Community Connections
Networking Event - September 23, 2019
I sat down with physical therapist Joseph Ingriselli from Advanced Physical Therapy LLC in Farmington, CT. Mr. Ingriselli thought that my question was very good and specific. I asked him if there was anything he thought I could change to broaden it or any advice in general. He said that there was nothing he would change, but there are other topics I could possibly incorporate. For example, he talked about how the neuromuscular component (how the brain and the knee communicate) could be a possible route I take with this question as it’s an increasingly popular topic in the medical field. But, overall, he thinks that I have a solid question. Adding on, I asked him if I could extend my question to compare knee surgeries on females vs. males (Ms. Stokoe had talked to me about using this as a possibility, so I wanted to get a specialists idea about it). His response was that he hasn’t really seen a huge difference in male vs. female knee injuries/surgeries, but I could still explore it as a possibility. Mr. Ingriselli offered me a lot of advice and insight throughout the interview, such as what his typical work day/week looks like. He also provided me with a lot of names of physician assistants and private doctor’s offices that I could potentially shadow. I had tried to find PA’s to shadow over the summer, but at all of the larger hospitals, you need to be 18 in order to shadow anyone. Therefore his suggestions were very useful and I will definitely be reaching out to some of the people he mentioned.
Week of November 20th, 2019
Throughout this week, I spent my time calling and emailing representatives from the UConn Health Center and the Connecticut Children's Medical Center (CCMC) Elite Sports Medicine Department. I talked to Ashley Kelsey at CCMC and had set up an 8-hr shadowing block with one of their orthopedic physician assistants. I had filled out all of the paper work and sent it back to her. I never heard anything back from her and sent a follow up email about a week later and still heard nothing back. I then decided to call CCMC to see if I could get in contact with her that way and was informed that she no longer works there. I got in touch with a new representative at CCMC and she informed me that in order to shadow a physician, I need to 18 years old and cannot be a patient. I'm 17 and I was a patient at CCMC when I had knee surgery and went through physical therapy. Therefore, I had to look into other options.
I decided to call the UConn Health Center (UCHC) and inquire about shadowing. During the summer of 2018 I volunteered at the UCHC and during the summer of 2019 I partook in an internship in one of their molecular biology labs. With that said, I'm very familiar with UCHC. I called a representative, Kelly Clarke, and talked about possible shadowing opportunities. She informed me that I needed to be 18. Therefore, I was not allowed to shadow at UCHC.
Shadowing (10.5 hours)
At the end of January, I contacted Joe Ingriselli, a physical therapist at Advanced Physical Therapy (APT) LLC in Farmington, CT. I had a conversation Joe during the Capstone Networking Event in September so we were familiar with each other and I already had his contact information to inquire about shadowing. I was able to complete 10.5 hours of shadowing at APT. I shadowed his coworker, physical therapist Lindsay Vose. Throughout this experience, I spent time interacting with patients and participating in some of their exercises. I took notes on every patient Lindsay/Joe saw and wrote down what exercises they did and the course of treatment. My time at APT was cut short due the Coronavirus, but I am so grateful that Lindsay let me shadow her and I am very appreciative of the time she spent mentoring me. Notes from all of my visits can be seen down below. All patient ages and genders have been blurred to ensure patient confidentiality under HIPPA. No names were listed in these notes.
To the left is an email from Lindsay Vose to my capstone teachers confirming that I completed 10.5 hours of shadowing.
Above are shadowing notes from my first visit to Advanced Physical Therapy. During this session, Lindsay did not have any patients as it was a slow day. Therefore, I brainstormed some questions and we had a great conversation for a little over an hour.
February 5th, 2020
3:00pm-4:00pm
Shadowing #2To the left are the shadowing notes from my second visit. Lindsay and Joe had a cumulative total of five patients.
February 14th, 2020
3:00pm-5:00pm
Shadowing #3To the left are the shadowing notes from my third visit to APT.
February 21st, 2020
2:30pm-4:00pm
Shadowing #4To the left are the notes from my fourth visit to APT.
February 28th, 2020
2:00pm-6:00pm
Shadowing #5To the left are the notes from my fifth visit to APT.
March 6th, 2020
2:00pm-4:00pm
Alternative Contact Hours (5 hours)
My time at APT was cut short due to the Coronavirus. Therefore, I completed alternative contact hours to reach a total of 15 hours.
