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May 2021

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Top 5 Reasons I Love Being a Pediatric Rehabilitation Fellow

Jensine' J. Norman, MD

Jensine’ J. Norman, MD
Baylor College of Medicine Pediatric Rehabilitation Fellowship

 

Being a Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine Fellow is extremely fulfilling. We meet patients and families at an incredible time in their lives and are tasked with helping a kid "be a kid." We get to integrate play into various aspects of our day because play is a child's work. Here are the Top 5 reasons I love being a Peds Rehab Fellow:

 

  1. Pediatric Rehabilitation Fellow Jensine’ J. Norman, MD, and a colleague posing for a photo on Tie-Dye Tuesday.Tie-Dye Tuesdays: On our inpatient rehabilitation unit, we wear tie dye t-shirts on Tuesdays. It is a gentle reminder that the nurses, therapists and physicians must work together every day. We work together to engage our patients in therapy and find creative ways to help them be successful.

  2. Therapy Dogs: At Texas Children's Hospital, we have three celebrity therapy dogs who bring joy and smiles to everyone they meet. They help remind us that there is life outside of being in the hospital. They participate in therapy sessions and help children adjust to being in the hospital. Fuzzy, wet kisses are always a great way to put a smile on your face.

  3. Pediatric Rehabilitation Fellow Jensine’ J. Norman, MD, posing with a therapy dog.Music Therapy: We work with a certified neurologic music therapist who is an integral part of several of our programs. For our patients with disorders of consciousness, they work alongside occupational and physical therapists to provide sensory input. They incorporate individualized care and have even learned "Do You Want to Build a Snowman?" from the movie Frozen, in Spanish. Understanding the complex neurologic pathways that are accessed through music helps the team provide care that goes beyond pharmacologic management.

  4. Kids teach us stuff every day. Each patient encounter is an opportunity to learn something new. Our patients show us that resilience in the face of adversity sometimes means having tough conversations, but it also comes with appreciation of the little things. Children remind us that they are more than a diagnosis and nothing about them is a "textbook."

  5. Pediatric Rehabilitation Fellow Jensine’ J. Norman, MD, examining a printed MRI image.You know more than you think. As a fellow, I try to always be prepared and learn everything. Most days, I see something I wasn't prepared for and feel like I need to study more. An international patient came to our unit with printed MRI images, which I had never seen before. I wanted our high- definition sequences to interpret, but I had to work with what was given to me. We knew what her clinical picture showed us, and that's what we focused on. We get to see rare conditions that teach us that as physiatrists, we focus on function. Finding creative solutions to unique presentations keeps us on our toes.