If you have your personal wellness under control, there's a good chance that your habits will rub off on those you are working with on travel therapy assignments. It can be difficult to encourage others to practice healthy lifestyles if you aren't doing the same yourself. So, as a step toward treating these unhealthy decisions, consider being a role model for your patients.
Points to focus on
A healthy lifestyle involves more than diet and exercise. As you are working with individuals on travel therapy jobs, consider talking to them about what they are doing thus far. While they may have to work their way through rehab before they are able to start jogging, encourage them to choose other healthy options when it comes to physical activity. Talking about your fitness routine and meal plan may spark some intrigue on their end as well. There are a number of other daily habits you can take on to project positively onto others, such as:
- Not smoking or using other tobacco products
- Coming to work in a presentable fashion from your clothes to your fingernails
- Staying positive even in times of frustration or stress
- Practicing proper posture when demonstrating exercises, lifting, bending and even walking
It will likely be difficult for a patient to take your advice seriously if you aren't following it yourself. These healthy habits may help speed up the patient's recovery and can prevent other health concerns following his or her treatment. For instance, if you are working with someone who has high blood pressure or cholesterol, you may want to talk to him or her about what unhealthy habits led to the medical problem.
"This isn't a problem that can be solved by the patient or the doctor who is strapped for time," Dr. Bonnie Spring, a professor of preventive medicine and psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University, Chicago, said in a statement, according to the American Heart Association. "We need to break out of our silos and get ahead of the curve in prevention [for heart disease]."
While it may be easy to have the "do as I say, not as I do" mentality, you are less likely to make a difference when working with patients who are practicing unhealthy habits that way. At the end of the day, in addition to being a quality travel PT, you are only going to promote your personal well-being. So, why not cut the sugar, up the exercise and monitor how much you drink during happy hour?