Thinking about board certification in oncologic physical therapy but feeling stuck on where to start — or whether you can even do it?
This episode is your roadmap and your pep talk in one. Theresa Walchner, PT, shares exactly how writing her case report and earning her Oncology Specialist Certification transformed her clinical confidence and sharpened her patient care.
And more importantly, she shows how you can do the same.
By listening, you’ll learn how to:
- Approach your case report with less overwhelm and more clarity
- Avoid common pitfalls and plan your writing timeline wisely
- Use peer feedback to make both your report and your clinical reasoning stronger
- Build the confidence and validation that comes with reflecting deeply on your practice
Theresa’s candid advice and hard-won lessons will help you skip the guesswork and start your own board certification journey with a clear plan and new motivation. If you’re serious about specializing and want to make a bigger impact in oncology rehab, this conversation is packed with the tools and mindset shifts to help you get there.
Listen now!
Want to watch the episode instead?
Watch this week’s episode of TheOncoPT Podcast on our YouTube channel!
About Theresa Walchner
I received my Master’s of Physical Therapy from Saint Louis University in 2002. I completed my lymphedema certification through the Upledger Institute in 2005, followed by LANA certification in 2007. I am a Board Certified Clinical Specialist in Oncologic Physical Therapy, earning this distinction in 2024. Oncology Rehab is very personal for me as a cancer survivor (thyroid cancer), but also because I lost my brother to colon cancer in 2002.
Follow Theresa (& her cute dogs!) on Instagram.
Transcript
Elise – @TheOncoPT (00:21)
Hey, Onco PT and welcome back to this episode of the Onco PT podcast. Now, if you’ve been paying attention to the calendar, you know that the first deadline for your oncology case report is just around the corner. And if you’ve been feeling a little stressed out or a little overwhelmed with the process, I have an amazing guest for you today who is going to take us behind the scenes on her own experience writing her case report.
and ultimately getting it accepted as part of her ABPTS oncology specialty certification application. And so I’m so thrilled to welcome Theresa Walchner to the podcast. Theresa, welcome to the Onco PT podcast.
Theresa Walchner (01:01)
Thank you for having me.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (01:04)
It is my pleasure. Absolutely. Would you mind telling my audience a little bit about you, Theresa?
Theresa Walchner (01:11)
All right, ⁓ I have been a physical therapist for 22 years. I’ve actually worked at the same clinic my entire career. ⁓ Yeah, seen a lot of changes in 22 years. I went for lymphedema certification way back in 2005. So even just those changes have been crazy too over the years. ⁓ And then two years ago, I decided to start this process. ⁓
Elise – @TheOncoPT (01:18)
my gosh.
Yeah.
Theresa Walchner (01:40)
going for the board certification in oncology. So I have kind of a personal interest. I’m a thyroid cancer survivor. So many people in my family have had cancer, but the closest one to me is my brother who actually passed away in 2002 from colon cancer. And I was in school and I wasn’t fully an adult and didn’t know how to help him. So he’s kind of shaped.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (01:47)
Ow.
Mm-hmm.
wow.
Yeah.
Theresa Walchner (02:09)
my professional career because he wanted me to keep going. that’s kind of inspired me the whole the whole time.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (02:18)
That is so lovely. Did you know, because you mentioned you’ve been at the same clinic for your entire career, did you know when you finished school that you wanted to work in oncology?
Theresa Walchner (02:31)
Absolutely not. I had no clue. So where I’m at is an orthopedic outpatient clinic and sports medicine. So I was doing general orthopedic and sports medicine. I was not an athlete and doing sports medicine. ⁓ But I had seen lymphedema on one of my clinicals and mentioned it in my interview. they’re like, we don’t have it here. And within two years, because we had a cancer center, they’re like, yeah, we want the program here. ⁓ So I started my training then.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (02:37)
Mm-hmm.
Wow.
Theresa Walchner (03:00)
and just kind of built on that. I saw the need for oncology rehab. Again, that wasn’t really a subject in my schooling. ⁓ We learned about it in an hour. So I just kind of was self-taught until I found some continuing education courses over the years and kind of built off of that.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (03:02)
Okay.
Mm-hmm.
Holy cow. So now these days, 2025, you’ve been at the same institution for two plus decades now. You’ve seen cancer rehab go from basically non-existent at that location to now. Obviously you see quite a few oncology patients. What does your practice look like these days? What kind of patients are you working with?
