[MUSIC PLAYING] CALEB NABOWER: For me, I chose the UNMC program because the staff behind the program really conveyed a message of dedication to building quality orthopedic physical therapists. Having been lucky enough to go through my entry-level program with these staff, I knew I'd be in really good hands, and that the best opportunity for me to improve myself was going to be to take a shot on this program. 

RENEE HERBERS: Coming out of PT school, I knew I was capable of practicing on my own, but I didn't feel completely confident in my skills yet. So I chose to do the residency program to continue to get some targeted mentoring. So that way, I could be the best PT that I could be. And I was already familiar with a lot of the faculty and staff involved with the residency, and had a great experience with them during my entry-level program, so I thought it would be really fun to spend another year with them. 

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RENEE HERBERS: I think something unique about the UNMC ortho residency program is that it's housed within a highly ranked academic program and institution. And then it also goes alongside a very highly ranked hospital, which I think you don't always see. Also, within this residency program, and especially being in a big hospital system, we have a lot of different specializations that I don't think you see a lot of other places. So I've had the opportunity to shadow a lymphedema therapist, a vestibular therapist, and I've also had the opportunity to shadow many different physicians, which I think is a very unique opportunity. 

CALEB NABOWER: One of the best opportunities that I found most beneficial was being able to shadow sports medicine and orthopedic physicians. A lot of the times on this side of the equation, some things get lost in translation. So being able to follow those doctors, look at those patients' entire plans of care was really eye-opening for me. And it really just got me a better sense of the total treatment plan that our patients were receiving. 

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For me, one of the best parts of being in the program was going into the teaching aspect. We were able to help with a lot of different labs. And when you help out with the labs, you really have to know your stuff. So it really keeps you honest. It keeps your skills sharp since you know things well enough to explain them. 

It's also really fun to put your own spin on some of this material, talk to students about how it's clinically applicable. Also, I got to help develop one of my own courses and teach that to some of the third-year students. So getting to find my own stride in the academic realm was really fun and beneficial for me. 

RENEE HERBERS: So within the residency program, we've had the opportunity to serve as lab assistants in the entry-level DPT program in foundational courses and musculoskeletal courses. So we get to interact with students and correlate what they're doing in class with what we do in the clinic. We've also had the opportunity to develop an anatomy course, where we went back into the gross anatomy lab and correlated the anatomy to what you might see in the clinic, which is a really unique opportunity. 

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