Physical therapy career motivation and clinical medicine field experiences

Motivation for Career Change

Over time, the manner in which different people define success tends to change, and this has certainly been the case with me. Despite the challenges that are involved, I have become highly motivated to make a change in my career that will help fulfill my revised definition of personal and professional success. In this regard, for the past several years, I have been studying clinical medicine and successfully completed my bachelor's degree at Yunyang Medical College in this program of study in mid-2008. Following the completion of my bachelor's degree at Yunyang Medical College, I was employed as an intern at the Weifang Maternal and Child Health Hospital where I gained valuable practical experience in hospital paper-based and computerized administration as well as various treatment protocols. While I found these healthcare experiences to be illuminating and fulfilling, there was something missing. As a result, I came to realize that clinical medicine did not provide me with the hands-on opportunities to help people regain their health that physical therapy provides.

Since that time, I have been actively pursuing a course of study in physical therapy at the University of Findlay, Ohio, where I am majoring in pre-physical therapy. To date, besides my academic coursework, I have completed more than 100 hours of empirical observations concerning how physical therapists examine patients and develop treatment plans using various techniques to promote movement, reduce pain, restore motion, and prevent disability at the Blanchard Valley Hospital Rehabilitation's Findlay Campus facility.

Besides the foregoing activities and academic pursuits, I have also joined the Physical Therapy Organization at Blanchard Valley and have volunteered for a number of activities in support of these services. These experiences with the very young and elderly have confirmed for me that physical therapy is the appropriate career choice. Indeed, being able to help people that need the help, watching them improve over time to the point where they eventually no longer require physical therapy is extremely gratifying.

Rather than a complete change in career paths, though, I believe this new direction in career pursuits represents an extension and amplification of my former goal of becoming the best healthcare professional possible rather than an about-face in career planning. Indeed, my bachelor's degree in clinical medicine provided me with the professional medical background that I needed to recognize the significance of the work performed by physical therapists and how they can achieve life-changing results in their patients over time.