Hospital folk

It's not everyday you meet...

- a 90 year old woman with sky blue nail polish, with purple tips.
- a little old lady that invites you to their 100th birthday party to be held in 8 years.
- a hospital chaplain in cowboy boots.
- an MD rounding in shorts when it's 20 degrees and snowing outside.
- a 22 year old who just -proudly I might add- sustained his 25th fracture in a motor cross accident.
- lots of people dressed in the same-one-size-fits-none (hospital) gown.
- a patient who gives a detailed description of the mating habits of alpaca's to the MD's on rounds - seriously!!!
- a older gentleman stating very convincingly that he is perfect (I am nobody - nobody is perfect - so I am perfect!).

Those are the highlights of my job..... Well that and riding my bike to work ;-).... !!! There are definitely times where I feel I'm really helping people, even if it's just a little. Knowing that some patient or family is better off for me having crossed their path is a great thing.....
But on the other hand there are days where I feel like all I do is help spin the crazy wheel of the US health care system, pushing papers from one desk to the other, checking boxes and performing plenty of evaluations of people who would have NEVER been referred to Physical Therapy in any country with a healthier health care system....
Even after 19 years in the field, I love the core of my profession but I feel that core is taking up less and less space and the surrounding layers of paperwork, insurance demands, time constraints and financial incentives for somebody along the chain, have become the number one priority.

After living and working inside the bubble of pediatric PT for many years, it has been good to see what adult hospital based care is like. Where my career will go in the next decade, I'm still not really sure of but I guess I'm looking forward to finding out!!!