As a physical therapist, you will work with a wide variety of patients as they recover from surgeries or injuries and aid in that process. You will assist in helping your patients maintain and/or regain their level of mobility through various types of treatments. Examples include stretching activities, manual therapy, and/or electrical-based stimulation. To be successful in your field, you should have certain qualities. In this comprehensive guide, we will outline qualities that will make you a great physical therapist.

Here are the 20 as explained in this article:

1. Have Patience
2. Be Realistic
3. Determination
4. Integrity
5. Communication
6. Attention to Detail
7. Be Respectful
8. Keep in the Know
9. Compassion
10. Resiliency

11. Respect
12. Uphold Obligations
13. Benefit Patients
14. Problem Solving
15. Passion Driven
16. Physical Stamina
17. Time Management
18. Multitasking
19. Leadership
20. Team Player

A Great Physical Therapist

1. Patience

When working with patients, it is important to ensure that you exhibit a high level of patience. You should be calm, cool, and collected – especially when working with patients that are challenging. The treatment plans are not always easy for the patient. The success of the plan and the amount of time it takes will depend on the condition that the patient has, their unique level of motivation, their physical capabilities, and other factors.

2. Always Be Realistic

There are several conditions that are difficult to treat. These include all of those that are currently not curable. You should set realistic expectations for your patients. You should not encourage them to have expectations that are not real or to believe that they will accomplish an outcome that is unrealistic.

3. Determination

When you practice as a physical therapist, it is important to understand and to accept cases that are challenging and to ensure that you keep up your motivation. By staying determined, you will help your patients stay focused and determined. In turn, this will help your patients in the healing process.

4. A High Level of Integrity

You should always focus on being open and in being completely honest with the patients that you help. By having a high level of integrity, you will be able to cultivate healthy relationships with your patients. You should protect the privacy of your patients, act in their best interests, and have very strong ethics. Additionally, you should exhibit professionalism at all times.

5. Always Communicate

Prior to your initial evaluation of your patient and create a customized care plan, you will have a discussion with the patient about the symptoms that they experience and the goals that they have that pertain to their level of physical fitness and their health. If you communicate skillfully, you will find that your patients are more likely to understand the care plan that you put them on and that they are more likely to achieve a better outcome. You should use language that is clear, ask questions, and ensure that communication occurs on your end and the end of your patients.

6. Attentive to Detail

As a physical therapist, you should always pay attention to details associated with the abilities of your patients. Each patient responds differently to different treatments. You should pay attention to how your patients are responding to treatments and you should adjust the treatment plan based on what you are seeing.

7. Be Respectful

As a physical therapist, you should always respect the wishes that your patients have. If you outline a course of action and your patient does not wish to go forward with that treatment, you should respect that. It is permissible to go ahead and offer your opinion – as a professional, but you should respect what your patient thinks and feels, too. You will treat patients from all walks of walk and with all body types so you should respect that fact, too.

8. Keep in the Know

As a physical therapist, you will treat people that suffer from a wide assortment of conditions. This could range from those that impact the joints to those that stem from the nervous system. You should be able to draw from your own knowledge quickly and effectively. Additionally, you should ensure that you specialize in a certain area – such as geriatrics, pediatrics, or oncology. You should stay up-to-date on an assortment of advancements and practices in the physical therapy field and your specialty.

9. Show Compassion

As a physical therapist, you should always show compassion. It is common for patients to be anxious when working with you and to be nervous about engaging in different activities that may prove to be uncomfortable. You should strive to have a pleasant bedside manner and have a good sense of empathy as this will all lead to your level of compassion. Remember to truly care about each of your patients and to ask questions so that you know what each patient hopes to accomplish.

10. High Level of Resiliency

The patients that you work with as a physical therapist will have their good days and their bad days. They will experience ups and downs. To have a high level of resiliency means that you will be able to respond in a positive manner to your patients and you will be able to adapt to adversity and to change and any challenges that may come up.

11. Respect all People

As a physical therapist, you must respect the dignity and the rights of all of the people that you work with. You should respect all ages, genders, races, religions, the economic statuses, sexual orientations, conditions, and/or disabilities. You should never discriminate against others in any way.

12. Uphold Professional and Legal Obligations

While working as a physical therapist, you should comply with all laws and, regulations, and uphold all of the legal obligations associated with your legal position. Failure to uphold these obligations could result in the loss of your practice and not being respected by the clients that you serve and the other medical professionals that you work with.

13. Promote Behaviors and Practices That Benefit Patients and Society

As a physical therapist, you should promote behaviors and engage in practices that benefit patients and society as a whole. You should never consider taking gifts or favors in exchange for services. All documentation should be properly coded and outlined to ensure that you reflect the nature and the full extent of the services that have been provided.

14. Problem Solving Skills

You should have excellent problem-solving skills so that you are able to successfully put a treatment plan into place for each of your patients that will benefit them. Creative solutions will help in helping those you treat in overcoming different barriers that they experience and in achieving their health-related goals.

15. Passionately Driven

When working as a physical therapist, you should be highly passionate about helping people and driven to be the best in your field. A commitment to the success of your patients is a commitment to the field. You must be willing to go above and beyond to make certain that patients receive the care that they need and that they deserve. In being passionately driven, you will be able to successfully inspire and motivate the patients that you serve to succeed in achieving their goals.

16. Physical Stamina

You will spend a lot of your time each day on your feet and performing activities that will require stamina and will depend on your dexterity. You will work with your hands – often making preparing equipment for patient use, doing massages, showing exercises to the patients, and applying resistance to the patient as they engage in certain activities; therefore, it is important to have a high level of physical stamina.

17. Time Management

As a physical therapist, it is important to ensure that you have strong time management skills. It is common to handle many different appointments a day – which results in documenting the conditions of your patients, their progress, and other types of administrative tasks. You should be able to delegate, organize, prioritize, have effective stress management techniques, set goals, and plan.

18. Multitasking

Physical therapists must be able to complete many tasks at once. For example, you may have to instruct on exercises, modify the posture of the patient, observe how the patient responds to your instructions and the activities that they have to perform. You may also have to delegate, organize, schedule, and several other activities at once so it is essential that you have excellent multitasking skills.

19. Leadership Skills

You must be a leader as a physical therapist – even if you are not in a leading role in your practice. This is because you will need to lead patients in the tasks that they perform and ensure that they are motivated to follow your instruction. In short, you must be a go-getter and self-motivated.

20. Team Player

As a physical therapist, you will work closely with other medical professionals, patients, their caregivers, and others. As a result of this, you should be a team player. Work to network with others and improve your connections.

If you want to be a part of an organization that will assist you with this skill, you should join us here at Colorado Physical Therapy Network today. You may learn more by calling us at the following number: 303-757-7004

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