Theresa Walchner (03:35)
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah.
runs the gamut on the cancer side ⁓ where I have some surgeons on board doing prehab and perspective surveillance. So, woo! I don’t get as many like working in the gym with neuropathy patients and cancer related fatigue, but I’m slowly building that program. ⁓ Probably in the last three years, we’ve developed a specialty interest group. So I had the lymphedema oncology one, which is how I found you.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (03:49)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Theresa Walchner (04:15)
I was looking for podcasts and just everything kind of fell into place that your information was great for just discussions ⁓ with the group. So ⁓ I’m the only lymphedema therapist at my clinic right now, but in my health system, I’ve got like maybe five or six others.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (04:15)
You love that?
Yay!
So, Theresa, you mentioned that, you know, there’s now five lymphedema therapists or so in your health system. ⁓ How many on
pathology therapists are like in your like generally speaking in your health system.
Theresa Walchner (04:48)
Yeah, so I’m the main one. And I, you know, I have no idea how many PTs, OTs, speech therapists we have across the system. It’s, you know, it’s fairly large. We only have like two major health systems in Dayton, ⁓ Ohio, but you know, it’s, yeah, I’m a rare bird, guess. But yeah, like I have my coworkers, my friends that I can go to, like there’s that vestibular expert, there’s that pelvic floor expert, and they don’t mind.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (05:01)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
Theresa Walchner (05:18)
kind of delving into the oncology ⁓ world with me. But yeah, I’m kind of the local expert.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (05:24)
Mm-hmm.
So, two years ago, it seems like is when you kind of started this journey, what sparked your interest in, hey, there’s this specialization. think I want to check it out. think I’m interested in pursuing that.
Theresa Walchner (05:42)
Yeah, so I had learned about the possibility of specialization many years ago when it was just like they were just exploring the possibilities. ⁓ And yeah, so I just kind of kept an eye out like maybe that would be something to do. I don’t know. ⁓ And then, you know, when it came out, I was like, ooh, I don’t know right now. I don’t know. I don’t know. ⁓ Probably some imposter syndrome, you know, kicking in. ⁓ And my hospital had just been going through a big transition like
Elise – @TheOncoPT (06:07)
Yeah, yeah.
Theresa Walchner (06:12)
the one hospital we were affiliated had closed. And so now, know, name change, you know, just a lot of transition at work that I just wasn’t sure about. And then when COVID hit and having a partial shutdown, then kind of recovering from that. So my clinic was only open like two days a week. And then I had to work as a door screener, checking people for their temperatures and where did you go? All that stuff.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (06:19)
Absolutely.
Yeah, yeah.
Theresa Walchner (06:40)
So kind of recovering from that and kind of building up my caseload again, that was actually when I got to be lymphedema full time. ⁓ So then I’m like, I need more help. ⁓ And so I looked for more continuing education and I actually went through the Pory coursework. ⁓ And that really gave me a lot of confidence. ⁓ I had taken courses from Julie Osborne like way back in 2007, 2008.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (06:49)
Really? Okay.
Theresa Walchner (07:08)
when she was delving in there
Elise – @TheOncoPT (07:09)
Yeah.
Theresa Walchner (07:09)
and just what she’s developed has been really cool. But that’s what gave me the confidence to be like, maybe I should look into this a little bit more. So it all kind of came together all at once where that specialty group I’m leading, I’m like, I need to figure out some kind of topic for us. And I found one of your podcasts on, I think it was one with your sister maybe, on chemo. Yeah, right. Something on like the different chemotherapy.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (07:31)
my God, like OG, yeah.
Theresa Walchner (07:37)
side effects and whatnot because I was like, okay, everybody needs like this, this basic overview, right? ⁓ And you had an advertisement for the case writing report workshop or and I was like, huh, and then I get the email and I’m like, huh, yeah, the email says it’s the deadlines coming up. Like maybe we should, maybe we should look at this application process. And then I look at it and I’m like, case report, okay.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (07:42)
Mm-hmm.
Hahaha!
Theresa Walchner (08:06)
I haven’t done one of these in a long time. Yeah, so that was really intimidating because I am not in an academic institution. I just don’t know where to even start with this. Yeah. So Elise’s voice was in my head. Join my workshop, you know, and kind of went from there.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (08:17)
Mm-hmm.
Hahaha!
