physical therapy experience essay

The Ultimate Guide to Writing PT School Application Essays

Here are some pointers for writing essays when you apply to physical therapy school. Please know that there isn’t a single best way to write your essays and everyone will answer each prompt differently, so do what works for you!

Essays are challenging to write, especially without any guidance. I had about 10 revisions of each of the 7 essays I wrote, had several people read them each time, and still had trouble writing some of them.

How to Start Writing Your Essay

1. Organize Your Thoughts

Write down the essay prompt, either on a computer or by hand. Read it a couple times, even out loud, until you have a good idea of what it is asking.

Then write down any thoughts that came to mind. They can be related to the prompt, or you can just write down what you like about the physical therapy profession or any specific experiences that stand out to you.

It doesn’t matter if you’ll actually end up writing about them. Don’t worry about your grammar or if it is written well. Just write down all of your thoughts into bullet points, or just a few words or a sentence for each idea.

If you are having trouble coming up with ideas, there is a section at the end of this post just for you. There are a lot of questions that may help you come up with ideas for your essay, so go check them out!

2. Turn your ideas into paragraphs

Write more about each point that you wrote down. Try to form a paragraph and relate it back to the prompt. If you’re struggling on writing more than a sentence or two about the bullet point, then maybe one of your other ideas will be better to include in your essay.

3. Choose 2-3 things to talk about

Now that you’ve written as much as you can about each bullet point, you should start to see a general direction to keep writing your essay. What are your favorite topics? What ideas can relate to each other to make a cohesive essay? What ideas answer the prompt the best?

4. Form a Complete Essay

Now that you’ve chosen your favorite paragraphs, format them into one essay. Now you can add an introduction paragraph that briefly mentions these paragraphs and your overall topic. Then you can add a conclusion.

5. Edit Your Essay

Now that you have a complete essay, you can read it from beginning to end. If it doesn’t flow well between each paragraph, add some transition sentences. If you don’t answer the prompt very well, rewrite some sentences. Keep editing and rewording until the essay is finished.

How Do You Format Your Essay?

You can format your essay however you like! I recommend that you have an introduction, some body paragraphs, and a conclusion. However, you don’t need your typical “5 paragraph” essay. Some supplemental essays may also have a shorter length, so you might only write two paragraphs.

You can indent each new paragraph, or just put a space between paragraphs instead of indenting, unless the school states that there is a specific way they want you to format your essay.

General Tips for PT School Essays

I know that writing your essays is not as simple as those 5 steps. It can take weeks and be mentally exhausting. However, I’ve included a bunch of tips to help guide you to writing a great essay.

Be careful what you write about patients. If you choose to write about a patient, don’t include any specific personal information like their name, ethnicity, or occupation, or you will be violating HIPAA. Describing their general age, condition, gender, what setting you observed in, general occupation if it relates to your story, and what interventions were used is perfectly fine.
Don’t use contractions. I just did, but that’s besides the point! Contractions are too casual, so avoid them if possible.
First-person speech. It’s ok to say “I” and talk in first person. You’re writing about yourself, after all! Just make sure that you vary your sentence structure so that you don’t begin every sentence with “I”. There is never any reason to say “I think” in any sentence. It sounds unprofessional, so just delete it.
Focus on the positives. If you had any negative experiences, setbacks, or mistakes, don’t spend too much time writing about them. Explain yourself in a couple sentences, but focus on what you learned and how you’ve bettered yourself. Don’t dwell on the past, but try to focus on the positive results.
Try to avoid clichés. Almost everyone can write about how they want to be a physical therapist because they love to help people, or because they got injured and need physical therapy. You can briefly write these things, but you need to have other, more personal experiences that you can write about. Be sure to set yourself apart from others.
Why have you chosen each school? For supplemental essays for a specific school, make sure to mention why you want to go to their school, if it fits into the prompt. It’s good to show that you’ve done your research and are excited to attend their program for specific reasons.
Answer the question. It’s self-explanatory, but it’s so easy to get caught up in what you’re writing and go in a direction that doesn’t answer the original prompt. Make sure everything that appears in the essay helps to answer the prompt in some way.
Have others read and edit your essay. Family members, friends, classmates, college writing center, or people on the Student Doctor Network Forums can all help your essay. It’s so beneficial to have an outside perspective on essays, especially because the admissions committee reading your essay won’t read it in the same way that you do. Try to have as many people critique your essay as possible.
If you ask for help online, don’t post your entire essay for everyone on the internet to read. Make a new thread or comment on a current essay thread, and send an email directly to the person willing to read your essay. There are people that might steal your essay and use it as their own, so be careful who you send it to.
Take a break from writing. Constantly thinking about your essay, rewriting, and editing is exhausting. It’s helpful to take a few days from working on your essay, and then come back to it with a fresh start.
Try writing in different environments. I wrote mostly at home, but found that I got stuck with my writing. I started to write at coffee shops, which helped me be more productive. Try working at a library, outside, at a friend’s house, or in a different room in your own house.
Essays can take weeks to write. Make sure you start early enough so you aren’t stressed out from trying to meet an upcoming deadline. Start working on your essays as soon as possible.
Be careful when writing multiple essays. The PTCAS essay is sent to every school, so don’t copy and paste the same paragraphs into any supplemental essays. However, if two different schools have an essay prompt that is similar, then feel free to similar paragraphs.
Essays are weighed differently by each school. Some might not even read the PTCAS essay, others care more about their supplemental essays, or some schools do not care much about a well-written essay.
Maximum character length. You don’t have to write 4498 out of 4450 characters for your essay to be great. Shorter is fine if you can get your point across. Aim for the character maximum, but it’s fine to have several hundred less than that.
What if you wrote too much? Worry about the essay length after you have written your thoughts down. When you are finalizing your essay, remove the repetitive information and anything that does not support the prompt, for starters. Then you can try rewording your sentences so they get straight to your point.

Tips for Specific Essays

If you’re stuck with writing your essays, see if you can answer these questions. You don’t need to answer all of them or any of them to write a great essay. A lot of these questions will overlap and be useful on other prompts, so make sure to read through everything if you need help.

Hopefully these questions will get you out of any writers block you may have.

PTCAS Essay

You can find the essay prompt on the PTCAS Essay page , or on their Facebook page once it is released. When I applied in 2014, the essay prompt was released in early June, and the PTCAS application opened in early July. This gave me an entire month to write my essay before I could even start my PTCAS application.

The essay prompt changes every year or every several years, so I can’t give great advice for this. These are some tips from past essays, so hopefully they help.

How have your life experiences shaped who you are?
What observation experiences can you talk about?
Are there any patients that have influenced you?
How has an experience impacted how you want to want to practice physical therapy?
Who are the most influential people in your life?
When did you know that you wanted to be a physical therapist?
When have you been on a team or worked in a group? How was the team approach better than working by yourself?
Where do you see the field of physical therapy going, and how do you fit into that picture?
What sort of physical therapist to you see yourself being?
How would you treat your future patients?
What dream goals do you have?
What character traits are important to have as a physical therapist
What experiences have strengthened those traits for you, or what traits are you currently working on?
How has your time spent as a patient affected how you will be a physical therapist?
Are there any specific therapists that you wish to be like, or any therapists that you don’t want to become?
Why will you be valuable to this profession?
Are you interested in teaching, research, owning your own business, traveling, working for a nonprofit, or volunteering in another country?

Autobiography Essay

What challenges have you overcome in your life?
What are some of your major accomplishments?
Why do you want to be a physical therapist?
What things have you done that helped you grow as an individual
What activities have you participated in?
Who are some influential people on your life?
How have your family, friends, or peers shaped who you are today?
How would other people describe you?
What 5 words describe you the best?
What character traits are important for a physical therapist to have? Do you have these traits, or how are you improving them?
What is important to you?
How will your experiences make you a successful physical therapy student/physical therapist?
How did your upbringing shape your personality, and how will that make you a better physical therapist?
How have your experiences led you to the physical therapy career instead of other health care careers?
Is there a central theme about your life experiences?
How can you contribute to the field of physical therapy and your future patients?

Diversity Essay

Describe your life experience as it is related to your culture.
Is it hard to understand others who are from a different culture?
Do you have a culturally different perspective than your peers?
Does your culture have a different set of health care beliefs, or have you encountered another culture with different beliefs?
Have you had an experience in life where you felt like your culture created a barrier for you?
Have you volunteered for an economically disadvantaged population?
Do you have trouble relating to higher socioeconomic classes?
Have your experiences helped you relate better to certain people?
Have you witnessed any social, cultural, or economic barriers when observing in a health care setting?
How have you learned from any of these experiences?
How does recognizing, understanding, or appreciating diversity make you a better physical therapist?
Have you worked with individuals with disabilities?
How do these experiences support that you will be able to work with diverse patients when you are a physical therapist?

Reapplicant Essay

Have you retaken any classes?
Did you retake the GRE?
Do you have additional observation experiences?
Did you observe in any new settings or see a different patient population?
Did you have any additional work experience?
Where you involved in any groups or team sports?
Did you volunteer?
How are you more prepared to be a successful student?
Have you improved any personal skills?
Have you worked with individuals that are different or gave you a unique perspective?
What have you learned and how have you improved?
How did these new experiences change your perspective, improve your application, change your personality, taught you something new, made you grow, or support your desire to become a physical therapist?

Does Your Academic Record Accurately Reflect Your Capabilities?

Most people say that you should only answer this section if something major happened in your life that was out of your control, like an illness, personal injury, family emergency, death of a loved one, etc.

Don’t use this area to write a list of excuses for why your grades weren’t as good as you wished. Examples of excuses: Explaining that you weren’t mature enough, didn’t study hard enough, partied too much, took too many difficult classes, or went to a challenging university. Those are excuses because you were responsible and they could have been avoided or handled better. If you are eager to explain yourself, you can try to add a sentence or two into your PTCAS essay.

A lot of people had lower grades at the beginning of their college career, so if your grades improved over time and your transcript shows that, you don’t need to write an essay to explain yourself. It takes a while to learn how to succeed in college, and admissions committees understand that.

