Tips for new grads

Due to popular demand and a recent influx of followers requesting “advice for new grads”, here we are.

Now that I’m over three years removed from the newly graduated phase of life, I think I can offer some wise-ish words regarding what I would do again AND what I wish I had done as a new grad. Let’s break this down into an easily digestible list of 5 items:

1. Seek Out a Mentor & Supportive Environment

Luckily for me, my corporate PT job offered an incredible mentorship program right out of the gates. Not only did I have a seasoned clinician assigned to me who I’d meet with on a regular basis, but I also was part of a “new grad cohort”. The cohort, along with the individual mentor and a fantastic clinic director helped form the clinical safety net I so desperately desired. Surrounding yourself with experienced clinicians is key. That’s why it’s #1 on my list! If your job or life situation inhibits your ability to have a mentor, look to the internet. Watch youtube videos, listen to podcasts, and reach out to your fellow classmates. Build a friendly network of people smarter than you. It’s crucial.

2. Be a Curious Listener

Your strongest asset isn’t a fancy technique—it's your ability to listen. New grads often talk through their evaluation, but the best PTs let patients tell their stories. Studies show clinicians who “listen five times more than they talk” build better rapport and uncover vital information shiftmovementscience.com.

It’s quite common for me to spend the first 30 minutes of the initial evaluation sitting there just listening. Insert a probing question or two, try to paint a mental picture of how this person came to be in front of you with the injury at hand, and maintain an open mind throughout each line of questioning. It never ceases to amaze me at how many golden nuggets reveal themselves when you allow your mouth to stop moving and let the patient tell you their story.

3. Embrace a Lifelong Learning Mindset

Imagine a world in which the art of physical therapy had remained stagnant since it’s birth in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Kind of wild to picture, right?

While we are clinicians first, we are researchers second. Sure, we might not be spearheading the randomized controlled trials at the large institutions, but someone else is, and we need to stay on top of that shit. Every new patient you see is a case study. Every follow-up visit a new evaluation to determine if your interventions, education, and hypothesis are correct. Strive to prove yourself wrong, learn from your mistakes, and stay eager to learn of all the new-comings in the field of physical therapy. It’s cool!

4. avoid burnout

Here’s the thing about physical therapists - we care. We care about our patient’s SO MUCH SO that we often sacrifice time, sleep, and sanity in order to ensure they get the best possible care. The well-known downside in the classic outpatient setting is the fact that you’re often forced to double and triple yourself with patients every hour. That makes it extremely tough to critically think, educate, trial-and-error, and treat the individual in front of you. Plus, it all has to be documented in a timely manner. Thus, burnout ensues.

So how to we combat this? Here’s what I did. And it worked pretty well, but I still ended up peacing out and opening my own clinic because that’s just me.

Practice documenting on the go throughout your day / with your patients. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT take it all home with you. It’ll feel like work is all-consuming in life.

Do fun things with co-workers. Every so often it’s fun to bitch about work and bond with the one’s you spend all day with. Taking a load off and sharing a fun experience outside of the clinic is necessary.

Be upfront with management about your schedule expectations. I was quick to let our front desk staff know that they could not, under any circumstance, triple me in an hour without checking with me first. And if my schedule started to feel like too much I never hesitated to let my clinic director know. There should be some flexibility when it comes to your schedule. Yes, of course, patients need to get seen. But not at the complete expense of your sanity.

5. Discover Your Niche & Build Your Brand

This is a fun one! I think it’s all too easy to fall into a comfortable rhythm in physical therapy and suddenly find yourself giving the same 5 exercises to every patient you see for low back pain. I’ve been there, I totally get it. But to combat this, I recommend looking inward and challenging yourself to identify what cases / patients you really enjoy working with.

Is it the grandmother who wants to be stronger to lift her grandchildren? The working dad who just wants to get out of back pain and back to golfing? Or the Parkinson’s patient whose family is trying to maximize his ability to walk independently?

Finding the diagnosis and populations you vibe with the most can do a couple things. First, it gives you an opportunity to do more research into a topic you thoroughly enjoy, and therefore you become your version of an “expert” on those cases. Secondly, it gradually helps you build your brand. I loved seeing weight-lifters, and they started to love seeing me as well. Eventually, as people talk, they’re saying “Go see Roni for xyz, she’ll get you back to lifting in no time”. And just like that, a personal brand was conceived.

In closing, know that nobody knows exactly what they’re doing right away. Not in physical therapy, not in finance, or real estate, or podiatry, or any other profession that requires time and reps to refine. Thankfully, the physical therapy community is tight-knit and eager to help one another (hence why I write this newsletter and create content on a regular basis).

Be patient, give yourself grace, and hit me up if you have further questions!

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