Every October, we celebrate the incredible work of physical therapists and the life-changing impact they make every single day. At NAPA Center, our PTs bring creativity, compassion, and expertise to every session, helping children achieve milestones that once felt out of reach. In honor of National Physical Therapy Month, we’re highlighting this blog post written by one of our very own NAPA PTs, Hannah Tufts from NAPA Denver!
The NAPA magic people talk about is very real, but our therapists are just regular people! Interested in learning a little bit more about what really goes on behind the scenes at NAPA? If you think you’ve got what it takes, stay tuned for a little sneak peek into what a typical day is like for me, a NAPA PT.
No two days at NAPA look exactly the same (and we like it that way!), so flexibility and teamwork are key. Every therapist’s schedule looks a little different, but some things remain constant:
| 7:30 - 8:00 | Arrival + Prep |
| 8:00 - 9:00 | Intensive Hour 1: SpiderCage |
| 9:00 - 10:00 | Documentation |
| 10:00 - 11:00 | Intensive Coverage |
| 11:00 - 12:00 | Intensive Hour 2: Evaluation (Functional PT) |
| 12:00 - 12:30 | Lunch |
| 12:30 - 1:30 | Traditional Weekly Treatment |
| 1:30 - 2:30 | Intensive Hour 3: NeuroSuit |
| 2:30 - 3:30 | Eval Doc |
| 3:30 - 4:30 | Monday Meeting |
| 4:30 | "All Done, Go Home!" |
Every morning, I walk into NAPA with my backpack, lunch box, water bottle, and cup of coffee ready for the day! Arrival times differ for everyone, but as long as you’re ready to go at 8am, it doesn’t really matter. I try to arrive 10-15 minutes early to go over my schedule, do any remaining chart review, and set up for my first session.
The NeuroSuit is probably the most common intensive hour you’ll have, being that children wear it for two consecutive hours. If you’re the PT with the first hour, it’s your job to put the suit together (gathering all the pieces and bungees you need) and then help put it on the child! If you’re the second hour, then it’s your job to take it off the child and put it away for tomorrow. While donned, it is my job as the physical therapist to make sure my patient is participating in activities to address their primary impairments in order to make the most of their time in the suit. These exercises remain the same throughout the entire episode of care.
Depending on scheduling, you may have a “cage hour.” As a therapist, my job is to get the child in a supported position using belts and bungees and then facilitate activities that make the most of this ideal positioning. At the conclusion of the hour, it is then my job to safely transition the child back out of this elaborate setup.
Sometimes I have just a functional PT hour, which is exactly what it sounds like! During these hours, much like those listed above, my job is to work towards addressing a child’s primary impairments and reaching their goals. Similarly, these hours also take full advantage of the modalities available to us, like the Galileo Vibration Plate and Functional Estim.
For trained therapists, you may also have a DMI hour. Unlike the previous hours, the activities you facilitate every day differ! A DMI intensive hour requires a therapist to be especially creative, organized, and observant.
You may have noticed that I put a coverage hour on my fake schedule above. This is an hour that you may have to treat one of your co-workers’ intensive hours. We, as therapists, are regular people, so we sometimes need to spend time away from the clinic for other appointments, vacations, or even to use our wellness day (we get 2 days a year to pamper ourselves – how cool!). Because NAPA values both therapists and patients, intensive hours are not affected by a therapist’s absence, and a “substitute” therapist steps in to continue the plan of care. We work as a team so that we can all take time away from the clinic as needed.
As I mentioned above, we also see patients weekly. These hours are the perfect time to flex your creativity and try out new ideas. It is so rewarding to develop and improve a child’s motor skills, strength, balance, and coordination through fun, age-appropriate exercises and activities. We tailor each session to the child’s specific needs, tracking progress and adjusting treatments to help the child achieve developmental milestones or recover from injury or surgery.
It is so rewarding to develop and improve a child’s motor skills, strength, balance, and coordination through fun, age-appropriate exercises and activities.
Every day from noon to 12:30pm, we get a lunch break. Although quick, it is the perfect amount of time to catch up with coworkers, grab a bite to eat, and re-energize before seeing our afternoon kiddos!
As I mentioned previously, we get one hour a day to keep up with our documentation. Therapists are responsible for writing notes for every session we run, and those can add up quickly! In addition, I often use this time to answer emails, chart review upcoming patients I’m unfamiliar with, check in with co-workers and managers, and sometimes to take a breather in my otherwise busy day.
Once a week, every therapist is allotted an additional doc hour to catch up! This is especially helpful for writing letters of medical necessity, preparing for upcoming evaluations, and just generally catching up on notes and other clerical tasks.
On my pretend schedule, I included an evaluation and its corresponding documentation time! It’s no secret that evals are more involved and, therefore, take longer than a typical daily note, so we are allotted an additional hour for the additional work required to write up an eval.
I would be remiss if I didn’t include the Monday Meeting in my “day in the life.” Monday Meeting is one of my favorite parts about working at NAPA and makes us unique from other clinics. Every Monday, the last hour of the day is reserved for a full clinic meeting. On the first Monday of an intensive, we use this time to discuss every child, their diagnoses, primary impairments, contraindications to therapy (if any), and what additional modalities will be utilized. We then break off into treatment teams to develop a holistic and cohesive plan of care to span all their hours, making sure to support each other and, most importantly, the child.
Other Monday meetings, when not the first day of an intensive, are used for department meetings and global education opportunities. Department meetings are a great time to check in with the PT team, learn from your coworkers, celebrate wins, and continue to grow as a team.
Our Global Ed Ops allows for continued education across the whole company. We have discussed topics such as Self Care for Healthcare Professionals, Strategies for Organization of Behavior, and Workplace Ergonomics.
Congratulations! You have made it through a typical day in the life of a NAPA physical therapist.
If this sounds like an ideal day to you, check out the links below to discover opportunities with NAPA Center!
Hannah Tufts is a pediatric physical therapist at NAPA Center Denver. When not in clinic cheering on NAPA superstars, you can find her with a good book in hand, baking something sweet, or planning her next adventure.
NAPA Center is a global leader in pediatric therapy. We offer a multidisciplinary approach integrating physical, occupational, speech and feeding therapy. With clinics throughout the United States, United Kingdom, and Australia, we aim to bring hope to families worldwide by providing access to the best and most innovative therapies all under one roof.
A big thank you to Hannah for giving us an inside look at a day in the life of a NAPA physical therapist! If you’re eager to explore more behind-the-scenes stories and resources for parents, students, or aspiring therapists, we’ve got you covered. Check out these blogs and videos to discover what makes NAPA so special:
