PT student Michael Payne works with a patient during the neuro clinicUTMB students stepped out of the classroom and into the clinic to get hands-on experience treating patients during two weeks of neurological rehabilitation clinics in June and July.
Hosted by the School of Health Professions, the free summer clinics were provided in a teaching environment, with students providing care under faculty supervision. This year’s clinic had increased interprofessional collaboration, with patients receiving a medical screening history and physical by medical and nurse practitioner students, as well as services from Doctor of Physical Therapy and Master of Occupational Therapy students. The health professions, nursing and medical students had several multidisciplinary meetings throughout the process to agree on treatment plans for each patient.
The volunteer patients included UTMB employees and students, as well as people from around Galveston County who had no other access to care. They sought care for the effects of a stroke, spinal cord injury, Parkinson’s disease, traumatic brain injury or other neurological disorders.
The goal was to plan and initiate individualized treatment programs designed to restore functional movement, relieve pain, and promote healing and recovery.
“The clinics are important for students from a learning standpoint, but they also provide a huge service for patients who either don’t have the resources to pay for therapy or are very chronic and may have trouble getting a referral for further therapy,” said Jill Seale,Ph.D., an assistant professor in the Department of Physical Therapy. “But with every clinic we hold, we see patients get better — sometimes in small ways and sometimes in big ways.”
Second-year PT doctoral students Sierra Andreason and Josh Watson teamed up to evaluate and start treatment on a woman who had a stroke. This left her with spasticity, a muscle control disorder that caused the muscles in her arms to be very tight. Both students agreed that the clinic experience was their favorite part of the curriculum so far.
“We’ve done a lot of practicing on each other with pretend scenarios, but it’s a lot better to see a real patient with a real neurological diagnosis who needs therapy services,” said Andreason. “It’s been three days, but I’ve already noticed improvements in the patient I’m working with. I feel really good, like I’m actually doing something right (laughs). It’s exciting.”
Other PT and OT students worked with a man from Dickinson who had attended the clinic last year, as well. After suffering a catastrophic spinal cord injury, he had been discharged from an acute care facility without any instructions or equipment.
“The first day he was at our clinic in 2014, six of the students and faculty lifted him out of his family’s Suburban,” said Seale. “He was completely dependent on his family and had very little movement.”
His team of student physical therapists at the clinic did a great job of getting him on his way to better function. They also provided his family with valuable education and assisted in finding him a pro bono clinic in Houston for further therapy.
Seale was shocked to see him again this year, because he walked in with a walker and didn’t even bring a wheelchair. “So he went from complete wheelchair dependence to walking with little or no supervision,” she said.
For several patients, the student-run clinic is their only rehab or their entry point into other resources.
“Our students are making a huge difference,” said Seale. “Not only are these clinics providing students with an invaluable learning experience, they are literally improving lives.”
In addition to the neuro clinic, the SHP’s Department of Physical Therapy hosted a similar clinic focused on musculoskeletal issues. PT students provided physical therapy sessions for patients who had problems with spine, arm or leg pain, as well as problems of muscle weakness or poor balance.