It’s so this is a really common experience that I hear about, is I’ve heard of specialization. I may be interested in it. And then, you know, maybe like, OK, the deadline’s coming up. I need to get my application in. And then that case report, it’s not like they try to hide it, but it’s almost like it’s a little hidden, maybe from my mind. I didn’t put much thought or weight into like, a case report until I opened up the requirements and thought, my God.
Theresa Walchner (09:02)
Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (09:03)
a case report. And the same thing, like we wrote, you know, kind of a case report sort of in PT school. And then like I’ve never written one of those big ones before. know, like you had mentioned, you had been several years removed from school and this wasn’t something that you were really doing in your practice. So once you figured out, OK, I’m going to do this. the deadline’s coming up. there’s a case report. How did you feel about writing a case report?
Theresa Walchner (09:18)
Right.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (09:32)
like this.
Theresa Walchner (09:33)
no idea where to start. I had no idea what would be a good patient case to utilize. ⁓ You know, I think I ultimately started with like, okay, I’ve got three people in mind like that were fresh in my head. had just worked with them. You know, that that was something that I just I had no clue what where where to go.
And then, you know, the more in depth I’m starting to read like the example one, I’m like, what? I just, I was flabbergasted. Like, I don’t even remember doing this much detail when I had written a case report in PT school and grad school. So yeah, I was so grateful for your workshop to just the way you laid everything out was just like, oh, thank you.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (10:12)
Mm-hmm.
Mm-hmm.
You
What part of case report writing workshop did you find was most helpful? Because you came in with three patients, you were like, I feel good about these options. What do you think was most helpful in helping you actually get that case report out of your brain and onto paper?
Theresa Walchner (10:44)
I think going through your modules where you had just like these brainstorming, just write everything down. Just write what’s in your head and what’s important about that particular person. That made it a little bit easier to focus in on, okay, that’s probably the better case to focus on. And what was interesting during my writing process, I picked a breast cancer patient that I treated for ⁓ axillary web syndrome.
and the different techniques I had used. And then as I examined the case, I’m like, dang, I missed some stuff. I didn’t take into account her fatigue and not just her fatigue from cancer treatments, but other medical history and how that was affecting her going back to work. And then if she was fatigued at work, what was that doing to her posture and her body mechanics? And how did that then…
Elise – @TheOncoPT (11:14)
Mm-hmm.
Yeah!
Theresa Walchner (11:43)
affect the the web axillary web syndrome, you know, so it was just like, oh, okay, so maybe this is a good one, because I remember you saying something about it’s, yeah, it’s your your clinical expertise, but also what can you learn and how could you grow from these patients? And that and that that’s kind of how I keyed in on that that particular case.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (11:47)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
That’s such a good reflection too on, and again, I think when we start writing our case report, we wanna pick out the perfect patient who’s like the best demonstration of how great of oncopeties we are, which like that’s legitimate. That’s a reasonable thing. But also there’s a human on the other side of this case, that patient that we’re talking about who has their own human experiences. sometimes things don’t work out.
Theresa Walchner (12:25)
Right.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (12:34)
I’ve shared this before, my patient had a DVT and then another pathological fracture during our plan of care. There were things that I missed. so how did, and this is not to, of course, Theresa be like, ⁓ you missed this stuff. How did writing your case report and reflecting on this, how has this changed your patient care? Like if you were to encounter this patient again.
Theresa Walchner (13:00)
Yeah, I do try to look more holistically at the patient. ⁓ Like today, I had somebody who just came from her surgery, but hasn’t started chemo or radiation and then wanted me to do lymphedema education. And just taking into account, like, okay, this is the chemo you’re gonna have that is what they’re recommending. This is the radiation you’re gonna have. This affects so many different aspects. ⁓
looking at that whole person, what is their medical history a little bit more in depth versus like, yeah, you got high blood pressure. Well, is that well controlled? Let’s take your blood pressure today. Is that your normal blood pressure? No? Okay. Maybe a little white coat syndrome. You know, things like that that I maybe I would just brush off in the past. ⁓ Things that where I’m not just focused on one small problem, like we have to look at
Elise – @TheOncoPT (13:47)
Yeah.
Theresa Walchner (13:59)
everything today. ⁓ And I know other therapists that I work with, they may not necessarily look at all of that. They’re just looking at, you’re here for lymphedema, so let’s measure the size of your arm, ⁓ for example. So I think that’s just kind of helped me reflect on like, what are you doing that needs to be improved overall to give that best patient care?
