Developing a Physio Voice

Over this placement I have noticed something. I am pretty quiet and don't always jump at the chance to put in my opinion when there is a discussion going on.

This was especially apparent when driving back from Merritt with one of my preceptor Physios and the Occupational therpist. To be fair to myself both of these people have a few more degrees than I do and also degrees in areas where your opinion matters like in the Arts. 

I always felt that after I was done my high school classes my opinion was never really asked again. I mean, I was asked to critique articles and evaluate research methods, but the majority of my writing was scientific and needed to be founded on research and evidence. Its been a while since someone asked me "What do you think of this?" or "What is your opinion on that?"... Maybe they asked it later in the form of "What could be a possible explanation for X?" or "How could Y improved their research?" And in those situations which were usually upper level Biology classes, and by that time I had a fairly solid foundation in Bio and felt confident answering those types of questions. So far in the physio world its been a different story....

I feel like when a someone, anyone asks my opinion, I really struggle to form one. I am going to say this has a lot to do with my inexperience in the field. Expert opinion will develop over time as I am exposed to more cases, situations and populations. I will have the clinical expertise to be able to recognize patterns in my clients and know where they are and where they should be and what they should expect along the way during their recovery. I will also have taken more classes in school and outside, read more articles and completed my own research project. Hopefully this will help me form opinions about the profession and research and be able to contribute to discussions in meaningful ways.

Sometimes though, I just feel so naive about everything. For example, not being able to contribute to a conversation between my preceptors as they discussed the conference we had attended OR not be able to form much on my side of the debate when discussing taking additional training and courses after graduation.

I also think that maybe since I am not a very opinionated in terms of my personality I think its going to be something I will need to work on as I develop my professional skills as a physio. I often borrow the ideas of others and let them influence what I think. I think this is part of my personality too... I want to weight the arguments and hear what other people have to say, but I would really like to be able to read or think about something and form my own opinion quickly enough so that I can discuss with my colleagues to get other views and opinions and then share my thoughts on the matter with my clients or others.