The core values of a successful therapist will not change

What is PROFESSIONALISM in the context of being a student in a DPT degree program?

This is what I have so far for my PTCAS essay. I'm stuck on the conclusion. Can anyone help?
Thanks ahead of time!
-Regina V.

The core values of a successful therapist will not change whether I am a DPT student, or after I graduate from a program and become a professional Doctor of Physical Therapy. The APTA defines professionalism in physical therapy as "Physical Therapists consistently demonstrate core values by aspiring to and wisely applying principles of altruism, excellence, caring, ethics, respect, communication, and accountability, and by working together with other professionals to achieve optimal health and wellness in individuals and communities" (Stern DT. "Measuring Medical Professionalism." Oxford University Press. New York, NY, 2006:19). Physical therapy is a profession that aims to help patients through the treatment of pain, disease, or injury to preserve, recover, or advance their physical abilities. The Physical therapists are expected to be fundamental members of a patient's health care team, working together with other health professionals to treat patients from every angle. As a student in a Doctor of Physical Therapy degree program, I would embody many of these principles myself, including accountability, maturity, professional duty, and social responsibility.

An important part of being a student in a DPT program is understanding that you are accountable for your own actions and education. As a DPT student, it is important to maintain responsibility for your own education and actions because a lack of accountability can have an effect on patient care. I have always had an interest in working in the medical field, therefore when I began my undergraduate career at Virginia Commonwealth University, I declared my Biology as my major with a pre-medicine track. As it turned out, this was not the best decision as I struggled with some courses, particularly organic chemistry. My desire to succeed as well as my work ethic caused me to stick with the major, and the resultant chemistry courses, for two years. I had a paid private tutor, went to the University College Tutoring Center, and went to the Supplemental Instruction sessions offered for the classes on a weekly basis. And even while using all of these resources, as well as spending my weekends studying in the library, my efforts were not working and unfortunately my grade point average suffered. It was only after a discussion with my parents did I realize that changing my education path was not the same as failure, but rather should be viewed as a learning experience, requiring some wise decisions. In my junior year, I changed my major to Health, Physical Education, and Exercise Science with a concentration in Exercise Science. Once I began to take classes in my new major, my entire view on my education changed. Even though I wish that I had declared my major as Exercise Science when I began my undergraduate career, I have learned a great deal from the situation. During this experience, I discovered that ruining your grade point average is easily accomplished, and place the blame on others or a class that was difficult; the only person that can be held accountable for these failures is myself. I have to learn to understand my shortcomings and better myself with that knowledge to become the best physical therapist I can be.

A DPT student must show great maturity throughout their education, and into their professional career. Throughout my education, I have always felt a responsibility to educate myself on topics that I did not fully understand. While working as a Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Technician (PT Tech), I have taken it upon myself to learn as much as possible about patient care, diagnoses, post-operative exercise protocols, special tests, and much more. Whether looking up the answer to a question on the internet, or asking a therapist to answer my question, I am always looking to learn more. At my current job as a PT Tech at Colonial Orthopaedics, I have been lucky enough to participate in what we call "Lunch and Learn", where the therapists discuss different articles, practice new exercises, modalities, and special tests that they learned from their Continuing Education courses or on their own. I was given the opportunity to sit in on these discussions and practice techniques along with the therapists. I hope to take the things that I have learned from these therapists and these educational sessions and apply them to my own education during the DPT program, and further into my professional career.

