Physical Therapy Intern - Summer Internship

Upon acceptance, interns are welcomed into an educational environment where they can learn about all aspects of physical therapy.  Completion of the program grants the individual a minimum of 3 credits and a maximum of 6 credits towards college graduation requirements.  Below is a list of intern responsibilities. 

Overview

As an intern at Peak Performance, your role will be essential to maintaining a timely and consistent flow within the clinic.  This ensures that patients are receiving the treatment and attention that they need.

Top & Bottom of the Hour

At the beginning of each time block, rooms must be cleaned from the previous session.  Once the rooms are clean, the intern begins to communicate with technicians, therapists, and the front desk staff.  They then ensure that all patients have been brought back within the first 5-10 minutes of their appointment.

Patient Customer Service – General

●  If patients are waiting without an exercise:

• Check on their current status

• Introduce yourself if necessary and ask how they are

• Find a technician to continue their treatment

●  Make sure patients have towels and water as needed

●  After passing multiple training exams, you will begin instructing patients on exercise form

●  As you begin to see the same patient’s consistently, build a relationship with the patient

Patient Customer Service – Waiting Room

Clinic flow is essential to maintaining a schedule as well as to producing satisfied patients. Continue to check the waiting room to make sure that there are no patients that have not yet been helped. If there is a patient who has not been helped:

●  Introduce yourself in a professional way conveying an appropriate level of skilled care

●  Ask the front desk for the individual’s name

●  Consult the schedule to determine which provider the patient is assigned to

●  Find the technician (or therapist if needed) to determine how you can help get them started

Modalities

It will be required to understand the purpose of the ultrasound machine as well as the electrical stimulation machine. Not only will it be part of training reviews, but you will also be asked to check on patients who are receiving this kind of treatment.

Table Turnover

Continuously check empty rooms and tables to see if they can be cleaned and made ready for the next patient. By being proactive with this, the therapists and technicians will be able to make treatment between patients more fluid.

 Laundry

There are multiple laundry hampers throughout the clinic.  It will be among your responsibilities to check these throughout the day.  As they reach capacity, place the contents in the washer. If you find a few minutes of down time or we are running low on clean laundry, check to make sure the laundry is moved from the washer to the dryer and distributed throughout the clinic.

 Technician Assistance

If you notice a technician is extremely busy, ask if there is anything that you can do to help. They may not have time to come find you, but they may be able to have you assist with a specific patient.  This additional assistance can make all the difference in creating a smooth clinic flow.

Assisting in General Clinic Flow

While it is important to learn and understand the exercises, make sure to pay attention to all areas of the clinic.  Our goal is to help patients to the best of our ability and to do that we must make sure all aspects are running smoothly. You are a valued contribution to make this goal a reality.

 Downtime

When an open block on the schedule occurs, below is a list of items that may be assigned as part of your duties

●  Consult the facility management checklist for tasks that need to be completed

●  Clean the waiting room

●  Wipe down aerobic equipment

●  Organize Electrical Stimulation pads