My name is Leslie Beck and I'm a Physical Therapist here at the Plains Health Centre. I've been here for about a year and a half and I've been working in the field for three years now.

[Decision To Enter This Particular Occupation:]

Physical Therapy is a field that appeals to me because I'm able to meet a lot of people and work with people throughout the day, as well as, combine my love of Science.

[Education & Training:]

I went to school in Saskatoon at the University of Saskatchewan. It's a four year program there and they've just changed the program now to include five full years of school required for a Bachelor's Degree in Physical Therapy.

[Succeeding:]

To be a successful Physical Therapist, it's really important to love people and to really show an interest in your patients, a love of learning (because there's always things new going on in the field), as well as a genuine interest in health care and, you know, excellence - working hard each day to do the best for your patient.

[Teamwork Skills:]

Teamwork is very important. We work quite closely with many other disciplines here in the acute care setting. Of course we're working with the Nursing staff, the Physicians, the Occupational Therapists, working with other Therapists (within our own department) and all the staff within the entire hospital. In other fields, of course, you may be working with families, but keeping in mind that the team can be very large or very small, whatever setting you're in.

[Skills Needed:]

I think there are certain skills that you come to the job with. You certainly look to being a Physical Therapist with a team attitude, but then those skills are developed as you work with the team members - as you get to know the team members. Some of it is theoretical, that you learn from school, but you certainly develop it on the job.

[Attitude & Positive Behaviour:]

Positive attitude goes a long way for you and you certainly get a lot more from your patients as well as your co-workers if you're exhibiting a positive attitude. We find that it's very important and it certainly makes your job a lot more enjoyable and certainly makes you a more enjoyable person to work with.

[Change & Adaptability:]

Change is so important in health care these days, for one minute something's going on and the next minute you turn around and you're certainly seeing that change is occurring all the time. With patients you're seeing change from morning to afternoon and to be able to adapt to that change and the needs of the patient. Same thing with the nursing staff, you're working with one person one hour, another person another hour, so everything's changing quite quickly and adaptability is really the name of the game.

[Ongoing Training:]

In our profession there's a real emphasis on learning. We, through the hospital, have a lot of opportunity for continuing education, so we've often got opportunity to attend courses within the hospital as well as outside the hospital. Also your own independent learning, just keeping up with regular journal readings and stopping at the library to pick up some articles or if you have a particular question, taking the initiative to look it up is always helpful.

[Typical Work Day:]

A typical day would usually start off in the staff room in our department, usually meeting with your other co-workers in the Physical Therapy department, and arranging any events that you have going together. For example, if we're sharing a room or something, we might have to discuss whether or not it's available at a certain time. Also, spending some time with the paper work, getting your list organized for the day - which patients you're going to see - perhaps priorizing which patients need more attention, which patients need less, designing any teaching sessions you need to get ready for, that sort of thing. Then probably by, say, 9 o'clock in the morning, I'm off to see patients. I usually start my morning off in the Intensive Care Unit, simply because the patients are ready for me at that time of day. It's a routine that we've worked through with the Nursing Staff and it seems to work well if I start there. Then progressing on to the other areas of care.

Throughout my day, I do individual patient treatments as well as working on some teaching sessions, both individually and group teaching. I'm also fortunate enough to participate in rounds, which is a daily meeting that the Intensive Care staff has to discuss patient problems and concerns - a lot of patient care. Also, occasionally I have meetings to attend in the afternoon regarding patient care or committee work that's designed for improving patient care in long term.

[Most Challenging Aspect:]

The most challenging aspect of my job is probably working with the patients and providing the best quality care that I can each day. Every patient is different, will respond differently to your treatment and you have to be able to adapt to provide the best care that you can and since every person is an individual, there's a hundred different ways you can provide the best quality service.

[Most Satisfying Aspect:]

The most satisfying part of my particular job right now is seeing a very sick person progress on to someone who is able to return home and be functional. Certainly, there's daily milestones - if someone's struggling with something in particular and you're able to go on together successfully, then that's definitely satisfying. Seeing a person start off as very critically ill and progress on to function is certainly very satisfying.

Physical Therapy is a wonderful profession if you love people and you love science. I think there's a lot of qualified people out there that would do an excellent job as a Physical Therapist. It’s certainly a wonderful job. The lifestyle is nice cause we generally work Monday to Friday's and can be very well balanced with a family or with a busy social life. There's lots of things going on that it fits into your lifestyle nicely. If you love people and love learning, this is an excellent profession.