Additional Resources

Unfortunately there isn’t much information about physical therapy school essays. I found these resources for general essay writing, grad school essays, and med school essays, but they’re mostly applicable to physical therapy school too!

PTCAS Essay Prompt Essay Workshop 101 Writing the Personal Statement Personal Statement Before You Write Your Personal Statement, Read This Writing Your Medical School Personal Statement: Tips and Myths Writing the Personal Statement for Medical School

Student Doctor Network Forums:

Supplemental Essays character limit PTCAS Essay question for 2015-2016 application cycle! Essay This year’s personal statement prompt? Should I or should I not write about this in my essay? Re-applicant essay Does your personal statement have to be 4500 characters?

Which book do you prefer? Comment below!

Share this:, recommended posts to read, thanks for leaving a comment cancel reply.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Subscribe to My Road to PT.

Notify me of follow-up comments by email.

Pingback: PTCAS: Personal Statement/Essays

The link you set for the reapplicant essay doesn’t lead to that blog post. I wanted to ask if you know if reapplicants should submit the same essays if the essay question is the same this year?

Sorry for taking so long to reply! I just saw your comment this morning.

Thank you for letting me know about the link. Occasionally blogs are taken down, so I’ll have to go through and make sure to remove all the links to that site.

That’s a tough question, and I don’t think there is really a correct answer. If you read the Student Doctor Network forums , you can find others who have run into the same situation. Do you know why you were not accepted the first time around? If you didn’t meet the GPA or GRE requirements, your application may have been automatically disqualified and your essays might have never been read. You can choose to use the same exact essay, but hopefully they haven’t been read by the same program already. You can also choose to edit your essays a little bit, and maybe add any new experiences that you’ve had since you last applied.

Best of luck this application cycle! 🙂

Hi Katie! I’ve been reading your blog for a while now and I really appreciate it!!! I’m just wandering if you know any PT personal essay editing service?

Hey Lauren! Sorry for the delay in my response, and I hope it isn’t too late.

When I was applying to schools, I sent my essays to 3-4 of my friends (including an English major), so I got tons of feedback from them. There’s also the Student Doctor Network forums, and there are DPT students and PTs that offer up their spare time to edit essays! Just be cautious when sending your essay to strangers on the forum – make sure that they have a decent number of posts on that site.

I’m not sure if there is an essay editing service online, specific towards PT admissions essays.

If you need any last minute help, feel free to email me your essay and I can give some comments! Best of luck with getting into schools! 🙂

I’m almost finished with my PTCAS application process and I found this. Super helpful, I’m making some edits to my essay now. Thank you!

You’re welcome! I’m glad I could help! Good luck with applying and everything.

Thank you, that was so helpful!

You’re welcome! Thanks for the nice comment 🙂 glad I was able to help!

Skip to primary navigation
Skip to main content
Skip to primary sidebar

The Curly Clinician - Physical Therapy + Lifestyle

PTCAS Essay 2020-2021/2021-2022/2022-2023: Initial Thoughts + 5 Tips

June 25, 2020 Physical Therapy , Pre-PT , PTCAS & Planning

Hi friends! Long time no personal statement post! PTCAS updated their essay for the 2020-2021 cycle, so I figured I’d give you guys my initial thoughts on the essay prompt and share a few tips to help you get started on crafting a winning essay!

PTCAS Essay Prompt : Every person has a story that has led them to a career. Since there are a variety of health professions that “help” others, please go beyond your initial interaction or experiences with physical therapy, and share the deeper story that has confirmed your decision to specifically pursue physical therapy as your career.

In my opinion, I think this is a great essay prompt! It is way better than the one I had to answer when I applied in my opinion: “What is professionalism in the context of being a student in a doctor of physical therapy program?”…yea bleh. This prompt isn’t too vague; it’s just specific enough so that you know exactly what admissions committees are looking for, but you still have free range to make it personal and add your own flare.

1. Answer the prompt, period.

I know this may seem obvious, but I have edited many essays for pre-PT students, and have come across essays that didn’t even answer the prompt. This is a sure-fire way to stop someone from reading your essay, so follow directions, and try not to deviate too far from the prompt.

2. Wanting to “help others” is not enough.

Almost everyone wants to be a physical therapist because they want to help people, or because they had an awesome physical therapist when they were injured. While this is great, admissions committees want to hear why you want to become a physical therapist (which is why they explicitly included this in the prompt) as opposed to an MD/DO, a PA, an OT. Really think about WHY you want to help people. What are your passions? Pull from your life experiences (healthcare and/or non-healthcare related) to make your essay more personal.

3. What is your s tory?

Everyone has a story. Like the prompt requires, you must go beyond your initial experiences with physical therapy. Did you have a really impactful patient? A family tie? A childhood experience? Whatever it is, tell it! Your story will always be enough. This may require a bit of brainstorming (and deep thought), and that’s fine. Remember that admissions committees aren’t looking for this extravagant story though, they just want to know you and why physical therapy is the right fit. This is your personal statement…make it PERSONAL!

For example, my “PT story” includes the lack of representation for Black women in academia in general, but especially in the physical therapy profession. I began my essay discussing my first real experience with representation: receiving a Holiday Barbie doll that was Black every year for Christmas as a child. This was a piece of my story, and I used it to explain why physical therapy was the career choice for me, and how it made me a great applicant.

4. Make sure your essay has structure.

You need to have an introduction (with a captivating opener to engage the reader), and a conclusion to bring your essay full circle. I began my essay with a childhood memory (as mentioned earlier), but you could begin with a quote (kinda cliché, but you could make it work), a question, a general idea, or something else. You want to grab the reader’s attention immediately !

5. Show, don’t tell!

Use lots of examples. Show your story, don’t just tell it. The reader must be able to visualize your words, so that your story can come to life. You can achieve this by having a “theme” that you incorporate into your essay.

Alright guys, I hope this was helpful, and is a good start to helping you craft an awesome essay. Remember that I am available for editing (this essay, supplemental essays, and resumes), so click here if that is something you are interested in! Also feel free to check out this post for more tips on writing your essay(s)!

Special thanks to my sweet friend Yusra . She wrote a post like this on a past PTCAS prompt, and it inspired me to write one with my thoughts for this year’s prompt!

Reader Interactions

July 2, 2020 at 1:10 pm

Hi, thank you so much for these helpful tips! Do you think it best to discuss one personal experience when writing the personal statement or is it okay to talk about more than one?

July 5, 2020 at 3:53 pm

You’re so welcome! And I think it is okay to discuss more than one, just not too many!

July 22, 2020 at 10:20 pm

Hello, I was wondering if you could just glance over my essay and let me know if the structure is fine?

July 25, 2020 at 12:36 pm

Hi, I offer editing services under my “shop/services” page!

July 25, 2020 at 11:38 am

Wonderful insight! These tips gave me some great ideas for my essay after weeks of being lost with this prompt. Thank you so much!

July 25, 2020 at 12:38 pm

You’re so welcome, good luck with everything!

August 18, 2020 at 10:33 pm

Awesome thank you!

September 13, 2020 at 11:56 pm

What do you think is an appropriate length for the essay. The maximum word limit is 4500 but I’m afraid of writing too much that it might loose the interest of the reader and too little that the reader may not see my personality/experience detail.

September 15, 2020 at 7:42 pm

You should definitely try your hardest to hit the 4500 CHARACTER limit!

September 24, 2020 at 11:24 am

Hello, I am having the hardest time starting on my personal essay. I know exactly what I want to say, I just do not have right words at the moment. When I first read your tips, I had the perfect flow going but now I am stuck.

September 24, 2020 at 3:40 pm

Hi Alicia! My biggest piece of advice for when you are stuck is to take a break. Coming back to your essay later with a fresh pair of eyes can be a game changer. I hope this helps!

January 5, 2021 at 4:20 pm

Hey girly! Thank you so much for all the info! It’s been really helpful exploring your blog! I’m a little confused on the how often the prompts change for the personal statements. Is it every two years that a new prompt gets put out?

January 5, 2021 at 5:41 pm

You’re so welcome! And yes typically they change every 2 years!

July 28, 2022 at 10:40 am

Thank you so much for all this info! It’s been super helpful as my college also did not have a Pre-PT club. When writing the PTCAS essay, is it okay to use “PT” instead of physical therapy or things like “PT school”? I am right over the 4500 character limit and am trying to cut some things out! Thank you for all of your help!

August 18, 2022 at 10:36 pm

You’re so welcome Sarah! Yes, that is totally fine!

I Want-To-Be-A-Physical-Therapist (Essay Example)

Joey Geller

Becoming a physical therapist has been a dream of mine for as long as I can remember. The idea of helping others recover from injuries, improve their mobility, and enhance their overall quality of life is incredibly fulfilling to me. I have always been passionate about health and wellness, and I believe that working as a physical therapist would allow me to make a meaningful impact on the lives of others. One of the things that draws me to the field of physical therapy is the opportunity to work closely with patients on a one-on-one basis. I love the idea of building relationships with individuals and helping them achieve their goals for recovery and rehabilitation. By providing personalized care and support, I believe that I can make a significant difference in the lives of those who are struggling with physical limitations. In order to become a physical therapist, I know that I will need to complete a rigorous educational program and gain hands-on experience through internships and clinical rotations. While I understand that the road to becoming a physical therapist may be challenging, I am willing to put in the hard work and dedication required to achieve my goal. I am committed to continually learning and growing in the field of physical therapy so that I can provide the best possible care to my future patients. In conclusion, my desire to become a physical therapist stems from a deep passion for helping others and making a positive impact on the lives of those in need. I am excited about the opportunities that lie ahead and am prepared to embark on the journey towards achieving my goal. With hard work, dedication, and a genuine desire to help others, I am confident that I can make my dream of becoming a physical therapist a reality.

Need AI Essays That Can Bypass AI Detection? Try Our List of Undetectable AI Essay Writers Below That Have 100% Human Score.

