DPT Portfolios

Professional Goal Statement

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Upon graduation from UNC’s Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program and becoming a licensed physical therapist, I plan to pursue a career in either outpatient or inpatient Neurorehabilitation. I have a strong interest in treating vestibular impairments, balance impairments, and neurological degenerative conditions. I desire to help individuals improve or maintain their quality of life for as long as their condition allows. I strive to be a physical therapist that makes a difference in my patient’s lives by treating every patient with compassion and provide holistic, high-quality care to improve individuals’ functional capacity and participation in everyday life. I hope to empower patients to be knowledgeable about their health and physical function.

Interests: Vestibular impairments, balance impairments, degenerative conditions, oncology rehabilitation, Pregnancy/women’s health

Career Plan

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Past Accomplishments

• Graduated from Clemson University with a 4.0 GPA — May 2020
  • Bachelor of Science in Health Science with a Concentration in Pre-Professional Health Studies, Minor: Psychology

Clinical Experience

• Clinical Affiliation I: Cone Health, Greensboro, NC — 8 weeks
  • Outpatient Orthopedic Rehabilitation
• Clinical Affiliation II: Carolinas Rehabilitation, Charlotte, NC — 8 weeks
  • Inpatient Rehabilitation (Oncology)
• Clinical Affiliation III: Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC — 8 weeks
  • Acute Care: Cardiac, Neurosurgery, and NeuroICU
• Clinical Affiliation IV: MedStar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington, D.C. — 12 weeks
  • Outpatient Neurologic Clinic

Future Plans

• 2023
  • Graduate from The University of North Carolina with my Doctorate of Physical Therapy
  • Pass the National Physical Therapy Exam on July 25
  • Obtain employment as a neurological physical therapist
• 2024-2025 (1-2 years)
  • Obtain Dry Needling Certification
  • Become a Clinical Instructor
• 2026 and Beyond
  • Obtain Neurologic Clinical Specialist (NCS)
  • Pursue certification in LSVT Big
  • Pursue advanced training in Vestibular Rehabilitation

Self-Assessment

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• Strengths
  • Care and compassionate toward patients
  • Strong patient relationships and rapport building
  • Clear and effective communication with patients and families
  • Interdisciplinary communication
  • Professionalism
  • Time management
  • Good safety and guarding techniques
  • Passion for serving and helping people increase their functional freedom
  • Athletic Background
• Areas for Professional Development
  • Financial resources, billing, and reimbursement
  • Diversity of treatment options
  • Involvement in professional organizations
  • Staying up to date on current research and implementing it into practice

Objectives

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• Graduate from The University of North Carolina with my Doctorate of Physical Therapy in July 2023
• Pass the National Physical Therapy Exam in July 2023
• Obtain employment in a neurologic rehabilitation setting by September 2023
• Become a Clinical Instructor by 2025
• Become a Neurologic Clinical Specialist by 2027

Specific Strategies

• Form and adhere to a study plan to prepare for the National Physical Therapy Examination (NPTE)
• Maintain healthy and professional relationships with previous clinical instructors
• Complete 12-week clinical rotation in an outpatient neuromuscular setting
• Reach out to potential employers during my final clinical rotation
• Electives:
  • Advanced Orthopedic Intervention (2 credits)
  • Advanced Neuromuscular Intervention (2 credits)
  • Topics in Sports PT (2 credits)

Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

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The summer before PT school, we read “BlindSpot: Hidden Biases of Good People” and discussed the book in our Psychosocial class during the first semester. The book discussed common implicit biases and it prompted me to reflect and consider if I had any unconscious implicit biases based on the environment and communities I grew up in. This was an incredible learning experience to have conversations with fellow classmates and discuss how we can address our implicit bias to prevent it from pervading our clinical practice one day. Becoming aware of biases I hold is the first step in being able to make a change.

During the program, I read an article titled “Do Words matter? Stigmatizing Language and the Transmission of Bias in the Medical Record”, which discussed how stigmatizing language in a patient’s medical record can change the physician’s clinical decision making. This study was terribly sad, as I realized individuals may not receive the same quality of care because someone included labeled, stereotyped, or discriminatory elements in their medical record. Language is shown to have the ability to change a clinician’s attitude and decision making even before seeing the patient. It is crucial to document relevant and objective information in documentation and to avoid any stigmatizing or derogatory language. In addition, we should approach every patient with a willingness to listen and a desire to help them however we can, within our scope, despite differences in values, beliefs, ethnicities, culture, and race. As healthcare providers, we have the ability to help people from diverse walks of life, creating so many opportunities to learn.

These experiences, conversations with classmates and friends, and traveling internationally have allowed me to recognize how important it is to take time to try to understand and get to know people. I think building relationships and rapport with people help us move past placing an individual in a stereotype. Relationships matter, whether it is between co-workers or with patients. As a soon to be licensed physical therapist, I want my patients to know I care about them and want to help them to improve. I hope I can take the experiences from this program into my practice and treat each person with respect, empathy, and a desire to provide the highest quality of care.

Product Examples

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• Capstone: Considerations for Oncology Rehabilitation
  • For my Capstone project, I created a Module for PT students focused on Considerations for Oncology Rehabilitation. This topic was not covered during PT school, and I wanted to be able to provide students with a resource to feel better prepared going on clinical rotations in oncology and improve their knowledge about treating this population.
• Community Program for Individuals with Parkinson’s Disease: Parkinson’s Program
• Sports Elective Presentation: Pregnancy Considerations for the Active Individual

Reflective Statement

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As I reflect on the past 3 years, I think about the first few semesters as a student physical therapist. I was so excited to have finally accomplished my goal of getting into PT school, and I was eager to learn. Navigating the rigorous demands of school during the Pandemic was extremely difficult. My classmates and I felt distant from professors due to minimal in person class and lab sessions and the magnitude of online zoom lectures. Despite the difficulties of limited in-person sessions, I continued to stay passionate about this profession. I learned a variety of diagnoses, evaluation strategies, intervention techniques, and clinical reasoning skills which I put into practice during my clinical rotations. I have been fortunate to have had wonderful clinical instructors on each clinical rotation who have facilitated growth in my clinical reasoning, intervention techniques, and patient management skills. In addition, I owe many thanks to my classmates who have endured these three years by myside, as we were able to encourage one another, study with, and practice manual techniques on throughout the past 3 years. I truly believe my classmates will be some of the best physical therapists in the profession, and I am excited to see where we all end up. While the past 3 years have been very challenging, I am encouraged to see much I have developed through the program. UNC’s Doctor of Physical Program has provided me with the knowledge and resources to become a successful physical therapist who puts patients first and delivers the highest quality of care.

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