Addendum to FOI

Forgot to add my excitement about my lunch break today... in lieu of relaxing and enjoying a meal, I will be taking part in some VO2 testing (google it for more info-on phone no link capacity, sorry).

Basic info is as follows:
Get a couple of monitors on me including a chest strap Heart Rate monitor and a mask over my face that makes breathing a little dry (to say the least). Up on a treadmill, start at 3.0 mph, 0 percent incline, every minute goes up 1.0 mph until 9.0 mph, then the incline increases every minute by 1.0 percent (as I recall). Go to failure (some places have a mattress behind the treadmill because to get the best readings you really need to go to failure. I did do this test once before and felt good doing it (but I didn't go to failure - wanted to be able to walk home :)

Since I am trying to get a little more serious about running, mar/bi/tri/urban-athlon's this is going to help me determine my ideal heart rate training zones which is great since I recently purchased a Heart Rate monitor (an Ironman Triathlon-Timex model). Similar to the one Bruce Banner is wearing in Incredible Hulk. I am wearing it now on my commute to the course. It involves a chest strap and displays my HR on my watch right above the time - just shot up to 90 when a rude lady sat next to me on the train (Bo angry!), but I'm lowering it down to my normal resting (commuter resting which is a little higher maybe) of 65 - blogging seems to relax me too :)

I will try to update you guys on every change in my HR, just kidding, I will however try to give you a summary of FOI day 2 and the results of the VO2 test.

HR currently 76.

Functional Orthopaedics One

On my way to my first (true)-continuing education course (first since I actually graduated). Last night was the first 4 hours and was packed with usefulness and fun (the instructor, cheryl, is great). This is also my first day of work I am ever missing :-O

Last night we set up the course with some great review that had a lot of new kinks that I never kne before about some of the basic stuff (like collagen has a half-life of 300-600 days which is significant for healing/restructuring of skin/wounds/etc.).

Went over some evals of sitting posture, standing posture, core strength, gait... all that great functional-outcome heart of PT stuff :)

Looking forward to the nearly 30 or so hours of class over the next 3 days. I will miss sleep however. Trying to apply what I learn back to the acute setting and towards the boards... which I am still finding some time to study for (or at least put the book under my pillow at night to get the info through osmosis :)

I took some pics of the Brooklyn Bridge and FDR Dr. waterfalls that I will try to post sooner than later, wicked cool stuff (did I just type wicked (twice) never goin to boston again), google the waterfalls I am sure there are better photos out there anyway...

Its gonna be a hot one here in NY so stay cool wherever you are...

This was my moment of zen for the day... two of New York's finest trying to break back into their car because they locked the keys in the car... wow

Studying the second time

After the initial shock of my first real week of work- pretty much ever :) I am starting to get rolling with everything.

For work, the documentation, policies and procedures are almost as important as the clinical decision making process, so that is all coming along. I will soon be switching to a Tues-Sat schedule which should be interesting (especially b.c public transportation generally stinks on weekends).

Had a very fun weekend in new england despite the fact that I am a jets/yankees fan and despise all those sports teams and their fans :) Finally got some Maine lobster which I'd wanted to do for a long time.

So with all this bizzy-ness I still find time to study for my licensure exam. As I had previously known but am re-learning, when you have an expanded knowledge with application and can reflect things just make so much more sense.

For instance, I was overwhelmed when in school with the massive amounts of neurological content, but studying it now I can better extract the most relevant parts (this goes for all areas, but especially neuro). An example is Parkinson Disease (which I believe has no 's' at the end of Parkinson, but many text's have it as such?), this basically breaks down to a deficiency of inhibitory dopamine which allows for excessive excitatory output, hence all of the symptoms: rigidity, resting tremor along with the fact that it is a chronic, progressive degenerative disease.

Point is studying now puts all of the info into a whole new and exciting light. I'm getting to where I want to be but realize I have a long ways to go as a clinician, gonna have to (as the kids say) 'stay on my grind.'

First week 'o work

I started out Monday at my acute care hospital and am having a great time (except for the 2-hr commute each way).

The first four weeks is basically an orientation where I become familiar or re-familiarize (since I was a student here almost 2 years ago). The computer and paper systems for documentation just take a couple of repetitions to become well adept with - I consider my speed of learning one of my strengths, so bada-bing, bada-boom.

We are working our way through diagnoses starting with hips and knees, then spine and feet, then upper extremity (the elbow and below mostly gets seen by the one OT on staff). Acute care is where a lot of the healthcare process starts, so it is great to start my first job where a lot of patients start. The interplay with surgeons, medical doctors, residents, PA's, PNO, case managers/workers, RN's and a littany of other staff is crucial to becoming a better overall PT.

My ultimate goal is to stay in the ortho/sports realm, probably some form of an outpatient clinic and hopefully with a large focus on preventing injuries!

'It is much easier to stay healthy, than to return to being healthy.'