AI Essay Writer - Free Essay Writing Assistant | EssayWriter

Unlock the power of the ai essay writer with essaywriter. our free ai essay writing assistant is here to help you write….

essaywriter.io

Essay AI: AI Essay Writer - Essay Generator - Avoid AI Detection

Essayai is the ultimate undetectable ai essay writer to generate 100% human essays and papers. remove ai detection and…, ai essay writer (undetectable ai) - essay generator | essayflow, essayflow is an undetectable ai essay writer that generates human-like, plagiarism-free essays. try our free essay….

essayflow.ai

Written by Joey Geller

Text to speech

How to write your physical therapy personal essay

by tkaprowy | Mar 22, 2021 | Uncategorized

I’m a little bit in love with this year’s physical therapy personal essay prompt. I’ll admit it’s a strange thing to be in love with and, thinking on it, maybe I’m really just in love with the person who composed it. Either way, there is serious sass living between the lines of this thing.

If you haven’t already seen it, the prompt for the PTCAS 2020-21 cycle reads as follows:

“ Every person has a story that has led them to a career. Since there are a variety of health professions that “help” others, please go beyond your initial interaction or experience with physical therapy, and share the deeper story that has confirmed your decision to specifically pursue physical therapy as your career .”

What I love about this is someone has clearly gotten fed up. It’s likely physical therapy schools were receiving versions of the same personal statements again and again and … again. Ones in which applicants wrote about how they knew they wanted to be a physical therapist:

because they want to help people.
after they received physical therapy themselves.

And this person? The one who wrote this prompt? Was tired. Was unimpressed. And that’s understandable.

DON’T BE GENERIC

Why so? Well, first, saying you want to help people doesn’t really answer why you want to be a physical therapist . Physical therapists, after all, are not the only people who help. Everyone does in healthcare, a). And, b), helping isn’t unique to the healthcare field. Teachers help. Police officers and flight attendants do, too. So using that as the basis of your answer for why you want to be a physical therapist is like building the foundation of your house on publicly-owned land; it’s not yours to claim.

Second, you have to wonder how many times poor admissions officers have read about people discovering they want to be a physical therapist after they received P.T. for the first time and were wowed by their own progress. I think it’s safe to assume it’s as common as answering the question, “Why do you want to be a doctor?” by describing how you liked to “heal” your stuffed animals when you were a kid. Or saying you knew you wanted to be an engineer because you’ve always had an affinity for Legos.

Those stories have been so over-told that they have become cliché . It does not matter how well you write these stories, you will not make inroads with your reader because your reader will be asleep.

So. What does this physical therapy prompt want out of you? Happily, it’s very clear: you should be writing about a moment of confirmation.

WHAT IS A MOMENT OF CONFIRMATION?

These are moments where everything, in a flash, comes together. Something happens, something changes, something begins. And you realize something important.

Maybe it’s the moment you realize that you want to be a physical therapist. Maybe it’s the moment you realize you have what it takes to be a physical therapist. Or, perhaps it’s the moment where you realize, holy crap, I don’t want to be a rodeo clown at all, I want to be a physical therapist instead.

The great thing about these moments — and the reason why the writers of this prompt are probably asking to read about them — i s they may or may not have to do with P.T. It could be the moment when someone is panicking in the library before an exam and you suddenly know exactly what to say to help them. It could be the moment when you park on the side of the road so you can help a turtle get across it so it doesn’t get splooshed. It could be the moment when someone plays their turn at Scrabble after a 16,000-hour mull and you realize you’ve been silently rooting for them (and actually interested in what they’ll spell).

All you need to do is outline the moment when you realized, wow, this is it. This is where it’s been heading all along. I know this for the first time right now .

DO STORY TELL, DON’T ESSAY WRITE

Whatever moment you choose, the prompt is asking you to get specific and dig deep by telling a story. This is actually great news for you. Telling a story is far, far more interesting than writing an essay. We’re also, in general, far, far more skilled at telling stories than we are at churning out boring essays.

That the word “specifically” is also in your prompt is also great news. Asking you to be specific is just another way of asking you to be detailed. And details are the funnest part about personal statements.

First, details help your moment/story come alive for your reader . To do so, you should address what was happening to every one of your senses at that time. So if you were on the side of the road with the turtle, what did you feel? See? Hear? Smell? Taste? Did you notice a cinnamon Trident gum pack in the ditch? Were you headed to karate practice? Did you consider not stopping for a second? Did you turn back? Was it spring? Were birds chirping? Were you afraid the turtle was going to bite you? Were you afraid it was going to be slimy? Or stinky?

Second, details show your reader how open and honest you’re being because you just can’t make them up . They help prove your story is true. That’s important for your reader to know in order to become invested.

FOLLOW IT UP

After you’ve described your life-changing moment, you then get to explain specifically why this steered you toward physical therapy. Which means you get to explain what was going on in your head at that time. This generally invites paragraphs that start with, “This is the moment I realized …” And then you explain what you realized.

So, again with the turtle, what did you realize? That you feel compelled in every fiber of your being to assist reptiles (and people) make safe progress?

If you’re describing the kid freaking out in the library, did you realize you have the ability to break down tough things for people so they’re digestible?

If you’re describing the Scrabble game, did you realize you have an inordinate amount of patience?

All of these qualities are both yours and belong to the best physical therapists. So this is a big part of your answer. After all, you can convincingly answer why you want a specific career if you can prove to your reader that your personality is actually built for it .

DON’T STOP WITH THE TURTLE

Because a moment of confirmation is when several pieces come together and click, you should feel free to weave in other parts of your life story in your essay after you’ve established your opening moment. So you should feel comfortable saying, “Standing beside this poor turtle, I realized I had felt this way when I …” Then you can fill in the blank. Was it when you shadowed a physical therapist? Or when coaching color guard? Or when you’ve been with your grandmother?

These examples shore up your answer and, although they might be more standard, together they all demonstrate (prove!) that you’re on the right career path. They also help you demonstrate other parts of your personality, background, education and/or goals.

I look forward to working with students to help answer this interesting prompt. If you’re looking for another example of how you can answer why you want a career in healthcare (without actually writing about healthcare), click here and skip down to the python runs into a poodle section. If you need any more guidance, don’t hesitate to contact me at [email protected]

The PT Application Essay Course

As a physical therapist, writer, and editor, I’ve helped hundreds of future physical therapists get into over 175 PT schools. I’m so excited to combine all my experience and advice into a new video that will guide you in writing a physical therapy essay that will help you stand out from the crowd! This course combines my years of helping future PTs write and edit their perfect PTCAS personal statement, and will help you do the same!

The course has been updated for the most recent PTCAS personal statement and includes even more helpful information I’ve gathered editing essays over the years!

To purchase, simply submit payment via Venmo (@jasmine-marcus), Cash App (@jmarcusdpt), PayPal (jmarcusdpt@gmail), Apple Pay or Zelle (email me for username) + make sure to give me your email (the one you use to sign into Gmail/YouTube), and a personalized link to the course will be emailed back to you within a day!

For a short time, this 30-minute video is being offered for only $20!

Home — Essay Samples — Life — Dream Career — Why I Want to Be a Physical Therapist

Why I Want to Be a Physical Therapist

Categories: Dream Career

About this sample

Words: 706 |

Published: Jun 13, 2024

Words: 706 | Pages: 2 | 4 min read

The academic appeal, personal motivation, societal impact.

Cite this Essay

To export a reference to this article please select a referencing style below:

Let us write you an essay from scratch

450+ experts on 30 subjects ready to help
Custom essay delivered in as few as 3 hours

Get high-quality help

Dr. Heisenberg

Verified writer

Expert in: Life

+ 120 experts online

By clicking “Check Writers’ Offers”, you agree to our terms of service and privacy policy . We’ll occasionally send you promo and account related email

No need to pay just yet!

Related Essays

1 pages / 513 words

2 pages / 931 words

5 pages / 2463 words

3 pages / 1653 words

Remember! This is just a sample.

You can get your custom paper by one of our expert writers.

121 writers online

Still can’t find what you need?

Browse our vast selection of original essay samples, each expertly formatted and styled

Related Essays on Dream Career

Being a treasurer is not a responsibility to be taken lightly. It requires meticulous attention to detail, a strong sense of organization, and the ability to make sound financial decisions. As I reflect on my own skills and [...]

Why I want to be a dermatologist is a question that holds personal significance and professional aspirations for me. This essay aims to delve into the motivations behind my desire to pursue a career in dermatology, exploring the [...]

American Nurses Association. (n.d.). Why be a Nurse? https://www.registerednursing.org/why-become-nurse/

The pursuit of teaching as vocation is a journey that transcends mere profession; it embodies a profound commitment to nurturing minds and shaping futures. In an era marked by rapid technological advancements and changing [...]

Who would say no to a delectable dessert? Well, unless you are someone trying to lose as much wait as you want and sacrifice all the pleasures of the sweet tooth, you might be one who would take no advantage of pastries [...]

I was ten years old and about to show my parents everything I had learned the last few days at ski camp when everything went black. I remember coming to and thinking to myself, “Did I just faint?” As my eyes slowly opened, the [...]

Get Your Personalized Essay in 3 Hours or Less!

We use cookies to personalyze your web-site experience. By continuing we’ll assume you board with our cookie policy .

Instructions Followed To The Letter
Deadlines Met At Every Stage
Unique And Plagiarism Free

Subscribe to journal Subscribe
Get new issue alerts Get alerts

Secondary Logo

Journal logo.

Colleague's E-mail is Invalid

Your message has been successfully sent to your colleague.

Save my selection

Reflective Narratives by Physical Therapist Students on Their Early Clinical Experiences: A Deductive and Inductive Approach

Greenfield, Bruce PT, MA, PhD; Bridges, Patricia PT, EdD; Phillips, Tami PT, DPT, NCS; Adams, Emily PT, DPT; Bullock, DeAndrea PT, DPT; Davis, Kristen PT, DPT; Nelson, Carla PT, DPT; Wood, Brady PT, DPT

Bruce Greenfield is an associate professor of physical therapy and senior fellow at the Center for Ethics at Emory University, 1462 Clifton Road NE, Suite 312 Atlanta, GA, 30322 ( [email protected] ). Please address all correspondence to Bruce Greenfield.

