Blog 7 - Second Interview Preparation

1. Who is your mentor and where do they work? If their workplace does not reflect their expertise, what makes them an expert?

• As of now, I do not have a mentor yet; however, he/she will be working at Casa Colina because I will be able to start volunteering there once I attend the orientation on October 20th. Casa Colina is a rehabilitation center home to a variety of therapies. Their services include inpatient care, outpatient care, transitional care, long-term residential care, and even a surgery center. Casa Colina has been around for more than 75 years and I am more than certain I will have a great mentorship experience here. 

2. What five questions will you ask them about their background?

• What is your education background?
• Where did you go?
• What did you major in?
• What was it like?
• Have you worked anywhere besides Casa Colina?
• What was that like?
• How long did you work there?
• How long have you been working at Casa Colina?
• How long have you been a physical therapist?
• What skills have you learned throughout your years working as a physical therapist?

Blog 6 - Advisory Prep

1. What has worked well for you concerning your senior project this year? What has made it a positive experience for you?

• Concerning my senior project this year so far, my interview worked really well for me. When trying to find an interviewee, I was extremely worried I would not be able to find someone because I had not even found a mentor yet. I knew I had to ask around in order to find connections and I have been really lucky with that so far. I was able to interview two therapists (PT and OT) and get a feel on not only physical therapy, but occupational therapy as well. The thing that has made it a positive experience for me is definitely interviewing people and learning a lot more about the field in specific. I can firmly say that in this first month of school, I have learned a lot about physical therapy and that is a very positive thing for both my project and my future!

2. What are you finding difficult concerning your senior project? How can you adapt to make that portion work better for you? How might the senior team help?

• One thing I am finding difficult concerning my senior project is the research. It has only been a month and I feel as if I am already running out of sources and places to look for the research. I find myself reading broad articles during research check and I would really like to find more detailed articles. However, I have been struggling to find them anywhere! I think I can adapt to make research better for me if I learned some researching tactics. Perhaps, the senior team can give me tips on how and what to search when looking for sources. 

Blog 5 - Interview 1 Reflection

1.  What is the most important thing I learned from the interview? Is there anything I would do differently for other interviews?

• The most important thing I learned from the interview was the different type of areas I can work in as a physical therapist. I have a lot of options if I become a physical therapist and they explained this to me with a lot of detail! I don't think there is much I would do differently for my other interviews. I really liked the fact that I was able to interview two people at the same time and get two different opinions, so I would like to make that happen again in my future interviews if I can. Also, I came to this interview with 15 questions prepared and perhaps having even more questions won't hurt to have for the future as well! 

2. Did I get additional resources and contacts? What is the most useful? Why?

• I did not get any specific contacts; however, they told me confidently that I will receive a lot of help and learn a lot from my mentorship at Casa Colina. They really pushed on me pursuing volunteering at Casa Colina and this definitely helped me solidify my choice for my mentorship there. Both Cindy and Elise told me to contact them if I needed any other help in finding someone else they work with for a future interview. They also mentioned that a good resource for my research can be found on the APTA website under the student section in which I never knew was there!

3. What makes my interviewee qualified to help me?

• My interviewees are very qualified to help me because they have so much experience with everything physical/occupational therapy. Both have received doctorates in physical/occupational therapy and have worked in this field at not just Kaiser, but many other facilities for over 10 years. They definitely relate to me as a student interested in their field and are very willing to help me however they can because of that.  

Link to Interview #1 Sound Clip:

 https://soundcloud.com/megan-thi/interview-1

Blog 4 - House Advisory Prep

Through my senior topic, physical therapy, I hope to accomplish a variety of things. Hearing from other people's experiences, changing your career path in college is something that is very common and I hope that the senior project will open my eyes to whether or not studying physical therapy is something I will stick with throughout college. Because I am pretty confident I want to pursue physical therapy as my potential future career, I hope to gain an experience in which will solidify this decision. I also want to try to gear my mentorship towards pediatric physical therapy. It has always been a joy of mine to work with children and adolescents and through the senior project, I hope to learn more about how they function and the relationship a PT should have with them. Lastly, communication and patience are important skill sets to have as a physical therapist and I hope to improve these skills, while learning a lot of new skills as well!

Blog 3 - First Interview Preparation

1. Who do you plan to interview? Why?

• I plan to interview Cindy Eslava and Elise Sum. Cindy Eslava is a physical therapist at Kaiser Permanente in Baldwin Park. She graduated from Loma Linda in 2002 and has been working as a physical therapist for over 10 years! Elise Sum is an occupational therapist at Kaiser Permanente in Baldwin Park. She graduated from Midwestern and has been working as a physical therapist for over 10 years as well! I am interviewing these two because they have a lot of work experience in a large hospital which is something I would like to find out more about. Also, since Cindy is a PT and Elise is an OT, I will be able to learn a lot more about therapy in general and the differences/similarities between them. 

2. Five questions will be assigned to all seniors to ask. What additional questions do you plan to ask? Ask open-ended questions.

• What made you decide to go into the physical therapy field?
• Have you ever worked as a physical therapist in a specialized area? How was it?
• Do you enjoy working as a physical therapist? Why?
• What is your biggest challenge as a physical therapist? Why?
• What was the schooling like?