Physical Therapist Mock Interview
Practice 34 Physical Therapist interview questions covering clinical reasoning, patient care, and rehabilitation techniques.
Question 5 of 34
Tell me about a situation where you showed a great deal of patience?
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Ryan Brunner has over ten years of experience recruiting, interviewing, and hiring candidates in the healthcare, public service, and private manufacturing/distribution industries.
"During my internship, I was working with an elderly patient that was recovering from a double knee replacement. The patient became very frustrated during our first therapy session when they were barely able to stand, let alone walk completely like they had when they were younger. When the patient became frustrated at himself for not being able to walk, I calmly explained to him the entire process of rehabbing a knee replacement surgery. By remaining calm and reiterating the timeline for him, he left our first session in a much better place and remained in that mindset each and every time I saw him from there."
Ryan Brunner has over ten years of experience recruiting, interviewing, and hiring candidates in the healthcare, public service, and private manufacturing/distribution industries.
"Throughout my career, working with patients that required a long road to recovery have required to most patience for as their Physical Therapist. I have found it extremely helpful to remain calm when patients become frustrated at our processes and I always take time to educate patients on why a systematic approach to rehabilitation is very important to their recovery. More often than not, this educational piece helps get patients over the mental hump on their road to recovery."
Heather Douglass has over 20 years of experience as a Career Coach, Recruiter, and HR Specialist. Much of her experience is as a Technical Recruiter in the healthcare industry.
As a Physical Therapist, you display patience every day with your patients as well as with other medical staff. Tell the interviewer about times that your patience is tested and what situations you find yourself being patient in most. Be sure to tell the interviewer that when your patience is tested you handle it calmly and with a smile.
Heather Douglass has over 20 years of experience as a Career Coach, Recruiter, and HR Specialist. Much of her experience is as a Technical Recruiter in the healthcare industry.
"I love working with children and have found that a bit of extra patience is needed in order to accomplish the treatment that I've set for the patient. I enjoy incorporating games with treatment which is sometimes necessary in order to get a response from a young patient."
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Anonymous Answer
In our profession, it is very common to be working on patients that are upset, frustrated, or even aggressive. To be more specific, I had to work with an elderly patient who was very prejudiced against physical therapy due to his previous experience and made him negative and hard to work with. But I managed to display patience and politely tried to explain to him in detail the process that we had to follow to change the situation he was dealing with. And it worked out pretty well because after that he showed a willingness to cooperate and that led to a positive treatment outcome, where he was able to carry out with his daily life activities."
Rachelle's Feedback
Your example is well laid out, and shows your ability to maintain patience and fortitude. Nice answer!
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