Patricia Bridges is an associate professor of physical therapy at Emory University.

Tami Phillips is an assistant professor of physical therapy at Emory University.

Emilly Adams is currently a practicing clinician. At the time of this study, she was a student of physical therapy at Emory University.

DeAndrea Bullock is currently a practicing clinician. At the time of this study, she was a student of physical therapy at Emory University.

Kristen Davis is currently a practicing clinician. At the time of this study, she was a student of physical therapy at Emory University.

Carla Nelson is currently a practicing clinician. At the time of this study, she was a student of physical therapy at Emory University.

Brady Wood is currently a practicing clinician. At the time of this study, he was a student of physical therapy at Emory University.

This study was approved by Emory University's Institutional Review Board.

The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Received August 16, 2013, and accepted August 7, 2014.

Background and Purpose.

Clinical experiences are essential for a physical therapist (PT) student to develop practical knowledge and critical thinking in the context of the uncertainty and unpredictability of clinical practice. The written narrative provides a method to reflect on experiences and develop practical knowledge. The aims of this study were 2-fold: (1) Apply a framework, developed by Hatton and Smith, to evaluate the highest level of reflection attained in written narratives, and (2) use a process of phenomenological analysis to explore themes and subthemes embedded in the narratives.

Methods.

A retrospective analysis examined PT student experiences encountered during initial clinical experiences. The first step of analysis used a deductive process to identify the presence and level of reflection in the initial sample of 47 narratives. Written narratives absent of reflection were excluded, leaving 30 narratives for the second and final step of phenomenological analysis.

Results.

The retrospective inductive analysis identified 6 themes: patient-centered care, ethical conflict, confidence, professional identity, student-clinical instructor communication, and classroom to clinic integration. Of the initial sample of narratives, 68% met Hatton and Smith's criteria for reflective writing. Of those that did meet the inclusionary criteria (n = 30), 80% fell below the critical and critical/dialogic reflection levels.

Discussion and Conclusion.

The themes were similar to those found in previous studies of novice PT or student therapist early clinical experiences. Although some students possessed reflective abilities, based on the results of this study, we recommend that the principles and skills of writing reflective narratives be implemented and integrated in physical therapy educational programs and residency programs.

Full Text Access for Subscribers:

Individual subscribers.

Institutional Users

Not a subscriber.

You can read the full text of this article if you:

+ Favorites
View in Gallery

Readers Of this Article Also Read

Essential characteristics of quality clinical education experiences: standards to facilitate student learning', 'recker-hughes carol pt phd; wetherbee, ellen pt, dpt, med, ocs; buccieri, kathleen m. pt, dpt, ms, pcs; fitzpatricktimmerberg, jean pt, phd, mhs, ocs; stolfi, angela m. pt, dpt', 'journal of physical therapy education', '2014', '28', '' , 'p 48-55');" onmouseout="javascript:tooltip_mouseout()" class="ejp-uc__article-title-link"> essential characteristics of quality clinical education experiences: standards..., clinical instructors\' perspectives on professional development opportunities: availability, preferences, barriers, and supports', 'recker-hughes carol pt phd; brooks, gary pt, drph, ccs; mowder-tinney, j j pt, phd, ncs; pivko, susan pt, dpt, cert mdt', 'journal of physical therapy education', 'spring 2010', '24', '2' , 'p 19-25');" onmouseout="javascript:tooltip_mouseout()" class="ejp-uc__article-title-link"> clinical instructors' perspectives on professional development opportunities:..., education program and student characteristics associated with pass rates on the national physical therapy examination for physical therapist assistants', 'maring joyce pt edd; costello, ellen pt, phd', 'journal of physical therapy education', 'spring 2009', '23', '1' , 'p 3-11');" onmouseout="javascript:tooltip_mouseout()" class="ejp-uc__article-title-link"> education program and student characteristics associated with pass rates on the ..., self-reported characteristics of physical therapy clinical instructors: a comparison to the american physical therapy association\'sguidelines and self-assessments for clinical education', 'buccieri kathleen m pt ms pcs; schultze, kathleen pt, ms, cht; dungey, jill pt, ms, gcs; kolodziej, theresa pt, dpt, ms; malta, shauna pt, ms; marocco, samantha pt, ms, gcs; michaels, janice a pt, dpt; stolove, renee pt, ma, mph', 'journal of physical therapy education', 'spring 2006', '20', '1' , 'p 47-55');" onmouseout="javascript:tooltip_mouseout()" class="ejp-uc__article-title-link"> self-reported characteristics of physical therapy clinical instructors: a..., teaching and learning about patient education in physical therapy professional preparation: academic and clinical considerations', 'mostrom elizabeth phd pt; shepard, katherine f phd, pt, fapta', 'journal of physical therapy education', 'winter 1999', '13', '3' , 'p 8-17');" onmouseout="javascript:tooltip_mouseout()" class="ejp-uc__article-title-link"> teaching and learning about patient education in physical therapy professional....

Chapter 3: Literacies across the disciplines

3.4.3 The crucial component of teamwork as a physical therapist (research essay)

Anonymous English 102 Writer

When you think of the profession of Physical Therapy, what are the images or things that you first think of? You probably think of somebody walking a patient through exercises. Maybe you think of the work environment that they practice in. You may also think about what a Physical Therapist would wear for their uniform. These are probably things that most people think about when they hear that profession. Most of these things are very true, but they only scrape the surface of what a Physical Therapist does on a daily basis and the other well-rounded skills they need to succeed. For my final research essay, I will continue to look at my major of Physical Therapy and discuss how the elements in the world of literacy can be translated into a specific career field. There are so many skills used in Physical Therapy that do not just pertain to it specifically, but also skills that are practical in every professional setting. This is what makes this career so unique that you must be a well-rounded individual in general. One of the most significant aspects of this particular career choice is that you have to work really well in a team dynamic. This could be with other Physical Therapists or even different health professionals depending on what setting of practice you are in. In order to work well with other people in your team, not only do you need to understand your job, but you also need to understand what other people’s jobs and roles are. This creates a more cohesive team between the group and translates to more efficiency. This understanding of each other’s roles within a team is called Interprofessional Education (IPE). My final research essay will take a closer look at how IPE is involved in the health field but also looking specifically at how physical therapists are involved within different health settings in the context of IPE.

As I have mentioned before, Pre-Physical Therapy is what I am majoring in and this profession is something that I have known what I have wanted to do for a long time. Obviously, anybody studying Physical Therapy finds interest in how the body moves and works in general, but I find the career much more interesting for many other reasons. One of them is being able to assist people when they are at a time in their lives when they need help. I would of course find that part of the job very rewarding and give me a sense of purpose that I am going to work every day to help change people’s lives. Even though those are major components of why I want to be a Physical Therapist, I still have one major reason that interests me so much. It’s the fact that it is such a specific practice and pertains to a fraction of the medical sciences, yet it can be so applicable to many settings in the field itself and in life in general. It just shows how important it is to take care of our bodies and understanding what you do daily can influence it. Picking this topic allowed me to look deeper into those aspects of the profession and answer questions that myself and many others have about it.

Using these questions presented will allow me to be able to have those answers about Physical Therapy and be able to take a closer look at the profession instead of seeing it at face value. My questions that I will discuss in my essay are “How is literacy involved in Physical Therapy and writing evaluation notes and progress reports?”. A lot of writing goes into being a Physical Therapist because it is their responsibility to make evaluations on the patient and to do that you must be able to correctly write reports. Another question that will be asked is “How does communication between Physical Therapists and Doctors or other medical professionals affect how work is done in practice?”. This goes along with the other question “How is IPE involved with everyday practice for Physical Therapists and for the education of DPT students?”. These both revolve around the idea on how Physical therapists are involved in the health care setting in the context of IPE. My other questions are “How much does communication between the Physical Therapist and the patient affect the relationship between them?”, “Are discourse different in each specific area of practice in Physical Therapy? If so, how are they different?”, “How does the education in DPT (Doctor Physical Therapy) prepare Physical Therapists for the practice environment?”. Being able to look at Physical Therapy with different perspectives and contexts will lead to a better understanding of what the overall job and purpose is of the career.

Although people do not associate writing with Physical Therapy, it is incredibly significant in the day-to-day practices of a Physical Therapist and is one of the aspects of the profession that people tend to look past when understanding it. A portion of the writing done in Physical Therapy is through writing evaluation assessments for patients. In the article “Physical Therapy Assessment Documentation: 3 Tips & Examples”, the author Tim Fraticelli’s target audience is to other Physical Therapists in the field that may be new to the day-to-day practices. He gives in-depth tips to formatting evaluation notes and other forms of writing that is done in the profession. Fraticelli explains to the reader about how daily notes are supposed to be done and goes into specific detail regarding this topic “You don’t need to write a paragraph for this type of documentation, but being too brief could diminish important aspects of your skilled assessment. Focus on the key elements you worked on in the session. If you targeted balance training, your assessment should reflect why” (Fraticelli) . Fraticelli’s explanations and instruction about drafting these reports and notes on a detailed level show how crucial this part of the profession is. This can allow not only the Physical Therapist themselves to have a better understanding of what is the situation with the patient is, but also other health professionals involved in the patient’s care and how they are able to translate that into their practice.

These reports obviously can be done in many ways depending on what setting the Physical Therapist is in and what the patient’s situation is. This is relevant to the point of how this field in healthcare has a very specific job yet there are many different settings and discourses involved within it. In the article “6 Different types of Physical Therapy” on Movement for Life Physical Therapy, it broadly goes over the different areas of focus in Physical Therapy and the certain things that need to be looked at differently when working in that focused setting.