I do need to keep up with my manual skills and next weekend will be taking a very hands-on manual course which should be a great learning experience.

Anyway, I am in the dreaded town of beans (aka boston) for the weekend, gonna try to study for the boards as much as I can. Hope you all have a weekend to remember and GO YANKS!!!

First Impressions

You only get one chance to make a first impression... or so they say.

In a few hours I will be making my second first impression at my Hospital, since I was there as a student almost two years ago. The problem is I have to start out by asking for days off because of a continuing education course I had already signed up and paid for before knowing I had this position and now getting called for jury duty, grrr. Being stuck in jury duty for a percentage of the summer would be a pretty bad first impression to make, missing the hospital-wide orientation... but at least it may give me a chance to study for my boards? I hear you get a lot of free time in jury duty, maybe?

Well, I am off to start my two-hour commute, hope you guys are experiencing great first impressions today!

Oh, by the way, I ran the 5-mile race yesterday in 41:46, cutting my 13.1 mile pace down by a whole 5 seconds... which is pretty bad and not what I was shooting for at all :(
But I got to be on t.v. and have a ton of excuses as to why I didn't do as well as I should have, including the 96% relative humidity, but there are no excuses, just results, so I need to do better next time!

Hope everyone had a great father's day!

And now for something really special... two of my best father friends:

PTCA and Random Effects Model

Oh reviewing... there is so much info, but it is all good...

Thought I would share these random definitions I came across in my studies:

One of the most common non-surgical treatment for opening obstructed coronary arteries is Percutanueous Transluminal Coronary Angioplasty (PTCA). The name itself says a lot about the procedure:

Percutaneous means access to the blood vessel is made through the skin

Transluminal means the procedure is performed within the blood vessel

C oronary specifies that the coronary artery is being treated

Angioplasty means "to reshape" the blood vessel (with balloon inflation)Also referred to as "balloon treatment" because special balloons are used to open up obstructed arteries, illustrated on the left, this procedure sometimes also involves the use of devices known as "stents" to help keep the arteries open.

Statistics has a lot of different ways to say practically the same thing and here is one of those fun terms:

Random effects model

This is a statistical model sometimes used in meta-analysis in which both within-study sampling error (variance) and between-studies variation are included in the assessment of the uncertainty (confidence interval) of the results of a meta-analysis.

If there is significant heterogeneity among the results of the included studies, random effects models will give wider confidence intervals than fixed effect models.

- I am fairly certain that this is expressed on a scale of 0-1 and the closer to 1.0 this figure is the less likely the study is to be random and more likely there is more confidence in that study...

There is also a pooled effect estimate... if you read through this Cochrane explanation of heterogeneity you will see the terms meshed together... we really need to have a more clear and concise set of terms!!!

I am assuming this won't be on the boards so, uh, yeah :-D
Back to the meat & potatoes of PT

NYRR - Father's Day Race

This Sunday I will be running in the New York Road Runner's Father's Day Race for my father and grandfather that have passed away (not from prostate cancer, but still)

NYRR - Father's Day Race

Come out, have a good time... if you have never been to any of these races you should try to come out to one and cheer, volunteer, or run/walk/crawl in one, they are a ton of fun!

Random Thoughts

Firstly, mobile blogging stinks when people actually call your phone and you lose valuable paragraphs of brilliant blogging.

Secondly, here is a picture I took in a NYC Subway station that I wanted to share with the Street Anatomy folks as well as the Revealed folks. Enjoy.Thirdly, studying on the train is not as fun as it once was.

Bout to start working

So monday I will begin working in an orthopedic-based acute care unit (first few days after surgery). There will be a lot of patients with total hip, knee, and shoulder replacements as well as spinal surgeries and a ton of other very interesting diagnoses. I was there for 6 weeks about 2 years ago as a student and had a great time. My ultimate goal is to work down to the sports unit and be able to utilize more hands on manual therapy skills.

Side note, blogger.com has too many security wwarnins on my phone making it quite a lengthy process to mobile blog.

More updates to come and much more board preparation mixed with job preparation to come as well (more for me than you guys I suppose).

Have a slendiforous day!

Update the Links!

The title of this post is what I really need to do... been busy people...

I took a position with the Hospital for Special Surgery yesterday! It is a temporary position but I think it will be a perfect way to start things off.

Not as a matter of bragging but to share info :) I was 4/4 in interviews/offers.

After being at 3 weddings in the last three weeks, I am just focusing on getting my mind right, studying for the licensure exam, getting my temporary license so I can start working, and learning as much as I can about the world (of PT?)

Crazy exciting times

Links to come!

Admission to PT Programs

It has been a while since I checked the APTA site for the educational programs, but I stumbled upon this list of requirements from each PT program which is a fantastic step towards standardization of requirements for PT programs. If you take a quick glance through, which I did, you can still see a wide array of differences, but this is a very helpful document... I wish they had this when I was looking at PT schools... am I really old enough to say that "I wish they had that when I was a kid"?