Teacher Scholar for MSK II
• PUBH 610 Introduction to Spanish for Medical Professionals

Goals

• Less than 1 year
  • Graduate from UNC’s DPT program.
  • Pass board certification exam and become a licensed Physical Therapist.
  • Work as a Physical Therapist in a sport’s orthopedic clinic.
  • Attend one state or national PT conference.
• Within 5 years
  • Explore CEU opportunities and become certified in an advanced skill such as dry needling.
  • Become a CI to mentor students/future Physical Therapists.
  • Take “Complete Concussion Management Training Course for Physical Therapist” and integrate this evidence and knowledge into my practice with athletic injuries.
  • Become a board-certified Sports Clinical Specialist (SCS).
• Within 10 years
  • Open and manage my own Sports Physical Therapy clinic/Performance center

Self-Assessment:

• Strengths
  • Building rapport with patients and colleagues in a respectable and professional manner
  • Adaptability during a treatment session based on patients’ status and presentation
  • Providing creative and salient interventions that are evidence-based to promote patient buy-in.
• Areas of Professional Development
  • Continue to develop my confidence in my clinical reasoning skills
  • Time management and efficiency of initial evaluations.
  • Further my understanding of insurance and billing policies

Objectives:

• Graduate from UNC’s DPT program in 2025.
• Pass the NPTE and become a licensed Physical Therapist in the state of North Carolina in 2025.
• Accept a job at an outpatient sports physical therapy clinic in 2025.
• Receive mentorship from experienced clinicians to furthered develop my skills as a newly licensed PT.
• Obtain Dry Needling Certification Level 1 in 2025-2026.

Specific Strategies:

• Create a study plan to prepare for NPTE.
• Maintain an active membership with the APTA and utilize the resources it provides to be able to stay updated on research, events, and job opportunities.
• Create and maintain a network between my mentors, including former clinical instructors and faculty who can advise me regarding my future career
• Once a licensed PT, participating in continuing education services such as dry needling certification courses, attending state/national conferences, etc.

Interprofessional Education Activities (IPE):

• The IPE experiences I have had throughout my academic career at UNC have given me a much greater appreciation for other healthcare professionals and have shown me how all share a common goal of providing quality care to our patients. Through experiences such as an interprofessional Telehealth simulation, I was able to learn from other students about how to organize a Telehealth evaluation and what different professions were focused on and wanted to know about the patient. Another example of an IPE event was the annual Fall Fest, a professional event where students of various healthcare professions come together to socialize and collaborate with other healthcare students through various activities. During this event, I was able to meet students in the School of Medicine and Dentistry and discuss with them their interests within their profession and the requirements of their programs. We were all able to find common ground through the challenges we faced within our respective programs. A course I took that also gave me perspective on other healthcare professions was my Spanish for Medical Professionals. Through this course, I continued to expand my knowledge of the requirements and demands of other healthcare professions, but I was also able to see what the important questions and words are for them to know in Spanish for them to be able to effectively communicate with non-English speaking patients. Overall, UNC provided and implemented multiple opportunities to collaborate with other professions and because of this, I have a greater understanding of other healthcare fields and how they can be used in conjunction with physical therapy in my future practice. 

Product Examples:

• Capstone title: Aquatic (Pool) Therapy for Persistent Pain Conditions
  • Handout and Supplementary YouTube Videos on the effects of aquatic therapy on chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, lower extremity osteoarthritis, and chronic low back pain compared to land-based exercise.
• In-service: Kerlan-Jobe Orthopaedic Clinic Shoulder & Elbow Score (KJOC)
  • Presentation on the administration and psychometric properties of the KJOC, an outcome measure that assesses the functional status of upper extremities in overhead athletes.
• Business plan: Fix-A-Fight Performance & Rehabilitation Center
  • A business plan that was developed and presented during PHYT 705.

Reflective Statement:

• Becoming a physical therapist was a goal I created for myself in high school and the journey to achieve this goal has been challenging, demanding, and rewarding. PT school is rigorous and has placed pressure on me in a way that has allowed me to not only grow as a therapist but as a person as well. I have learned how to be more resourceful, efficient, creative, and resilient in times of stress. All these characteristics will allow me to continue to grow as delve further into my career. To think about who I was as a first-year student and how much I knew compared to myself now is incredible. We were told on our first day of orientation that this program would be over before we knew it, and that was true. While this program was over in the blink of an eye, the knowledge I gained and the connections I made with others will last forever. I am grateful that I was able to be a part of a program that strives to create the most well-rounded, educated, and passionate students to enter the workforce and produce physical therapists who are entering the field to be advocates of change and who are driven to continue to learn. Thank you to all my classmates and all the faculty for helping me grow to be the person I am today.

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