The first type of Physical Therapy the article discusses is in the pediatric setting. The article explains the job of the Physical Therapist in this setting, “Childhood is a time when the body grows very fast, and problems in childhood can have a negative effect on the rest of a person’s life…often teaching them movement types and ranges of movement which they may never have experienced before” (6 Different Types of Physical Therapy 2018). This shows the significance of how working with a certain age demographic, specifically children requires a different type of communication between the Physical Therapist and the patient. Although it is the complete opposite, the next type of Physical Therapy discussed which is Geriatric Physical Therapy has the same principle of working with a particular age demographic and approaching certain situations in different ways. The article explains the specific approach when looking at this particular area of focus “but as we get older, we may notice more problems, as our muscles stop being strong enough to compensate as they have in the past. Geriatric physical therapy is about taking steps to use the muscles you have in a way which is more efficient and safe, and is less likely to lead to injuries” (6 Different Types of Physical Therapy 2018). Comparing the two age demographics, Both Pediatrics and Geriatrics are both learning new movements but in the Geriatric setting, the patients have to relearn the way they move and do something different from what they have been doing their whole lives. This requires a different approach on the Physical Therapists part to look at the situation differently and plan out the care from a different avenue.

The other discourses discussed in this article are less focused on age demographic and more focused on recovery from specific issues with the body. The first type presented is Vestibular Physical Therapy. The article goes into more depth about the focus, “ Vestibular rehabilitation focuses on helping you to overcome problems of the inner ear which can destroy your balance and be seriously debilitating, including chronic dizziness and vertigo . Physical therapy can help you to teach your body to have better balance and use its muscles to be steadier and sturdier” (6 Different Types of Physical Therapy 2018). This specfic area of focus in the field of Physical Therapy and the others that will be presented, may require working with several types of Health Professionals that focus on specific health issues. This can be applied to the next discourse of Physical Therapy discussed in this article which is Neurological Physical Therapy. This discourse focuses on caring for patients with issues that have to do with the brain making the body function (6 Different Types of Physical Therapy 2018). It is crucial for the Physical Therapists to be able to communicate with Health Professionals like Neurologists that are working with the patient to supply the most quality and efficient care. This is the same with the next discourse of Orthopedic Physical Therapy. The article talks about the purpose of this type, “Orthopedic physical therapy is designed to help you to recover muscle strength, as you might need to after an injury has left you unable to use certain muscles” (6 Different Types of Physical Therapy 2018). Working with orthopedic surgeons and understanding where the patient is coming from in their care is crucial for assessing the situation and making a plan for them. Cardiologists and Health Professionals working specifically with issues of the heart are going to be working with the Physical Therapists in the final discourse of Cardiovascular/Pulmonary Physical Therapy (6 Different Types of Physical Therapy 2018). All of these discourses presented in the article are what a future Physical Therapist or a current Physical Therapist should be familiar with in order to give the patient a quality plan to improve their health.

Not only understanding where the patient is coming from in their healthcare and communicating with other health professionals, but also from there being able to communicate with the patient themselves is as just as important to improving their health and looking at different ways to approach their care. In the article “The Added Value of Therapist Communication on the Effect of Physical Therapy Treatment in Older Adults; a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.”, Sandra Lakke et. al., discusses the effects of communication between the Physical Therapist and the Patient. They specifically wanted to find out if more communication between the patient and the Physical Therapist will increase the patients amount of being physically active (Lakke et. Al. 3). This study was conducted by doing a meta-analysis where they collected multiple studies done to conclude their findings. The journal briefly gives an overall idea of how the study would be conducted, “For the first selection of studies, one researcher (SL) performed an electronic search and screened the titles for potentially relevant studies. Two researchers (SL and MF) screened the abstracts for the second selection” (Lakke et. al. 5). Their conclusions to this study were not necessarily consistent with the hypothesis made. They could not necessarily find a direct correlation between communication of the Physical Therapist and patient to translate to the patient becoming more physically active(Lakke et. al. 12). They were able to conclude that there were changes in physical activity when they used generalization in practice (Lakke et. al. 12). The article goes into more detail regarding this, “When separated in BCT-categories, the only behavior change technique that was effective on older adult’s perceived physical activity was Generalisation of target behavior (i.e., giving confidence and reinforcing transition of exercise to activities of daily living)” (Lakke et. al. 12). The article also gives a recommendation about applying these conclusions into the practice, “it is recommended that physical therapists add behavior change techniques to interventions with older adults when the aim of treatment is to increase self-reported physical activity” (Lakke et. al. 12). This study shows the significance of communication in a general sense with the patient. It represents that being able to provide motivation and give the patient confidence can allow greater success in their recovery by doing exercises on their own.

Building a relationship with the patient is important for Physical Therapists to do in order to improve the quality of treatment. New factors in our world today due to the COVID-19 pandemic can make that part of the job exceedingly difficult for them to do. Becoming more creative about how appointments are carried out so that they are as safe as possible is another element that comes into play when working as a Physical Therapist and in the health field in general. In the article, “Physical Therapist Management of Patients With or Recovering From COVID-19″, the American Physical Therapy Association goes over the specifics of the steps that need to be taken when a patient comes to a practice. In the article it says, “All health care providers are at some risk for exposure to COVID-19, whether in the workplace or in the community. Providers in any risk exposure category (high, medium, low, or no risk) who develop signs or symptoms compatible with COVID-19 must contact their established point of contact” ( American Physical Therapy Association). This is significant because it shows that there is a risk for a Physical Therapist and the patient to be present for an appointment which can make it difficult for the treatment to be carried out on a consistent basis. The article also discusses the certain precautions that the practice needs to take in order to make the experience for the individual going there to be as safe as possible, “Evaluate your treatment and waiting room space design to ensure that patients are always a minimum of six feet apart from one another” ( American Physical Therapy Association). It also talks about other precautions that need to be taken like cleaning surfaces multiple times throughout the day, taking temperatures, wearing face masks and many other courses of action to ensure safety ( American Physical Therapy Association). The article also briefly talks about Physical Therapists working in a home health environment and how that is impacted by the pandemic. The article gives the point of making sure the patient is informed that telehealth and virtual visits are available to them if they choose to do so ( American Physical Therapy Association). The overarching theme of this article is not only relevant to being a Physical Therapists during this time but also being a health professional in general and the obstacles that they face to care for patients. Having to do things differently like being more virtual than having in-person visits with them can affect the relationship that is made between the patient and the Physical Therapists which can become challenging over time.

Being able to build the relationship between the Physical Therapist and the patient requires much more than directly communicating with them but also knowing where they are coming from and who else in the health field cared for them prior. Understanding what the other health professionals are doing to contribute to the care for them and being able to work with those professionals will help you develop a better course of action for the care that you will provide. This recognition and understanding of the jobs in the field other than yours, is Interprofessional Education (IPE). Teamwork is valued in the medical field and IPE is crucial to the success of a Physical Therapist and many others as well. This literal translation of this idea of IPE is expressed in the article “How PT, OT Work Together to Help Memorial Regional Health Patients Heal”, by memorial regional health. Even though this article puts this idea into the context of their specific hospital, it still gives a notable example of how it can be applied in the professional setting. In the article it says, “For example, with a hip replacement, a physical therapist works on ambulation, muscle strengthening and balance, while an occupational therapist works on teaching patients how to dress with limited movement, deciding what supportive equipment they need during recovery and adapting their dressing, bathing, toileting and grooming habits during recovery” ( memorial regional health). This general and basic example gives an example that is easy to understand to people who are not as informed about this certain topic. This also gives us a specific look at how these two professions work together on a daily basis and the similarities and differences between them. The artice also mentions the common goal of the two profeessions, “All therapy disciplines work together to help find the meaning behind the healing process. For example, PTs work on helping a person relearn to walk, and OTs helps the patient return to their daily occupations with as much independence as possible. OTs and PTs write goals together with the patient, as this is the optimal way to achieve success in therapy” ( memorial regional health ). The message that the article is conveying to the audience is that it takes a team to give a patient good care and that the best way for that team to function is to work together. A part of this is to understand what your teammate is doing so you can have a better understanding of what you are doing to contribute to the common goal. These skills are something that every health professional should have, especially Physical Therapists, when entering the medical field.

Because of the high demand for having these IPE skills are very prominent in the health field today, many health professional programs are incorporating education in these skills throughout the curriculum to better prepare the students for the workforce. The journal “Student experiences of interprofessional simulation: findings from a qualitative study” by Margaret Costello et. al. gives an idea to the audience of what DPT (Doctor of Physical Therapy) students think of learning about Interprofessional Education. The study that was conducted asked students to freely express their opinions about what their opinions were of IPE exercises (Costello et. al. 2). The overall theme of the findings in the study were that students supported it. In the article, Costello et. al. Reflects on the feedback from the students, “These feelings indicate that IPS increased stu- dent knowledge of the role of other health professions, and thus may improve their ability to work in an interprofes- sional team” (Costello et. al. 2). The article also discusses the fact that these exercises allow students be more confident in themselves in practice (Costello et. al. 2). This study provides support to the hypothesis that IPE experiences are beneficial for DPT students by presenting overall opinions regarding this subject.

The next sources look at DPT student experiences as well but look at studies regarding specific IPE experiences. In the article “Students’ motivation for interprofessional collaboration after their experience on an IPE ward: A qualitative analysis framed by self-determination theory.”, Cora LF Visser et. al. conduct a study where multiple health professional students are put in a IPE ward and are to work as a team to care for real patients (Visser et. al. 2). Students were then interviewed on their experiences in the IPE ward and those respeonses were used as the data for this study (Visser et. al. 3). The journal discusses the outcome of the study, “From the ana- lysis of the interviews with the students and the supervisors, we conclude that it was the overall set-up of the IPE ward that enhanced the autonomy, not simply the responsibility or type of supervision (Visser et. al. 7). This shows the significance of these IPE exercises and how they build good teamwork skills for future health professionals. The article also looks at how this study specfically benefited for DPT students, “For the physical therapy students and the pharmacy students: their professional per- spective was relatively unknown to the other students. Being able to add their professional insights in the patient- care meeting added to their feeling of competence and autonomy, because they could offer information rather than wait for the question or consultation” (Visser et. al. 7). Since other health professionals were not as educated in what the Physical Therapy Students jobs were, it shows the importance of having these activities. By doing this, everybody is more educated on what each other’s jobs are so that when they go into a professional environment, they are more prepared.

