Week 5:
Exploring Colorado

July 18, 2017

Another week of data entry has passed, marking the half way mark of my time in Colorado. I can’t believe five weeks have gone by so quickly! Everyone warned me how time would fly, but I didn’t really believe them. There is so much I still want to do and see, so I hope to make the most of the time left.

Work was essentially entirely data entry this week. I was able to set a good pace and get through lots of charts. I am now just over half way done with chart review. Hopefully, by the end of the July I can start the analysis portion of the project. I was able to meet with Dr. Wilson again this week, and it seems we may end up looking only at ED visits. Since we don’t have information from outside hospitals, the orthopedic visits seems to have too many unknowns to adequately compare the departments. This means I will likely have to go back through the data once completed to eliminate orthopedic visits and redefine an athlete based on ED notes.

I was also able to interview and talk with a physical therapist. I thought I was sold on being a PA, but now I’m not completely sure. The interview showed me how much a PT can do now. Doctors, especially in sports medicine, put a lot of trust in their PTs. She explained that many times, a PT is expected to come up with a differential diagnosis for the patient. I really liked the diagnosis aspect of PA, which is why I had sided towards that career. Knowing a PT does this to a degree was news to me. She also explained that like a PA, a PT has a lot of flexibility. You can change specialties and setting based on where life takes you. PT also has specialty certificates in 6-8 specialties. I will most definitely have to do some more thinking about which path I want to take.

This weekend was full of exciting adventures. My boyfriend flew in to visit for a week, so we took a weekend trip up to the mountains. We headed up to Winter Park on Saturday afternoon and stayed until Sunday night.

On Saturday, we spent most of the day exploring the town. There are tons of stores and restaurants. The PT I was able to interview spent a lot of time in the area and recommended a pizza place in town. We had dinner there and the pizza was amazing. The restaurant was decorated in $1 bills that people had drawn on. After dinner, we headed to our campsite. We camped that night in the mountains and it was absolutely freezing!

By the time we woke up on Sunday, it was already mid-morning. We got up and make eggs and bacon on the campfire before starting the day. We ended up mountain biking in the afternoon, but this didn’t last long. About 30 minutes into our bike, it started pouring rain. We biked back to the shop (where we ran into a Cornell alum!) and being soaked, called it a day. We found a seafood place where they were offering all you can eat crab legs, so we ate a lot of crab to help warm up. Since the weather wasn’t very nice, we did not get to hike and instead headed back to Denver.

Moving into week 6, I will be continuing data entry. I also have the opportunity to shadow an athletic trainer in the orthopedic trauma clinic at the adult hospital. This will be a nice change and help me explore the difference between pediatrics and adult patients.