PT Aide struggles

[lzey44]

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I have been a part time PT aide for about 2 months now. Im doing PT prereqs full time at my county college. I am now just starting to have a majority of the exercises/terms memorized, however throughout the time the clinics been dead a lot, and Ive worked with different PTs who have different abbreviations. Its sooo much to memorize! But the other full time aide has it all down pat. I dont want to get fired for being incompetent, can anyone relate? also, I cant stand having to interrupt the PTs all the time to ask questions. This has all been on the job training. I even offered to come in on time off and not get paid just to shadow and learn. Is it me?

 

[LVL]

I totally understand how you feel!!

I've been working as an aide for 6 months now and I previously volunteered at their parter clinic for 4 months. It STILL took me a couple of months at my job to get everything down. Each PT has a different name/technique/rules for each exercise. It will NOT be annoying for them if you ask. They would rather you ask and tell the patient what to do correctly than you guessing and the patient doing something wrong and risk getting hurt or have more pain.

Also, my clinic gave me a little booklet of exercises and how to do them when I first started and I studied that, it helped a lot. Ask if they have something like that!

Something else I would do, if I didn't know an exercise or how to explain it, I would ask the PT to show it to the patient as I watched. This way I would know exactly what terms to use when explaining it to the patient and which form they wanted.

It's definitely not you! It's good that you want to learn the correct way to do everything and the PTs will sense that! I Hope my little rant helps 🙂 Good luck!

 

[sammypt]

I have to agree with @LVL . I have officially been working as an aide for over 6 months and I had to learn a lot when I started. There are 9 PT's at the clinic I work at and they each had their own techniques and exercises. They were so happy I would ask for their help and they were super patient. Also, I asked the other aides there. They were also very helpful. The therapists completely understand what you're going through. Remember, they were in your shoes in the past as well. Good luck! Keep on going and just stay positive with everything.

 

[lzey44]

Thanks so much guys!! The other aides are more experienced and Ihad none so I feel like everyone loses their patience with me/ I dont live up to expectations. Ugh hope I get this down fast!

 

[djm5333]

Thanks so much guys!! The other aides are more experienced and Ihad none so I feel like everyone loses their patience with me/ I dont live up to expectations. Ugh hope I get this down fast!

I would never lose my patience with you 🙂 I'm sure youre an amazing person and a smart individual. Those other women cant deny your awesomeness 😉

 

[BAKE84]

Thanks so much guys!! The other aides are more experienced and Ihad none so I feel like everyone loses their patience with me/ I dont live up to expectations. Ugh hope I get this down fast!

All about experience. Learn each PTs quirks and abbreviations.. learn how to read the chicken scratch (he should've been a doctor!) and it will all flow from there! A lot of the exercises have the same end goal but each PT has his/her own method. I've been an aide before but now I'm at a new clinic and I have to learn new names and timing for the same exercises. Things are set up differently everywhere and we all have to be able to adapt. You are NOT the only one! Personal example: old clinic- table cleaner was on cart. new clinic- water bottle on cart (table cleaner underneath table) ... so ask me how many times I've "cleaned" a table with water so far... just about every day before I realize it's not the cleaner or someone catches me... hahaha. Just roll with it. You're learning to work with the PTs/patients as much as they're learning to work with you! You've got it @lzey44 !!