The article “Does Mode Matter? Perception of Student Competence Following an IPE Communication Experience.” by Sherman, Erica, et al. also looks at a specific IPE experience with Health professional students. In the article they discuss the test that was used for this study, “The Interprofessional Collaborative Competencies Attainment Survey-Revised (ICCAS-R) was used to gather data about students’ perceived competency both before and after the communication activ- ity” (Sherman et. al. 2). This test was used before and after the IPE study was conducted. (Sherman et. al. 2). The results of the study presented an increase in scores for ICCAS-R after the IPE experience in both audio and video setting (Sherman et. al. 4). This study is significant because it shows that just by having one IPE experience, health professional students can gain so much knowledge about the rest of the health field. A common theme between studies is that many health professionals do not fully understand the job of a Physical Therapist. By having more activities throughout all health profession programs, it can allow more students to have knowledge of what a Physical Therapist does so that they can value their input and knowledge when it comes to a real-life practice setting.

There are many diverse components of the career of Physical Therapy and in the context of literacy. Writing is used on a daily basis when making progress reports and evaluation notes. Communication between the Physical therapist and the patient is a crucial factor in the job and can dictate the quality of care for the patient. It is also important to be able to communicate and have knowledge of the other health professionals that you are working with when a patient has a particular health issue. The best way to do this is through interprofessional education and doing activities where the medical professionals are together for a common goal. The foundation of the medical field is teamwork. These professionals have to put themselves aside to work toward the common goal which to give the patient the best care possible. Without communication and understanding the big picture of the job, the result will be inadequate quality. People who choose Physical Therapy are caring, knowledgeable, and are good problem solvers. They can use these qualities in a teamwork setting to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the medical field overall.

Works Cited

Costello, Margaret, et al. “Student experiences of interprofessional simulation: findings from a qualitative study.” Journal of Interprofessional Care 32.1 (2018): 95-97.

Fraticelli, Tim. “Physical Therapy Assessment Documentation: 3 Tips & Examples”, PTProgress, https://www.ptprogress.com/therapy-assessment-documentation/

“How PT, OT Work Together to Help Memorial Regional Health Patients Heal”, memorial regional health, https://memorialregionalhealth.com/health-topics/primary-care-general-health/pt-ot-work-together-help-memorial-regional-health-patients-heal/

Lakke, Sandra, et al. “The Added Value of Therapist Communication on the Effect of Physical Therapy Treatment in Older Adults; a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.” Patient Education and Counseling , Jan. 2018. EBSCOhost , doi:10.1016/j.pec.2018.09.020.

“Physical Therapist Management of Patients With or Recovering From COVID-19″, American Physical Therapy Association, https://www.apta.org/patient-care/public-health-population-care/coronavirus/management-of-patients

Sherman, Erica, et al. “Does Mode Matter? Perception of Student Competence Following an IPE Communication Experience.” Journal of Interprofessional Education & Practice , vol. 21, Dec. 2020. EBSCOhost , doi:10.1016/j.xjep.2020.100363.

Visser, Cora LF, et al. “Students’ motivation for interprofessional collaboration after their experience on an IPE ward: A qualitative analysis framed by self-determination theory.” Medical teacher 41.1 (2019): 44-52.

“6 Different Types of Physical Therapy”, Movement for Life Physical Therapy, https://www.movementforlife.com/blog/6-different-types-of-physical-therapy.php

Understanding Literacy in Our Lives by Anonymous English 102 Writer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Share This Book

Search Menu
Sign in through your institution
Animal Research
Cardiovascular/Pulmonary
Health Services
Health Policy
Health Promotion
History of Physical Therapy
Implementation Science
Integumentary
Musculoskeletal
Orthopedics
Pain Management
Pelvic Health
Pharmacology
Population Health
Professional Issues
Psychosocial
Advance Articles
PTJ Peer Review Academies
Collections
Author Guidelines
Submission Site
Why Publish With PTJ?
Open Access
Call for Papers
Self-Archiving Policy
Promote your Article
About Physical Therapy
Editorial Board
Advertising & Corporate Services
Permissions
Journals on Oxford Academic
Books on Oxford Academic

Article Contents

Knowledge claims and knowledge use in physical therapist practice, use of narrative as a teaching and reasoning tool, learning for practice: educational examples.

< Previous

Power and Promise of Narrative for Advancing Physical Therapist Education and Practice

All authors provided concept/idea/project design and writing. Dr Greenfield provided project management.

Article contents
Figures & tables
Supplementary Data

Bruce H. Greenfield, Gail M. Jensen, Clare M. Delany, Elizabeth Mostrom, Mary Knab, Ann Jampel, Power and Promise of Narrative for Advancing Physical Therapist Education and Practice, Physical Therapy , Volume 95, Issue 6, 1 June 2015, Pages 924–933, https://doi.org/10.2522/ptj.20140085

Permissions Icon Permissions

This perspective article provides a justification for and an overview of the use of narrative as a pedagogical tool for educators to help physical therapist students, residents, and clinicians develop skills of reflection and reflexivity in clinical practice. The use of narratives is a pedagogical approach that provides a reflective and interpretive framework for analyzing and making sense of texts, stories, and other experiences within learning environments. This article describes reflection as a well-established method to support critical analysis of clinical experiences; to assist in uncovering different perspectives of patients, families, and health care professionals involved in patient care; and to broaden the epistemological basis (ie, sources of knowledge) for clinical practice. The article begins by examining how phronetic (ie, practical and contextual) knowledge and ethical knowledge are used in physical therapy to contribute to evidence-based practice. Narrative is explored as a source of phronetic and ethical knowledge that is complementary but irreducible to traditional objective and empirical knowledge—the type of clinical knowledge that forms the basis of scientific training. The central premise is that writing narratives is a cognitive skill that should be learned and practiced to develop critical reflection for expert practice. The article weaves theory with practical application and strategies to foster narrative in education and practice. The final section of the article describes the authors' experiences with examples of integrating the tools of narrative into an educational program, into physical therapist residency programs, and into a clinical practice.

Over the past several decades, the physical therapy profession has strongly emphasized rigorous application of scientific method where positivist notions of objectivity, reliability, and validity are highly valued methods of knowledge and practice. 1 – 3 One consequence of developing research-informed boundaries of clinical knowledge is increasing clarity about what is missing from this knowledge base, 4 such as research and education that focuses on psychosocial (environmental and personal) factors influencing patient care and experience. 5 – 11

Strategies to integrate psychosocial and patient-centered approaches to physical therapist practice and education include the use of high-fidelity simulation, standardized patients, and expansion and early integration of clinical practice experiences. 12 Although patient simulations capture more realistic patient-provider interactions, the traditional clinical case framework underpinning this approach is often based on a technical, rational, and deductive approach to evaluation and population-based evidence in support of interventions and standardized outcome measures. 13 Expanding clinical placement opportunities exposes students to a range of patients and contexts, but this alone may not guarantee students' development of broad-based competence, just as being in a health care environment does not guarantee learning. In the dynamic and sometimes uncertain clinical practice environment, students often find it difficult to make sense of their encounters and interactions with patients. 4 , 6

Accordingly, there is a need to provide pedagogical tools to purposefully advance a student's learning and insights into the qualitative aspects of his or her practice. The use of narrative is one pedagogical approach that provides an interpretive framework for analyzing and making sense of texts, stories, and other experiences within learning environments. Narrative works to construct a story of an experience to promote a deeper and more coherent understanding of clinical experiences. 13 – 18 Narrative enables students and clinicians to reflect on a case from multiple perspectives, including their own. A narrative begins by identifying a setting—the location and time in which the story takes place—within which the narrator introduces characters. It proceeds with one or more episodes, in which characters act in particular ways toward particular ends, and concludes with some indication of how the episodes coalesce into one story. Highlighting context, characters, and plots allows a narrative to carry meaning, to potentially counter a reliance on objective measures of practice, and to build a bridge or create dialectic that connects the objective and subjective in clinical practice experience to help therapists iteratively move between these 2 essential aspects of human experience.

The use of narrative is strongly grounded in the 2 core concepts of reflection and reflexivity. As both a descriptive and interpretive process, reflection has been defined in several different ways ( Tab. 1 ). 19 – 30 As a framework for interpreting practice, learners use reflection to concretely describe an experience and examine the issues of concern to clarify meaning. Clarification and probing of meaning are done by the learner individually, with a mentor, or in a community of other learners. Reflection is particularly useful to critically probe students' and clinicians' metacognitive skills (ie, thinking about their thinking) to explore the thinking process behind a clinical decision. In this way, the aim of reflection is designed to be transformative—aiming for new levels of understanding, meaning, and insights about clinical care.

Key Characteristics of Reflection

Reflection: .
• Is an active and deliberative cognitive process
• Relies on both description and interpretation
• Provides opportunities to explore experiences to understand context, multiple perspectives, and values
• Promotes reflectivity
• Provides opportunities to understand student and clinician metacognitive skills and their abilities to monitor and self-regulate (reflection-in-action)
• Aim is to be transformative
• Can be both individual and collaborative

Reflection: .
• Is an active and deliberative cognitive process
• Relies on both description and interpretation
• Provides opportunities to explore experiences to understand context, multiple perspectives, and values
• Promotes reflectivity
• Provides opportunities to understand student and clinician metacognitive skills and their abilities to monitor and self-regulate (reflection-in-action)
• Aim is to be transformative
• Can be both individual and collaborative

Reflexivity is linked to reflective practice. However, reflexivity focuses on awareness of how students' and clinicians' values and beliefs interact with others and influence their perspectives and behaviors. 29 – 31 Reflexivity, therefore, helps students and clinicians recognize any personal and professional biases that influence their decision making in a clinical encounter.

