Practical Reflective Paper 1
Joaquin Alejandro Cavazos
PTHA-1301-M01
Mrs. Torres
Laredo Community College

Practical Reflective Paper 1
As a student taking the introduction to physical therapy course my experience in the ambulation practical was quite interesting. It was interesting because this wasn’t my first time being a patient in a clinical environment. Two years ago I was an actual patient when I underwent therapy for my ACL surgery so I was no stranger to crutches and walkers, but using crutches to walk up and down a flight of stairs was something I had never practiced before. It was quite difficult to learn and a bit scary to say the least, but with the help of the PTA students I was able to complete it. Jennifer and Victoria were really helpful and considerate during the process. They safely, and securely placed the gate belt on me and helped me up and down the stairs all the way through. I definitely felt I was in good hands with them, and I know when they treat real patients they will too. Both students seemed very confident and professional they knew what they were doing, and they did an excellent job. Despite me knowing how to properly walk on crutches the way they explained it to me was excellent it was so good I think I’ve gotten even better at it.So for a patient who doesn’t know how to use them I’m confident they will pick it up and learn fairly easy. If they keep this up they are on their way to becoming fully fledged PTA’s. Another good performance I experienced was with the PTA student Carla she was quite nice and also professional and patient when I was using the walker. I liked the way she talked me through the process each step of the way giving me confidence as I approached the goal. I’m positive a real patient will appreciate those small things that she was doing with me. For being a small girl she handled herself quite well when she helped me and when she was pushing the heavy doors leading to the outside of the building. I think she could still handle herself with a bigger patient. I think all PTA’s have to be prepared because you might get a patient that is twice your size you just need to be calm and relaxed and ready for the challenges. All PTA students did a great job in properly instructing me how to get on and off the wheelchair I definitely felt in good hands with all of them in that part. It was easy for me to learn, but a real patient who is paralyzed or has a hip fracture and cannot walk must be very difficult, but the students are more than capable of handling a patient under those circumstances. On a bad note I did notice a bit of nervousness from two students Sergio and Romel in particular I felt they were a bit unprepared, and didn’t quite have enough confidence in themselves, but that doesn’t mean they did a bad performance, they very professional I just think they need to improve a little more on not being nervous and explaining things a bit more clearly and thorough before they are ready to treat a real patient. Also they need more self confidence in themselves. I know they can achieve it just a little more practice cause practice makes perfect, but remember no one is perfect we all make mistakes I mean we are all humans. In my opinion what could be done differently is change one of the scenarios for the students to practice. Change it by telling the student to help the patient walk to and from an elevator with the crutches or wheelchair. Personally I wouldn’t walk up or down the stairs with crutches it isn’t safe for me, and I wasn’t so sure about doing it so I don’t know how a real patient who is injured would feel. In my perspective I would recommend taking the elevator especially with older adults because outside the clinic we won’t have a PTA helping us all the time. These days most modern multiple story buildings have several elevators for people to use some buildings such as hospitals even have a larger elevator for people with disabilities to make things much easier and convenient for them. I learned so much from this activity now I understand a bit more how a PTA should act when treating a patient, I understand how serious this job is because we have to ensure that the patient is happy and comfortable at all times no matter what our patient is always our top priority. Physical therapy is about helping people and assuring them that we will do everything in our power to get them back to normal. I’ve gained some very valuable experience from this activity. I know its not going to be easy, but nothing in this life is.