Another week finished...

We had another great week in class. We were able to finish the cervical exam and start discussing interventions. The students did a great job with learning mobilizations. I am really proud of how everyone is trying new techniques on several people not just their lab partners. It is so beneficial for them to palpate as many different bodies as they can. I am not certain that the students necessarily believe how important it is but it will definitely pay off for them.

In lecture we spoke about some of the exciting research that has been coming out in the past few years. Namely we discussed clinical prediction rules which allow us, as therapists, to predict the likelihood of being successful with our treatment if our patients meet certain criteria. I get so pumped about this stuff....I hope it wears off on my students. I told the students that when they go out on their clinicals they will be teaching the new literature to other more experienced therapists who have not been exposed to it.

Tomorrow I will be back in the clinic. Literally, practicing what I preach all week long.

School has started,,,Hoooray

The new semester has begun. My new group of second year physical therapy students looks great. We have started off really well. Yesterday, we met for the first time. I really look forward to that first day of school every year. It is almost like Christmas for me...I have trouble sleeping the night before because I am so excited to go and "see what I got." It looks like I "got" a lot of great students. That first day everyone is on their best behavior and trying to see what they are in for. Yesterday we did some ice-breakers so that I could get to know the students a little better. It is always fun and enjoyable. I heard a lot about how hard working and helpful just about everyone is...I hope it continues through my time with them. I even heard about something to do with eating cat poop. I didn't really delve into this, I just left well enough alone. While I feel like I am a pretty curious and inquisitive person, there are certain things that I really don't want to know.

I gave my yearly discourse on respect and the responsibility of being a doctoral student. I think that students should live up to the title of being a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Many students went through similar schooling and did not receive the same title, so I like to remind the students of this with the hopes of pushing them to go a little farther, stand a little taller, study a little longer, try a little harder, and comport themselves a little better. I have great confidence that they will make me proud.

Today in lab we spent time getting to know the spine. We talked about surface landmarks and identified every spinous process with pen and marker on everyone's backs. It was great to see all the marked up students with ink from the top of their spines to the bottom. I really need to take a picture of all the markings (some had more than others).

Tomorrow I am in the clinic. It is nice to go from teaching about physical therapy to practicing physical therapy and back again. I love that about my situation. I am a better teacher because of my time in the clinic and I am a better clinician because of my time in the classroom.

Vacation Update

I am still in Salt Lake City. It has been really nice spending time with family and friends. Of course we spent some time up in the mountains (I can never get too much of being in the mountains where it is cool, smells like pine trees, and is so beautiful). We spent some time in Millcreek Canyon with Quisha's (my wife) family. Here is a link to some nice photos of Millcreek Canyon: http://www.utahpictures.com/Mount_Aire.php
My daughters, Hannah and Sasha, went wading in the river (creek) they wanted me to show them how to skip rocks. The water was so cold (it is runoff from the snow pack--so very cold) I couldn't stay in for very long. Hannah, on the other hand, just stayed in apparently unaware of the freezing cold water and threw rocks until...she lost her footing and fell completely in. She quickly decided it was cold. Unfortunately, we didn't bring her an extra set of clothing (I don't know what we were thinking!?) but since we were only about 15 minutes from home we just went home to change her clothes and then sped back up the canyon for more mountain fun.

We roasted hot dogs and beans and of course s'mores. I even made some banana boats. What are banana boats? Well, my version is: open a banana with just a quarter of the peel exposing the banana, slice the banana lengthwise and make room to put chocolate and marshmallows, replace the peel and wrap in foil. Place the foil-covered banana in the hot coals of the fire and wait 5-10 minutes until the chocolate and marshmallows are melted and the banana is warmed. Carefully remove from the fire, unwrap the foil, and enjoy...yum. My wife likes to add peanut butter. Delicious both ways. How is it that food always tastes better in the mountains?

Well, I must run to pick up my daughters from a sleepover with their cousins: Ari, Natalie, and Katie. I am sure they all had a great time and probably had very little sleep...we should probably call it a stayover rather than a sleepover...