In this article, we highlight how the use of narrative as a pedagogical tool may enhance physical therapists' capacities to expand their thinking, clinical reasoning, and understanding of practice. We suggest that narrative is a pedagogical tool that can work to facilitate therapists' ability to move from a positivist paradigm to a more reflective and context-based understanding of their own professional practice and their patients' unique circumstances and contexts. We also argue that including the use of narratives in practice and education has the potential to transform approaches to the development and application of professional knowledge. 4 The specific purposes of this article are: (1) to examine conceptions of professional knowledge and its application in physical therapist reasoning and practice, (2) to discuss the use of narrative as a pedagogical tool for broadening these fundamental tenets and processes of clinical reasoning, and (3) to highlight some educational and clinical examples of using narrative to engage student learning and to improve clinical practice.

[T]he conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients…. By individual clinical expertise we mean the proficiency and judgment that individual clinicians acquire through clinical experience and clinical practice…in more thoughtful identification and compassionate use of individual patients' predicaments. 33(p71)

The second type of knowledge is phronetic knowledge (ie, knowledge in action, procedural knowledge, praxis knowledge, tacit knowledge). 12 , 32 Phronetic knowledge integrates evidence-based practice knowledge, requiring judgment and experience. Clinicians using phronetic knowledge or reasoning consider the context of care and the practical issues that affect care. Included in this type of knowledge is an understanding of the psychosocial issues that influence care, including cultural, socioeconomic, psychological, and familial issues that affect decision making. Expert clinicians apply this type of knowledge so that they can understand how, why, and when it is best to use a particular intervention for a patient in a particular situation. Studies have demonstrated how expert clinicians integrate different types of knowledge and clinical reasoning, including deductive, inductive, and narrative reasoning. 35 – 38 Phronetic knowledge results from the ability to reflect-in-action. According to Schön, 6 a practitioner who reflects-in-action is able to make immediate adjustments and modifications as required during treatment. Because reflection and action occur simultaneously, it may not be apparent to the expert clinician or the student watching the experts thinking in action, unless, as in the example below, an experience is reflected on and written about later.

Joe is alone, resting…. As we are talking and beginning to evaluate his movement and sensation, it is apparent that he is having more difficult breathing, and his cough is congested and ineffective. I decided it is more important to address his pulmonary system and begin to assess his ventilation. Speaking with Joe's nurse and the medical fellow in the ICU [intensive care unit], we discuss his tenuous respiratory status and the need to clear his secretions with blind endotracheal suction…. I anticipate that this may be required for a few days.

I have treated many patients with spinal cord injuries over my years as a physical therapist. Earlier in my career, I could perform the skills necessary to gather information, construct a plan for treatment, provide good care, and assess discharge needs, but I am sure that I did not consider so carefully the psychosocial impact of such [a] life-altering injury. [My] greater skill learned was listening, because without listening, I would not know what patients and their families were ready to hear. There will be patients and families who are just too overwhelmed by injury…those who take much longer to grieve for the loss of one's future before they can embrace a new future…. I know I need to be prepared and be flexible and adjust my approach to meet patients' and families' needs.

Narrative has received considerable attention as a powerful tool for reflecting on practice in a range of health professions, including nursing, 13 , 16 medicine, 42 – 51 occupational therapy, 52 psychology, 14 , 18 and physical therapy. 53 , 54 Because narratives encourage students to broadly interpret their clinical experiences as they tell a story, a narrative about clinical practice works to integrate technical and rational knowledge with phronetic and ethical knowledge in clinical care. 4 Narrative tools assist therapists in clinical reasoning and in interpreting their practice by “getting the inside out” 14(p36) to better understand the lived experience and sense-making of their patients' and their own experiences. 55

In the 1980s, the noted educational psychologist Jerome Bruner was one of the first to advocate for narrative ways of knowing. 14 Bruner observed that, unlike analytical thinking, narrative thinking brings different insights and meanings to the intense social interactions that often constitute patient care. He argued that narrative without analysis is naive and analysis without narrative is meaningless because the essence of narrative knowing is to frame and link human interactions into a plot or a story line. The story line provides a temporal structure to understand human experiences by linking individual events to a larger whole. Creating stories either through writing or talking about experiences requires reflection-on-action, a process Schön 6 described as instrumental in acquiring the practical knowledge central to professional practice.

For Bruner, 14 narrative thinking was particularly powerful for understanding the human condition because when constructing a story or hearing a story, we are able to uncover and explore the situated action of the actor or agent, intention or a goal, events, and the cultural surround of that action. At the same time that we construct the story, we should probe for what Bruner referred to as the “inner landscape”—what those involved know, think, or feel or do not know, think, or feel.

Rita Charon 26 is best known as a pioneer in teaching medical students and residents in the narrative skills of recognizing, absorbing, interpreting, and understanding the value of the stories of illness. For Charon, the roots of reflection are seeded in the narrative dialogue between the patient and the health care professional, and its meaning is constructed and conveyed through language. In her teaching, she uses a system of parallel charting to write first-person stories about her experiences with selected patients. Charon suggests there is much more to a person's illness story than can be captured on a traditional medical chart. What is particularly problematic for health professionals trained in a largely biomedical model of medicine is to understand a patient's personal illness script related to their disease or injury. Charon describes how narrative medicine provides the clinician an opportunity to listen carefully to and reflect upon a patient's experiences with illness, representing that experience in a story or narrative, and ultimately providing the clinician insights that foster a strong commitment in caring for that patient. These ideas are particularly relevant for physical therapist practice, where therapists form close bonds with their patients and depend on their patients' cooperation and active engagement in their rehabilitation. In the section that follows, we provide guidelines for integrating reflective narratives into physical therapy curriculum.

Jensen 4 astutely observed that physical therapists are drawn to their profession because they like to get things done; they like to motivate and help people. However, they generally do not want to engage in deep philosophical conversations and epistemological discussions. An initial goal of introducing narrative, therefore, is to demonstrate how narrative can be meaningful and relevant to physical therapy practitioners. The following section describes the authors' experiences with integrating the tools of narrative into an educational program, into physical therapist residency programs, and into a clinical practice.

Integration of Narrative in Physical Therapist Education and Clinical Practice

Based on our experiences with students and clinicians, writing narratives is a skill that needs to be taught, learned, and practiced in the same way that problem solving and other forms of clinical reasoning require practice and explicit instruction. Delany and Molloy 30 describe both horizontal and vertical integration (within and across curriculum) of reflective writing in their physical therapy curriculum in an Australian context. Students are introduced to underlying theory and principles of reflection and methods for writing narratives. During the first 2 years of their physical therapy curriculum, students are given critical reflection writing assignments to identify learning incidents from practical classes, personal lectures, or case-based learning groups and to reflect on the influence of those learning experiences and on their own personal knowledge and assumptions about practice knowledge claims ( Tab. 2 ). During their clinical experiences, students are given narrative prompts to write reflexively, increasing their awareness of how their own values and beliefs interconnect with other perspectives and with the social and environmental contexts ( Tab. 3 ). 29 , 30

Narrative Prompts for Reflective Writing

Write a brief description of an event that occurred; that is, describe a learning experience/session that you particularly remember.

Following the description, provide an analysis of the event:

• How did it influence your understanding of professionalism?

• What was the influence of different domains of knowledge? (For example, cognitive, affective, psychomotor)

• Describe your personal feelings and responses during the event.

• Explain what sense you made of the personal feelings and responses. What were the personal "lessons learned" through this experience?

• Discuss how the “lessons learned” will influence future actions, your professional development, and continued learning.

Write a brief description of an event that occurred; that is, describe a learning experience/session that you particularly remember.

Following the description, provide an analysis of the event:

• How did it influence your understanding of professionalism?

• What was the influence of different domains of knowledge? (For example, cognitive, affective, psychomotor)

• Describe your personal feelings and responses during the event.

• Explain what sense you made of the personal feelings and responses. What were the personal "lessons learned" through this experience?

• Discuss how the “lessons learned” will influence future actions, your professional development, and continued learning.

Narrative Prompts to Facilitate Reflexive Writing

Students' Exploration of Their Own Perspectives .	Students' Exploration of Their Patients' Perspectives .
What do I know? How do I know what I know?	What knowledge is this patient bringing to the clinical encounter?
What shapes and has shaped my perspective?	What shapes and has shaped their world view?
With what voice do I share my perspective?	How do they perceive me and why?
What do I do with what I have found?	How do I perceive them?

Students' Exploration of Their Own Perspectives .	Students' Exploration of Their Patients' Perspectives .
What do I know? How do I know what I know?	What knowledge is this patient bringing to the clinical encounter?
What shapes and has shaped my perspective?	What shapes and has shaped their world view?
With what voice do I share my perspective?	How do they perceive me and why?
What do I do with what I have found?	How do I perceive them?

At Emory University in the United States, narrative experiences are similarly developed and integrated throughout the curriculum. Students are introduced to the narrative approach to ethical decision making during their first semester, with an emphasis on the idea that ethical issues are embedded in the experiences of everyday life and are represented in the story of the characters, events, and ordering of events. Students practice analyzing cases to identify “narrative gaps” in the story, including the perspectives of other stakeholders. There is a particular focus on learning what questions need to be asked and answered to provide additional information and insight. During their second semester, students practice narrative writing about their classroom experiences and are prompted with guiding questions for critical reflection and narrative writing ( Tab. 4 ). Narrative prompts work to provide students with targeted questions for not only finding the right answers but also identifying and exploring the uncertainty or ambiguity of a situation. 55

Integrated Narrative Experiences Across Curriculum

Semester and Course .	Content .
Semester 1: Ethics and Professionalism	Students learn narrative approach to ethical decision making. They practice analyzing cases for "narrative gaps." Students learn the questions to ask to complete the story from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders.
Semester 2: Teaching and Learning	Students are introduced to concepts of reflection and narrative for learning. They practice writing reflective narratives about a previous educational experience. They are given the following narrative prompts: Indicate the strengths and weaknesses of the educational experience: What feelings did you experience? What did you learn about good or bad teaching? What did you learn about yourself as a student?
Semesters 3, 4, and 5: Clinical courses in Acute Care, Musculoskeletal, and Neurological Rehabilitation	During the students' 2-week clinical rotations in each course, they are instructed to write a narrative about a clinical experience based on the following objective: Given an issue of interaction in the clinic involving patients/clients, family members/caregivers, other health professionals, students, and other consumers or payers, the student will effectively deal with a positive and negative outcome resulting from self-assessment/reflection activities by writing a short summary of the experience based on the following questions: (Narrative Prompts ) What was the central issue you encountered? What confuses you about the issue/case? What feelings did you experience during this issue? How did you and/or others address the issue? What did you learn about yourself from this issue/case/encounter? What would you do differently if you encountered this situation again? Unbundling session
Semester 6: Internship I	Students write 2 clinical narratives early and late during their first long-term clinical placement using Gibbs' model as a guide and based on the following narrative prompts: Prompts as noted above Unbundling session
Resident Program	Residents in our orthopedic and neurologic resident program are asked to write narratives early, during, and at the end of their residency program using Gibbs' model as a guide and based on the following narrative prompts: Prompts as noted above Unbundling session

