Skip to main content

DefiningMoment-banner-350h.jpg

Listen to an audio version of this column, voiced by the author.

The first experience I had as a physical therapist with the death of a patient wasn't in an adult hospital wing. I wasn't surrounded by patients in their eighth or ninth decades of life saying quiet, tearful, yet entirely expected farewells to family. It wasn't as a student, either. As a third-year PT student honing my clinical skills on the adult gastrointestinal surgery and colorectal cancer unit in a large prominent hospital, I was quietly ushered away from such cases when patients began these slippery and sometimes rapid declines. I was moved to a different unit or a different patient for the day. "You don't have to deal with that," they'd say dismissively.

No, I was in a children's hospital. How unfortunately ironic that so many of my clinical superiors and trusted mentors found it inappropriate to expose me to such grave realities during my years of study, perhaps brushing it off as "strategic protectiveness," but mere weeks later as a newly minted clinician, ink barely dry on my new employee badge, I now was expected to fully comprehend and effortlessly navigate the concept of a child's untimely death.

Log in or create a free account to keep reading.


Join APTA to get unlimited access to content.


You Might Also Like...

News

APTA State Chapters Fuel Legislative Wins in 2025

Aug 6, 2025

As the 2025 legislative season has come to a close in most states, many APTA chapters achieved significant victories that improve payment, address provider

Article

Exciting Volunteer Opportunities Open Through Aug. 31

Aug 4, 2025

APTA is powered by members who step up, speak out, and drive the profession forward. Volunteering is not only a chance to influence the future of physical

News

APTA's Ongoing Advocacy on Payment Reform

Aug 4, 2025

Patients and providers are frustrated and angry. A broken Medicare system has failed to deliver high-quality care and provide needed payment levels so