What They Don’t Tell You About Acute Care: Honest Stories from Two DPT Students (and Our New Co-Host!)

Show Notes:

🎙 Episode Description:

What’s it really like stepping into acute care as a DPT student? In this episode, we hear honest, eye-opening reflections from Fiona Kearns and Hannah Brandt, two near-graduates from UIC who just wrapped up a transformational clinical rotation. They share what surprised them, challenged them, and ultimately shaped their career paths.

PLUS—meet our new co-host, Dr. Danny Young! He brings his academic and clinical lens to the conversation, unpacking burnout, mentorship, and the deeper meaning behind acute care practice.

👂 Listen in for:
• First impressions from a high-acuity hospital rotation
• Navigating burnout (as students and clinicians)
• Why acute care needs more visibility—and more students
• Danny’s debut on the mic 🎤

Today’s Guests:

Hannah Brandt, SPT

hannah24brandt@gmail.com

Fiona Kerns, SPT

fkkearns2000@gmail.com

Guest Quotes:

On early exposure to Acute Care through Integrated Clinical Experiences (ICE):

Hannah 9:44 “ So definitely I think it’s very good we get early exposure to it. Especially ’cause I, for me, at least when I was applying to PT schools, was during covid. So a lot of shadowing hours in hospitals was not available just because of Covid experiences. So like while I would’ve liked to have experience before coming into PT school in that setting, I didn’t get any. So while I was like eager and excited to see it, it does come with a lot of nerves.”

Fiona 11:46 “ …And then my second ice visit experience. My patient had three seizures while we were in the room with him, and obviously like that can happen in the acute care setting. It’s not out of the question, but that was just kind of like a big like welcome to acute care for sure. Like this is, this is what it’s like to be here. So definitely like high paced, A lot of like adrenaline from those experiences, but definitely learned a lot and I really enjoyed them so.”

Danny 28:42 “ One of my favorite quotes comes from Viktor Frankl’s book man’s Search for Meaning. And he says he who has a why to live for can bear almost any how. And I think one of the problems that we have is. That we aren’t finding enough meaning in what we’re doing. We think what we need is ease and happiness in our jobs. And instead I think what we need is to recognize how meaningful what we’re doing is. And if we focus on the meaning in what’s happening, I think it will combat a lot of the burnout that we see.”

Rapid Responses:

Name a PT that’s been influential in your PT career so far.

Fiona: “Sarah and Julia are cis from this past clinical, for sure.”

Hannah: “ Dr. Jones, our neuro professor in our program.”

You know you work in acute care when…

Hannah: “ I would say when you’re reorienting your patient, but you don’t even know what day it is.”

Fiona: “ I say your friends stop letting you talk about your day during dinner, right?

Links:

https://www.aptaacutecare.org/page/2026Elections

Connect with our host and the podcast!

Leo Arguelles (LEE-O R-GWELL-IS)

largue2@uic.edu