Heading Home for the Holiday

Tomorrow morning I am flying to my hometown, Salt Lake City. I am excited to see my family. I have been a bachelor for the past almost 3 weeks so I am really missing them. My kids look forward to going to spend time with their grandparents and cousins and friends each year. It is really great for them as they don't see any of their extended family too much since the extended family all live in SLC. SLC is really great little city with mountains surrounding the entire city. Every direction you look you see mountains. It has been somewhat difficult trying to find my bearings in Kansas City when I am so used to having the mountains to act as permanent guideposts.

This has been an interesting couple of days as I have worked in two different physical therapy clinics that are so very different in their business models. One has the policy of whomever is available of the therapists will treat any given patient. So a patient may have several physical therapists treating her and treatments are typically lengthy. The other clinic is more traditional in that each patient is assigned to a therapist and will be consistently seen by the same therapist throughout the course of his treatment. This clinic also only treats patients for 30 minutes. It was a bit difficult to go from a somewhat chaotic but lengthy treatment to a very regimented and trim treatment. When I first learned about the "whomever is available" model, I somewhat choked and thought that this would never work after all "the continuity of care must be pathetic." However, I have found that the patients and the physicians who refer to this clinic are on the high majority very pleased with their care. I find this somewhat fascinating because theoretically I don't think it should work but practically, at least in this clinic, it works very well. I think it works well for several reasons: 1) All the therapists communicate well with each other, 2) the clinic is small enough that even though one therapist is not directly treating a patient, each can give input to all patients, and 3) since many therapists are working on the same patient this allows for the patient to have the benefit of many hands, eyes, and minds working for the same goals.

Well, I will enjoy a few good days seeing my family and celebrating the birth of this great, albeit mislead, country. I hope you all have a great 4th of July. Be safe.

Dedicated Faculty

I went into Rockhurst today to meet my new graduate assistant. She is a first year physical therapy student. I am having her work on a really cool project that I will write about on my next blog. She will be helping me with my physical therapy ontology. This is a work that has been years in the making with the contributions of all of the students whom I have taught here at Rockhurst (exciting stuff...stay tuned).

I just have to mention about the PT Faculty at Rockhurst...most of the faculty are off contract like me but guess who I saw...Don Hoover, Jean Hiebert, Catherine Thompson, I heard (I didn't actually see him) Jim Dronberger, and I noticed that Brian McKiernan was in his office. Granted some of these professors are teaching during the summer but 60% of those who are not teaching were on campus. Talk about dedication!! I really must say how proud I am to be part of such a great group of dedicated Physical Therapists/Teachers. They are all great and I feel lucky to know each of them.

I had a conversation with Don Hoover who is putting together a ROCKING motion analysis lab. He has worked hard along with Brian, Jean, and Mohamed Kohia to get this state-of-the-art lab put together. If you have a chance, stop by and check it out-- it is going to be sweet. I can't wait to start to playing with it--I mean do "research."

School's Out For the Summer

I am currently "off contract" for the summer, so I am not teaching at Rockhurst. Most people upon hearing that I am "off contract" imagine that I am just puttering around doing nothing. I have to explain that although I am not teaching, I am definitely working. This summer I will be working full-time as a physical therapist and preparing my classes for the fall.

Okay, I do get some time off...I just returned from New York City. It was so great. The sights, sounds, and smells??? were just how I remembered it. My wife and I left our daughters with their grandparents and we took the red eye to the big apple. It felt like we were back home (we spent a couple of years there while attending PT school at Columbia University). We saw four Broadway shows, each was great: Wicked, Young Frankenstein, Spamalot, and Spring Awakening. We ate great food. If you have never been to New York don't be afraid to eat the street food it is superb. We saw some old friends. It was really a great time. We went to Viking Children's Books and met my publisher and editors for my new children's book that comes out on July 3rd called Raymond and Graham Rule the School. If you want a good laugh check it out.. it is good for adults too.