Elise – @TheOncoPT (14:13)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. So as you’re going through writing your case report, again, like case report writing workshop, it takes you through those brainstorming exercises that we’ve talked about before, those specific writing prompts. Was there a turning point as you’re taking the workshop from, you know, I’m working on my case report to, my gosh, I have a case report. Like I’m writing a case report.
Theresa Walchner (14:50)
Yeah, I think once I focused in on that one case, you know, I wasn’t going to pick these things out for each each three cases that I had looked at. And I was like, yeah, that that one makes the most sense to do. So I think it was just all the prompts you had along the way through the modules ⁓ that just made me zero in on that. That’s that’s the one that I should probably focus on.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (15:14)
Nice. Very cool. How did the workshop help you stay accountable to actually not just starting the case report, but following through and you eventually finished it and a spoiler alert, she did submit it obviously. like what, know, like how was that process for you in staying accountable, staying on track for your deadline that you were working towards?
Theresa Walchner (15:24)
Right.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah,
I think I started probably like in May of that year and I was like, okay, I’m just gonna dedicate like Friday afternoons when I’m off work or, you know, Saturdays. So I didn’t work on it through the week. ⁓ Just trying to focus on Friday is writing day. And so I spaced it out that way, but I also didn’t give myself the pressure. I only have two weeks to get this done.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (15:44)
Mm-hmm.
Nice.
Theresa Walchner (16:07)
⁓ I am a procrastinator, but I wasn’t that bad with this. was proud of myself on that. ⁓ So yeah, I think just having like, okay, I got through this module. Let’s try to attack the second module next week or whatever. ⁓ Then I was able to like, okay, I want to have the workshop done by like July. So I gave myself like two months and then I gave myself like a month to actually write everything formally.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (16:10)
Hahaha!
Mm-hmm.
Yeah.
Theresa Walchner (16:36)
⁓ You know, and I followed your advice of getting other people to read through it. I’ve yeah So, you know, they helped me like maybe just change the wording here a little bit ⁓ And then my ultimate goal was like, okay like that first week in September. That’s that’s when I want to submit this And it was submitted and accepted without any Corrections needed
Elise – @TheOncoPT (16:48)
Mm-hmm.
Nice.
Theresa Walchner (17:04)
the first try and you were like one of the first people I messaged on Instagram. like, thank you! So yeah, and then you’re like, go celebrate! And I’m like, no, I gotta study now. Yeah, so you know, I tried not to think too far ahead on that study part, but you
Elise – @TheOncoPT (17:14)
my god, amazing.
You have time. You had a little time.
Theresa Walchner (17:32)
But yeah, I just kind of sat down with it, like looking at how you had the modules broken down and decided this is kind of my timeframe of this is how it’s going to work for me. ⁓ Because being an older therapist, I get tired and I’m not going to want to do this stuff after work when I’ve just worked nine hours ⁓ thyroid cancer fatigue, you know. ⁓ So yeah, that just was
Elise – @TheOncoPT (17:51)
Yeah? You?
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Theresa Walchner (18:01)
⁓ the best way I figured out for myself of how to do this. Other people may be able to do that, you know, in two weeks or whatever or a weekend before. I don’t know. That’s just not how I roll.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (18:05)
Nice.
Right. Well, and knowing yourself too and like, how am I going to operate best to ultimately get this done? That’s what matters at the end of the day. And I want to pull something out that you said that I think is so important that it kind of gets pushed to the end or worst of all, I think it’s skipped altogether because people run out of time, which is having other people review your case report. So you don’t have to tell me like specific names, Theresa, but who
Theresa Walchner (18:20)
Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (18:43)
Did you have review your case report? know, generally speaking, how was that helpful for improving the overall submission quality of your case report?
Theresa Walchner (18:53)
So I had two of my close friend co-workers read through it and they had both been therapists. see, one was probably like eight years out and the other one was about 10 or 13 years, somewhere in there. And she’s like my work bestie. So she was very, very helpful, got her red pen out for me. And she’s got…
Elise – @TheOncoPT (18:58)
Nice. Nice.
Mm-hmm.
Nice, nice.
