First Year Tips as a DPT – Embracing Critique

• Learn from your Mistakes
  • Be willing to learn from mistakes and be guided by your mentors and colleagues.
  • Being humble goes a long way that first year (and beyond). You’re going to do some things wrong. Or it will be made to you how you could do things better. Try not to get defensive. Listen and learn. Ask clarifying questions.
  • It’s okay to make mistakes, the important thing is to learn from it and grow as a result.
• Embrace Critiques
  • It’s not okay to be constantly belittled by your supervisor or anyone for that matter. But don’t mistake helpful suggestions as an attack.
  • You don’t totally know what you are doing yet, it’s okay to have guidance
  • Having guidance from someone you work for or with can help you grow; in fact, I would ASK for critiques from someone you trust.
• Speaking of that, watch your colleagues…find their strengths
  • When you see your mentor or colleague is indeed a good PT and does really well with certain patient populations…listen to their critiques or even ask for advice on how to be better.
  • I’m sure most of us can learn a lot on our own, but I assure you it will take longer. Help speed up the process by soaking up the knowledge and expertise of the people around you.
  • For example, if one PT is particularly good with athletes, try to bring up discussions with them about an athlete you are working with and see if you can do even better based on tips they may provide.