A DPT student needs to grasp the responsibilities of a physical therapist to provide expert therapy services to patients. Physical therapists also promote the PT profession beyond the practice setting. As a prospective DPT student, I have participated in several activities that helped to promote the physical therapy profession. During the summer of 2011, while interning at the McGuire Veteran Affairs Medical Center, I helped to organize the National Veterans Wheelchair Games (NVWG). The NVWG is "a rehabilitation and wheelchair sport program empowering Veterans with spinal cord injuries, multiple sclerosis, amputations and other neurological injuries to live more active and healthy lives through wheelchair sports and recreation" (wheelchairgames.org/). Along with the Spinal Cord Injury and Disorders therapy and research staff, I recruited new athletes and helped them to better train for the events that they would be competing in during the games. I also helped the Commonwealth Sports Medicine staff with the medical assistance at the Capital 10-miler, in Richmond, VA, where they were the primary sponsor, and I also ran the kids 1 mile run with Dr. Teresa Stadler's (the sports medicine physician) 5 year old daughter. At this event we aided runners with general first aid, and rapid assessment of medical needs and other immediate services to the runners. To be able to promote the physical therapy profession, one must be proud to be a part of the profession and of one's work. According to Forbes, physical therapy is one of the strongest fields in the country in terms of growth (evidenceinmotion.com/blog/2014/05/02/new-dpts-welcome-physical-therapy/). As DPT students in a tech savvy generation, it is important to share the pride you have for the profession on social media sites to market the profession and make sure that everyone knows what physical therapy is all about.

Physical therapists have a responsibility to promote an open and honest relationship with the general public. This social responsibility includes advocating for changes in laws and policies that affect the practice of physical therapy. In today's health care system, political advocacy has a large impact on the profession as a whole, the lives of our patients, their communities, as well as the overall public. This awareness is as important for students as it is for physical therapists already practicing. Students need to be aware of the laws and regulations that are going to be impacting their practice when they graduate. Whether educating patients on their insurance limitations, for example the Medicare cap, or calling State Senators to express our views on healthcare bills that affect the practice of physical therapy, it is our duty to ensure accessibility for all patients who need it. Another responsibility that physical therapists and students have is to be active in their communities, along with other health practitioners. During my time working at Colonial Orthopaedics, I was given the chance to volunteer at their Prescription Drug Take Back event. In partnership with the DEA and hosted with Colonial Heights Police, Colonial Heights Sentinels to collect potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs, over the counter medications, vitamins, and pet medications for destruction. Working alongside these community volunteers helps build relationships with other health providers, as well as the community, to help address a health and safety issue that is crucial to the public.

Hi Regina, welcome to EF!

I do apologize for making you wait the feedback from other members for couple days. Several essay categories in this forum seem not really interesting for some people in this forum. I believe this category is one of them. However, I would try my best to give a sincere and meaningful feedback in order to help you achieve a better essay development later on.

First of all, I assume that your prompt is incomplete. As far as I know, most of the graduate essays have a clear word limitation/minimum that should be written in the essay. This essay consists of 1261 words which is quite long for an essay. We have no idea whether this essay has already fulfilled the minimum words limit or even exceeded them. Thus, clear prompt about this one is necessary to be mentioned in the very beginning of your thread.

Secondly, concerning your problem about stuck on the conclusion. What do you mean by that? Have you made the conclusion but it was unclear or you haven't made one? If you haven't written a conclusion, my suggestion is that you can summarize the information from each paragraph into a single sentence. For example, you can just take the main idea of each paragraph and convert it into a sentence or if you confused, you can just paraphrase what you have written in your introduction, as simple as that. You can just paraphrase this "Physical Therapists consistently demonstrate core values by aspiring to and wisely applying principles of altruism, ...... and communities" by using your own words or change it into a passive form.

Hope this helps :)

Hey there! Thanks for your input! I have finished my essay and shortened it. Here is the final draft, please let me know what you think!

TOPIC: "What is professionalism in the context of being a student in a doctor of physical therapist degree program?"

Physical therapists are expected to be fundamental members of a patient's health care team, working together with other health professionals to treat patients from every angle. My core values define who I am as a person. These values have always led me to maintain a high level of professionalism that I believe will guide me in my education and in my future career as a Physical Therapist. I believe that I exemplify the accountability, maturity, professional duty, and social responsibility that will make me a valuable addition to a DPT program, as well as a professional DPT.