Semester and Course .	Content .
Semester 1: Ethics and Professionalism	Students learn narrative approach to ethical decision making. They practice analyzing cases for "narrative gaps." Students learn the questions to ask to complete the story from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders.
Semester 2: Teaching and Learning	Students are introduced to concepts of reflection and narrative for learning. They practice writing reflective narratives about a previous educational experience. They are given the following narrative prompts: Indicate the strengths and weaknesses of the educational experience: What feelings did you experience? What did you learn about good or bad teaching? What did you learn about yourself as a student?
Semesters 3, 4, and 5: Clinical courses in Acute Care, Musculoskeletal, and Neurological Rehabilitation	During the students' 2-week clinical rotations in each course, they are instructed to write a narrative about a clinical experience based on the following objective: Given an issue of interaction in the clinic involving patients/clients, family members/caregivers, other health professionals, students, and other consumers or payers, the student will effectively deal with a positive and negative outcome resulting from self-assessment/reflection activities by writing a short summary of the experience based on the following questions: (Narrative Prompts ) What was the central issue you encountered? What confuses you about the issue/case? What feelings did you experience during this issue? How did you and/or others address the issue? What did you learn about yourself from this issue/case/encounter? What would you do differently if you encountered this situation again? Unbundling session
Semester 6: Internship I	Students write 2 clinical narratives early and late during their first long-term clinical placement using Gibbs' model as a guide and based on the following narrative prompts: Prompts as noted above Unbundling session
Resident Program	Residents in our orthopedic and neurologic resident program are asked to write narratives early, during, and at the end of their residency program using Gibbs' model as a guide and based on the following narrative prompts: Prompts as noted above Unbundling session

In both of these examples of teaching, narrative models are used to facilitate deeper levels of reflection. 56 – 59 For example, Gibbs' model 56 provides students with the framework to move from describing their experience (using a first-person account) to describing their thoughts and feelings as the experience unfolds. At Emory University, students are encouraged to write narratives guided by prompt questions from Gibbs' model during their initial 2-week clinical experiences and during their first 10-week clinical internships ( Tab. 4 ). Students are asked to follow the 6 circular phases of Gibbs' model. The first 2 phases encourage them to describe their experience using first-person accounts. Students are asked to place themselves into the action and avoid using abstraction to describe what occurred, using concrete examples instead. These phases are followed by evaluative phases (where they judge the value and meaning of the experience and discuss their thoughts and feeling in response to the experience). The final phases involve analysis of what went right or wrong and finally how they would address a similar situation in the future. Gibbs' model appears to guide students to move between a description of an experience and an explanatory framework that explains its meaning, providing the student increased insight into practice. During their 10-week clinical internships, the students progress to writing 2 reflective narratives—the first after 3 weeks of the clinical experience and the second at the end.

Process of Unbundling

Narrative theory suggests that the meaning of a story or narrative is always co-constructed and exists in the coming together of storyteller and listener (author and reader). Rather than being confident that they know the author's intended meaning, readers bring their own meaning-making ability to bear in understanding what the narrative means to them. According to Shulman, 55 narratives are second-order experiences—the interpretation of the first-order experience (the actual case or event). In the written narrative, the first co-construction of meaning occurs between the clinician who experienced the situation and, through the benefit of time and language, the same clinician who reflects on that experience and writes the story. Narratives also invite third-order experiences—additional layers of interpretation and meaning making. Through their sharing, narratives afford the opportunity to engage in collaborative, rather than individualistic, reflection. A structure is provided within which students and clinicians can work together to develop a shared meaning of an experience. The eFigure (available at ptjournal.apta.org ) illustrates the progression and interconnection of how shared meaning is created from a writer's original engagement in an experience through personal to group reflection.

In our teaching, we emphasize the primacy of group discussion, deliberation, and debate in the examination of the narrative. The process is dialogic; different members of the group explore different perspectives on the nature of the problem, the available elective actions, or the import of the consequences. Narratives almost always reveal more than the author was aware of or intended to reveal in the telling of the story. 60 , 61 The interaction with a group helps the writer unbundle additional meaning and understanding. Because of this, however, it is critical that the discussion occurs in a safe environment for all involved. An attitude of genuine curiosity about the experience, wanting to understand rather than trying to judge the rightness or wrongness of the author's actions or decisions, helps to create this safe space. 39

At Emory University, we have integrated narrative unbundling activities during the students' short-term and long-term clinical internships (semesters 3, 4, and 5) ( Tab. 4 ). During these initial unbundling activities, students meet in smaller groups and read their narratives to each other. A faculty member guides students to ask probing questions and discussions of each narrative for themes and meaning based on the prompts listed in Table 5 .

Prompts Used to Facilitate Group Discussions About a Narrative

What is this a story about?

Are there ethical issues involved? If so, what are they?

How can the issue(s) be framed?

What were your priorities during the situation?

Did your priorities change during this clinical episode? If so, how?

What were your major expectations in this clinical situation? Where do you think those expectations came from?

Did anything take you by surprise during the clinical situation?

As the situation unfolded, what were you feeling?

How did you know to take that action (or respond in that way) in the moment? Were there interpersonal, clinical, or environmental cues you were responding to?

Can you identify any rules, principles, concepts, or theories that guided you during this situation?

How did you know to take that action (or respond in that way) in the moment? Were there interpersonal, clinical, or environmental cues you were responding to?

Do you think your perspective about patient care has changed as a result of this clinical encounter? If so, how?

What is this a story about?

Are there ethical issues involved? If so, what are they?

How can the issue(s) be framed?

What were your priorities during the situation?

Did your priorities change during this clinical episode? If so, how?

What were your major expectations in this clinical situation? Where do you think those expectations came from?

Did anything take you by surprise during the clinical situation?

As the situation unfolded, what were you feeling?

How did you know to take that action (or respond in that way) in the moment? Were there interpersonal, clinical, or environmental cues you were responding to?

Can you identify any rules, principles, concepts, or theories that guided you during this situation?

How did you know to take that action (or respond in that way) in the moment? Were there interpersonal, clinical, or environmental cues you were responding to?

Do you think your perspective about patient care has changed as a result of this clinical encounter? If so, how?

For the students' long-term clinical affiliation, a course was created on the Emory Blackboard educational site. After writing their narratives, students used Blackboard (Blackboard Inc, Washington, DC) to participate in an online group discussion. Groups consisted of 6 or 7 students (from a cohort of 70 students). The purpose of small groups was to facilitate follow-up discussion and ultimately develop a shared meaning of each group member's experience. Each group member uploaded his or her narrative, and the other members provided in-depth responses (1 to 3 paragraphs offering their reflections on the narrative). Group members, including the narrative's author, were asked to pose questions and make comments on others' posts in order to further probe meaning and sharpen understanding of the narrative.

Integrating Narratives Into Residency Program

Based on our experiences of integrating narrative tools to enhance physical therapist students' clinical learning, we have instituted a program of narrative writing for our physical therapy residents at Creighton University and Emory University. The residents were trained in the theory and skills of narrative writing and reflection and were asked to write narratives during their 1-year residency in orthopedics and neurology ( Tab. 4 ). Each student wrote narratives across 3 time placements. As is the case with physical therapist students, our goals of narrative training for residents are to help them develop tools of reflection and reflexivity for expert practice.

Experiences of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH)

At MGH, narratives are part of a hospital-based interprofessional development program. 39 As they move through each defined level, clinicians write a first-person description of a clinical experience or situation that was meaningful to them. That narrative is read by one or more department leaders, who meet with the clinician to further discuss and “unbundle” the experience. This process facilitates the therapist's deeper reflection on the meaning of the clinical experience and applications it may have for their practice. For example, questions may be directed to specific words the clinician chose to describe the situation: “You write that the patient interview felt like a ‘battle.’ Tell me more about that.” Or questions may probe thoughts and feeling underlying the written statement: “You describe that you were seeing this patient immediately after they had been given an unexpected prognosis. How did this change your thinking about the session?” The content of these discussions differs from the department's traditional case presentation.

Over time, the use of narrative as a vehicle for reflection and learning from experience has expanded to other role groups. For example, clinical instructors share and discuss narratives of student/patient/clinical instructor interactions related to teaching strategies and student learning challenges. This group unbundling is facilitated by the center coordinators of clinical education, who bring expertise in both narrative interpretation and clinical education. Table 6 provides a summary of narrative experiences across education, residency, and clinical care.

Summary of Experiences Using Narrative Across Professional Education, Residency Program, and Clinical Development Program

Students learn narrative approach to ethical decision making.

Students are introduced to concepts of narrative for reflection and learning. They practice writing a narrative about a learning experience.

Students are instructed to write a narrative about a clinical experience during their short-term clinical rotations using narrative prompts as a guide.

Students practice unbundling narrative meaning in small groups.

Students are instructed to write 2 clinical narratives early and late during their first long-term clinical placement using Gibbs' model as a guide and narrative prompts.

Residents are instructed in how to write narratives and asked to write them early, in the middle of, and later during their residency programs using Gibbs' model to guide narrative writing and narrative prompts.

Residents and resident mentors unbundle and explore narrative meanings and types and levels of reflection.

Clinicians write a first-person description of a clinical experience or situation that was meaningful to them.

Clinicians share their narratives with the center coordinator of clinical education through a process of unbundling.