Katie Woosley

Wow—so much has happened over the last few months! I finished my last clinical rotation ever, headed back to school to study for and take our comprehensive exam, presented my capstone research (which I will dive into on the next post), and then, after a long three years, finally graduated!

My Final Clinical Rotation

My last clinical rotation was at a small outpatient orthopedic clinic affiliated with a hospital system. This placement was pretty last minute because there had been a mix up with my previously assigned rotation. Although this situation caused some stress, I truly believe everything happens for a reason because it turns out my clinical instructor (CI) is married to the PT who I completed an internship with in high school and has been a mentor to me throughout my pre-PT and PT school journey. Such a small world!

I was a little nervous to dive back into outpatient ortho because this last year of PT school had been so peds and neuro heavy for me. It took a little bit of time for me to get back into an ortho mindset, but, fortunately, I had retained more than I thought. The first few days of my clinical, we happened to have a lot of cancellations, which gave my CI and I time to sit down and talk about my strengths and weaknesses and go over concepts/techniques I needed to practice. This was very helpful and made sure we were on the same page. My CI was a great teacher and I learned so much talking through cases and concepts with him, hearing his thought processes, and watching him treat. He helped me further develop my clinical reasoning, improve my manual techniques, and taught me new interventions. There was one other PT and a PTA at this clinic, and I enjoyed learning from both of them as well.

Our caseload included a wide age-range of patients with a variety of musculoskeletal conditions as well as a few patients with gait and balance disorders. Many of my patients had undergone surgeries such as ACL reconstruction, total knee replacement, and rotator cuff repair. I also worked with several athletes which were probably the most challenging patients for me at first because I hadn’t had a lot of experience with this population and don’t have a background in sports myself. Once I gained more experience, they became some of my favorite patients to work with because I could really challenge them and be creative with my interventions. This rotation was 10 weeks which allowed me to see many patients from start to finish which I loved! I gradually worked my way up to seeing my CI’s full caseload which was anywhere from 8-10 patients a day.

Looking back on my first outpatient orthopedic rotation at the beginning of PT school versus now makes me realize how much I have grown as a person and future clinician. I have gained so much knowledge and become much more confident in my skills. Evaluations and treatments have become more automatic and natural—I no longer have to think about each step in my head like I did in the beginning. It is crazy to think that next time I am working with a patient I will be introducing myself as a physical therapist rather than a student!

Comprehensive Exam

After clinical was over, I headed straight back to school to prepare for our comprehensive exam—one of the final steps of PT school! This exam is a practice board exam to help us prepare for the real licensure exam in July. It is 4 hours long and is comprised of everything we learn in PT school. Although it is a practice exam, our school has a set score we need to “pass”. I had planned to begin studying for it over clinical, but after a full work day, minimal studying was completed. This means I did pretty much all of my studying in the 3 weeks between the end of clinical and the exam. The thought of this was overwhelming, but I tried to keep in mind that this was the last big thing before graduation. My roommate and I were in the same boat with our studying, so we both printed out a plan that guided us through our big study guide textbook. Trying to study the entire PT school curriculum in three weeks made for very long days, but somehow we got through the entire book (with lots of study breaks, snacks, and coffee). Let’s just say, I am very thankful to have much longer to prepare for the actual board exam.

I went into the online exam very nervous but also at peace knowing I had worked hard to prepare. Little did we know, we would end up having one final test of resilience when my university’s internet went out about thirty minutes into the test. It usually comes right back on, but this time it stayed out for well over an hour and the timer on our test just kept ticking down. I had prepared for a lot of situations but this was not one of them. Fortunately, the internet eventually came back on and the timer started over once it reached zero.. This was definitely one of the most stressful moments of PT school but it all worked out in the end, and now we can laugh about it! I was so happy to have this exam behind me!

Graduation!!

A few weeks after our exam, graduation was finally here! It was a jam-packed day with three different events—the university ceremony, a lunch for our program, and our college/hooding ceremony. Although it was a long day, it was a great one! I loved being able to celebrate with my family, friends, and classmates.

These past three years have been the hardest, yet most rewarding years of my life. PT school has challenged me physically, emotionally, and mentally, but has led to so much growth both personally and professionally. As I stood in gross anatomy lab that first summer semester, I truly questioned if I was cut out for all of this, but now, I am finishing confident in my abilities as a future PT and eager to keep learning. I am so glad I trusted the process, trusted my professors, and, most importantly, trusted that God had me right where I was supposed to be. This program has brought me the sweetest friendships, wonderful mentors, and so many memories. My class has 32 people, and it can be difficult to bring a group that big together. However, we all communicated, supported one another, and completed this journey as a team! I am excited to see where we all end up and all that we accomplish in the future!

I am beyond thankful for my parents, family, friends, professors, and classmates for their constant support through the whirlwind of PT school. I am so excited to begin this next chapter in a career I am so passionate about!

So happy to finally introduce myself as Dr. Katie Woosley, DPT!