When I began my undergraduate career at Virginia Commonwealth University, I declared Biology as my major with a pre-medicine track. As it turned out, this was not the best decision as I struggled with some courses, particularly organic chemistry. I remained on this track for two years determined that my strong work ethic would push me to success. Despite using all of the resources available and spending my weekends studying in the library, my efforts were not working and unfortunately my grade point average suffered. It was only after a discussion with my family that I realized that this was a learning experience and I needed to make a change that would allow me to be successful. In my junior year, I changed my major to Health, Physical Education, and Exercise Science with a concentration in Exercise Science. Once I began to take classes in my new major I knew I had made the right decision. I loved what I was learning. Even though I wish that I had declared my major as Exercise Science from the start, I learned a great deal from the situation. During this experience I discovered I had to be held accountable for both my successes and failures. I learned to understand my shortcomings which will allow me to become the best physical therapist I can be.

Throughout my education, I have always felt a responsibility to educate myself on topics that I did not fully understand. While working as a Physical Therapy Rehabilitation Technician (PT Tech), I have taken it upon myself to learn as much as possible about patient care, diagnoses, post-operative exercise protocols, special tests and much more. Whether looking up the answer to a question on the internet, or asking a therapist a question, I am always looking to learn more. At my current job as a PT Tech at Colonial Orthopaedics, they have "Lunch and Learn sessions", where the therapists discuss different articles, practice new exercises, modalities and special tests that they learned from their Continuing Education courses or on their own. I was given the opportunity to sit in on these discussions and practice techniques along with the therapists. I hope to take the things that I have learned from sessions and apply them to my own education during the DPT program and later in my professional career.

The health care and fitness community is brimming with professionals. As a result, many specialty services overlap. Physical therapists need to promote the profession beyond the practice setting to maintain competitive. As a prospective DPT student, I have participated in several activities that helped to promote the profession. During the summer of 2011 while interning at the McGuire Veteran Affairs Medical Center, I helped to organize the National Veterans Wheelchair Games (NVWG). Along with the Spinal Cord Injury and Disorders therapy and research staff, I recruited new athletes and helped them to better train for the events that they would be competing in during the games. I also helped the Commonwealth Sports Medicine staff with medical assistance at the Capital 10-miler in Richmond, VA. At this event we aided runners with general first aid, and rapid assessment of medical needs. During my time working at Colonial Orthopaedics, I was given the chance to volunteer at their Prescription Drug Take Back event. In partnership with the DEA, Colonial Heights Police and the Colonial Heights Sentinels we collected potentially dangerous expired, unused, and unwanted prescription drugs, over the counter medications, vitamins, and pet medications for disposal. Working alongside these community volunteers helps build relationships with other health providers and the community to address a critical health and safety issue.

Physical therapists have a responsibility to promote an open and honest relationship with the general public. This social responsibility includes advocating for changes in laws and policies that affect the practice of physical therapy. In today's health care system, political advocacy has a large impact on the profession as a whole. This awareness is as important for students as it is for physical therapists already practicing. Students need to be aware of the laws and regulations that are going to be impacting their practice when they graduate. Whether educating patients on their insurance limitations, like the Medicare caps or calling State Senators to express our views on healthcare bills that affect the practice of physical therapy, it is our duty to ensure accessibility for all patients who need it.

The APTA definition of professionalism states that "Physical Therapists consistently demonstrate core values by aspiring to and wisely applying principles of altruism, excellence, caring, ethics, respect, communication, and accountability, and by working together with other professionals to achieve optimal health and wellness in individuals and communities" (Stern DT). I believe that I embody all the qualities of professionalism that make me a well-rounded individual as well as a future Doctor of Physical Therapy student. I would be a valuable addition to a DPT degree program. Through my observation and employment experiences I was able to get a comprehensive view of the profession. Physical therapy is a field that is constantly advancing, and I am excited to aide and guide patients through their recovery and help promote the profession as a student and beyond. My enthusiasm and passion for the field will continue to grow as I develop as a DPT student and expand my core values to achieve my goals as a professional.