Waste of Time

I tend to be a smart guy, but I just spent the past 2 1/2 hours entering 158 liaisons into msn hotmail contacts one at a time... quite tedious and quite unnecessary, I of course only realized this now, oh well...

Speaking of liaisons, being one is certainly not a waste of time. The main purpose of student and faculty liaisons is to be a bridge of communication between the Student Assembly board and the Students (become a member with this link). This is something good to put on your resume and if used properly is a great way to spread knowledge about the goings-on in the ever so dynamic world of PT. I realize that as a student PT/PTA you have a whole lot to focus on just based on your studies. Then there is a ton of literature delivered to all APTA members such as:

• PT journal
• PT magazine
  
• Student E-News
• Student Assembly Pulse
  
• Possible APTA section magazines such as the JOSPT (only one of 18 sections)
• Some sections then have SIG newsletters
• Some states that newsletters (check out the Empire State Newsletter)
• Some states have district newsletters, e.g. NY has the Brooklyn/Staten Island district
  
• We are starting a newsletter for the NY Student Special Interest Group
  
• If you wanted to you could subscribe for free to Advance for PT's & PTA's among other publications...
• Or join a seperate specialty group such as AAOMPT
• The TriAlliance of Health and Rehabilitation Professionals
  
• The Student Health Alliance
• All of the online resources to read, some of which you can see linked on the right of this page
• This vital student PT blog!!!

I am probably forgetting a few (I of course didn't include text books or the board review book because that's too academic). But there is so much going on in this field that it is real hard to keep up unless you devote a great deal of time like I do. Is it worth it... for me it is, because I love knowing all the possibilities for my future. Motions that are getting passed today will affect me as a student and as a future practitioner so I feel it is vital to stay up on as much of it as possible.

One goal of mine in the various roles I have attained is to aid in the construction of a guide to all of the above resources. It is my greatest frustration to talk to very bright and eager students who just have not been exposed to various ideas and resources from the APTA. One that really gets me is when non-APTA members say they do not join because it is so expensive... what they have not been exposed to is the fact that since the APTA is a professional organization it is tax deductible (82% on national dues and 87% on NY chapter dues [each state likely varies])...

I am going to do what I can, if you want to join me in spreading or gaining some knowledge contact me and we can get the ball rolling.