Topic: What is professionalism in the context of being a student in a doctor of physical therapist degree program?
Professionalism, in the general sense, is upholding one's own profession to the highest standard. As a student in a doctor of physical therapy program, professionalism means to continuously expand my knowledge on rehabilitation, make strides to communicate with colleagues and patients alike, and uphold a set of ethical and fair morals. A commitment to the aforementioned duties will shape my future as a graduate student and as a rehabilitation professional.
It is without a doubt that without knowledge, there will be no progress. Someone who is ignorant to traditional or "old-fashioned" methods of treatment will be able to treat a certain number of patients. As a student pursuing a career in physical therapy (PT), I will always look forward to learning about new methods to treat a patient of his or her pain and/or discomfort. There is no such thing as knowing enough since there will always be new cases of patients who will require special and individualized treatments. Being able to experience a clinical environment firsthand, I was able to see how knowledge is power when it came to treating patients. Throughout my internships at several physical therapy clinics, the PTs continuously educated the patient and I throughout the entire interaction. She was explaining her approach to treating her patients while making sure both the patient and I understood what the problem is and what the protocol for treatment is. Being able to confidently teach something so specialized, like rehabilitation, is a key goal of mine to achieve in a graduate program.
As people, we are all subject to a set of rules and laws which are in place to maintain the environment from running amok as well as protection. Being a PT student is no different. In fact, we are held to a much higher standard because we are learning to deal and help others in pain on a daily basis. During my internship, I was given the opportunity to work with patients by explaining and guiding them through their prescribed exercises of the day. Oftentimes, they were patients who only needed complete their strengthening exercises and they were free to go. Given that I wasn't allowed to touch a patient, guiding the patients can get tricky. Although challenging, it was a great learning experience to teach the patient in a way that allows the patient to learn. It taught me how it important it is to be able to communicate with patients in an effective manner, which is a quality that makes up professionalism. Proper communication is definitely pertinent to a career like physical therapy, in order for both the therapist and the client to have true altruistic relationship.
Not sure where to go from here, I just wrote this without much planning. Had to start somewhere
Feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Howard, honestly, as I go through the essay, I must say that the words you use in your sentences are very clear, it exudes the clarity of the ideas that you want to convey in your answer. Though the prompt is quiet heavy and geared towards a serious standing on professionalism, I believe you manage to express a positive and rather lighter meaning to the word and its meaning.
Further to your essay, you we're having doubts with the last few sentences of the essay due to the fact that you have exhausted all the pertinent information for the topic and as much as I would like reading your essay, I think you have stretched the idea too long that you run out of information to fulfill the answer to the prompt. However, you don't need to, I believe, aside from the minor enhancements as mentioned above, you can definitely focus on refining the sentence construction as this is a crucial part of the essay.
Overall, it is a well managed essay, the length can still be dragged down to just 2 paragraphs but make sure that you don't eliminate the necessary information and don't worry, a prompt like this doesn't need to be that long, it's just needs to be straight forward and direct to the point.
Hi Howard,
You have a great start to your essay so far! Your writing seems focused, clear, and academic, so nice job there!
Are you looking to extend your essay or just write a conclusion? If you are looking to extend it, it might be helpful to think about boundaries, as professionalism and boundaries tend to go hand in hand. Some examples of boundaries and general professionalism could be:
-not fraternizing with clients about non-work related things or maybe letting them feel like you might be able to have a non-PT related relationship (like friends or even more
-ensuring that your touch and all of your actions are professional
- being reliable, on time, etc...
-being ethical (not taking advantage of clients)
There are tons of ways to write about being professional.
That's really all I have for you today. Hope I haven't misinterpreted what you were asking. Take care.
@Hiddengrace I was stuck on what else to add on or just if i should add on in general. I felt like my essay wasn't as personal as I thought it could be but I don't write enough to know good writing or not. I'm just stuck on if I should include some type of conclusion at the end. Also, definitely appreciate the examples of being professionalism. I couldn't brainstorm anymore ideas aside from mine.
@justivy03 I will try to shorten it. I felt that a prompt that is given a 4000 character max limit should have a decent amount of writing. I wasn't sure if too little was going to be mad, because I've seen some really short and really long ones and tried to hit the midpoint lengthwise. For my two body paragraphs, I tried to explain my take on the qualities of professionalism I've brought up with real life examples I've experienced through observation. I can see why you would think I was getting a little repetitive, trying to fluff up my essay.
Thank you guys so much! Will be revising my essay this week with your help
I was actually just reading something about this prompt and a lot of people said they found it confusing. They said because they don't ask specifically about your views, experiences, or opinions on professionalism, that made figuring out what to write tricky. However, I think that's exactly what the prompt is asking. This is the website I am referring to and there are some good ideas on how to structure the essay in the very last comment, so give that a read.It might be helpful for you. This will also give you some ideas on what to write and how to make your essay more personal.
forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/dpt-2016-2017-essay-prompt.1200735/
Also, you still have a good amount of words to write with, it looks like. I would suggest editing what you have in order to make it more succinct and less wordy. Then you will definitely have extra room to talk more about professionalism, your personal experiences, and add a nice conclusion.
As fas as being on topic, I think the prompt is actually pretty general for a reason. They discuss that, too, in the above link.
Here are some resources for you:
Professionalism in general: greensheet.com/gs_archive.php?issue_number=050801&story=12
Professionalism in PT: pittphysicaltherapy.com/join-our-cause/apta-core-values
These might help you with more ideas.
Hope I've given you some good resources! I'd like to see your edited draft, so post it to this thread when it's done.
