Professionalism for a D.P.T student is to acquire the highest level of skill, judgment, and competency expected of a future Physical Therapist (PT). According to the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), PT’s must aspire to the principles of “altruism, excellence, caring, ethics, respect, communication, and accountability” when working with other professionals to achieve health and wellness in “individuals and communities”. It becomes the responsibility of D.P.T students to adopt these principles but to do so requires practice and application of these principles. Now to succeed in this aspect, I believe a D.P.T student should focus on engaging in acts of altruism, communication, and accountability because these are attributes that …show more content…
student is not only to learn the skills necessary to become a successful PT but to embrace the principles behind the profession. During my time at South Coast Physical Therapy, I experienced what it meant to embrace altruism as a part of professionalism. South Coast is a pediatric physical therapy clinic where the patients’ age ranged from 5 to 13 years old with congenital/genetic disorders. As a volunteer/aide, my duties included assisting PTs with exercise prescriptions to generating exercise prescriptions that would keep the patients actively engaged. These duties required a thoughtful approach because of the patient demographic I was helping. Throughout this process, I inevitably fostered a deep sense of care and empathy for the patients I was helping. Furthermore, my duties trained me to work collectively with others in order to best serve the needs of the patient. From this experience, I discovered the bliss that comes from helping patients and the desire to continue to serve them alongside peers. The insights from my time at South Coast Physical Therapy taught me to continually strive to serve patients with selflessness and responsibility. If D.P.T students are expected to learn the essentials of becoming a PT, it becomes important for the students to adopt a selfless and caring attitude to experience the joy of serving their