Patient Care & New Special Tests
We’ve learned so much in the past few weeks, and I love how everything is related to patient care. Everything from our first year is coming together and all of our classes seem to be more related to each other now. We learned special tests and ther-ex for the upper extremity, practiced our soft tissue techniques, and used cyrotherapy and thermotherapy techniques on each other.
We had our first special test competency on the shoulder about two weeks ago. We were tested on our mobilizations of the clavicle and glenohumeral joint, and performed special tests like Hawkins-Kennedy, Clunk test, Yergason’s test, and Acromioclavicular Shear test.
Teaching Assistant Duties & Flooding of UMES
TA’ing has been going well. It’s so strange to be in anatomy lab and not be stressed out about learning as much as possible while not falling behind on dissecting. I love being able to talk to everyone and help them learn more about anatomy.
We wrote the questions for the first lab quiz and were supposed to give it last Thursday, but there was a lot of rain on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. The email system at UMES was broken and several buildings were flooded, so classes were cancelled for the day. The street next to mine ended up flooding pretty badly, so there were 4-5 cars parked in the street that were flooded. Several of those were classmate’s cars, so luckily they have plenty of friends around to help them out. Two of my friends were kayaking down the road at 3am, so at least there was one good thing to come out of the flooding.
Upcoming Exams & Presentations
I’m going to be insanely busy in the next three weeks! Next week I have a presentation to give about one patient that I’ve seen during clinical practicum, we have an orthopedics exam, a wound care exam, and a competency on the special tests and mobilizations of the elbow, wrist, and hand. The 1st year students have their first anatomy practical next week, so the TA’s are helping to set it up. Then open house is the following Saturday, so I’ll be at school 6 days out of the week.
The following week, we have exams in ther-ex, physical agents, and musculoskeletal (the class that we have special test competencies in).
This week I’ll just be studying for all my exams next week, going to practicum, and preparing for my presentation. I’m also trying to get work done during the week, because I already have weekend plans!
Fun Activities Outside of PT School
Other than school stuff, I’ve had a lot of fun with my classmates. We went to Assateague state park with some of the 1st years and had a bonfire. There were three ponies standing near the water for a few hours, so we got a few photos of them. After several hours, one pony came up near the fire and tried to eat my bag of popcorn, so we had to scare it away. There’s a $100 fine if you’re within 10 feet of them, so we didn’t want to get caught (even though it wasn’t our fault haha).
About half of my classmates went out to the bar last week for an American Idol contest that one classmate auditioned for. It was really fun to cheer for her, and she made it to the first round of the competition!
A group of my classmates are also in a soccer league and play against another team once per week, so I went to watch them last week. It was a ton of fun and they’re really talented at soccer.
It’s so nice to have a lot more free time this semester. I enjoy looking over my old anatomy and kinesiology notes, because I don’t have to stress over those classes anymore. It finally feels like I’m studying to become a better PT, rather than studying to do well on exams (although I still care about exams).