Theresa Walchner (19:21)
family at home and the fact that she took the time to help me out with that was great. the other therapist, he’s my actual site supervisor. So the fact that he took the time to do that as well was really awesome. ⁓ They were all confused about the way that I had it with the, how you have to do your abbreviations, like you said, to break down each section and repeat those abbreviations. like, why are you doing this? ⁓
Elise – @TheOncoPT (19:32)
Nice.
Yeah.
Theresa Walchner (19:50)
But everything else, they had really good feedback of ways to change it. ⁓ So I think it was helpful to have somebody experience but not too far out from school. ⁓ And they also helped me treat some of the oncology patients so they kind of knew what things were about too. So I wasn’t throwing completely new information at them.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (19:56)
Nice.
Mm-hmm.
Nice. ⁓
Right, right. I think that’s a really good balance too of, you know, they have some experience, some exposure to oncology, but maybe different also than you and your expertise. And I think that helps in general from what I’ve seen. It kind of gets us, it pulls us out of our, you know, as we’re working on our case reports, we are so close. We’re like so focused on the material. Sometimes we miss stuff. And my reviewers did a great job of like,
Theresa Walchner (20:25)
Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah.
Yes. Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (20:43)
What are you talking about here? I have no clue how you got from ear to ear. So, big, big fan of that. Big, big component of Case Report writing that we really have to consider is the actual reviewing process. When it came time for you to actually submit and you submit it and you hear back and it’s been accepted on the first try, how did you feel once you got that news?
Theresa Walchner (20:43)
Yeah.
think I was in shock. ⁓ Especially the fact that didn’t have to make any corrections. I’m like, what? Come on, I had to mess up something. ⁓ Because I think the day that I uploaded it, I found like one little error in my reference list. I’m like, no, how many more errors are there? ⁓ So I think it was just like total shock. my husband works from home and I was like banging on his office door like, my God, my God, my God. So then it was just like freaking out.
and telling everybody possible. But yeah, it was total shock ⁓ just because it had been such a long process. mean, the whole thing of applying and then studying and then how long it takes to find out your results and all that stuff. It’s like, my God, this was, I just lost a year of my life. ⁓ You know, so it, yeah, yeah, total shock that day. ⁓ And I don’t think it took that long to find out either. I thought it might take.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (22:09)
That’s really cool.
Theresa Walchner (22:10)
I
thought it might take a month or something to hear and I want to say it was less than a week. So yeah, yeah. And that was partly why I also wanted to apply, get everything in by early September, knowing it was due at the end of September in case I needed to do any revisions that I would have time to do that. ⁓ So thank goodness I didn’t. Then I got to goof off the rest of September.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (22:13)
Mm-hmm.
That’s amazing!
Right, right. You
got basically like a free month back before you had to really get back into it. And that’s the thing too is, you know, and I’m always curious when I ask people, you know, when did you submit? When did you hear back? Because it really is like a rolling admission. And when I say that, don’t misinterpret that dear listener. It’s they read them in the order that they get them. And so at the end of September, I imagine, which is that when we’ve had that final deadline, like me, I did this.
Theresa Walchner (22:40)
Yeah. Right.
Right.
you
Elise – @TheOncoPT (23:06)
A lot of people are submitting. And so it took like probably, I think maybe six weeks or so before I heard back on my case report. And I’ve had other students who have been like closer to two months out. So I’m always interested. Like when did you get yours back? When did you hear? When did you submit? ⁓ How do you feel now about case report writing compared to when you were first starting that application way back when pre case report writing workshop?
Theresa Walchner (23:22)
Yeah.
Yeah,
I mean, obviously I have that sense of accomplishment that I did it. ⁓ Do I want to do it again? No. ⁓ I mean, if you twist my arm, okay. But I’d have to go back through your workshop again as a refresher. Yeah, yeah. So I mean, yeah, it was definitely a huge sense of accomplishment that, that, I can
Elise – @TheOncoPT (23:43)
HAHA
Valid. Valid.
But it’s there, it’s there for that reason.
Theresa Walchner (24:03)
I can do this stuff. I don’t have to do like a formal research paper or whatever. I can contribute in some way. That does make me feel like, okay, imposter syndrome out the door, you know?
Elise – @TheOncoPT (24:19)
Yeah. How do you think that influenced because you got this great news of my case report was accepted, no corrections needed. How did that kind of then flow into once you started studying for the exam then?
Theresa Walchner (24:25)
Thank ⁓
Yeah,
yeah. So then I was like, I need a plan. Like, where do I go from here? You know, because I had a lot of knowledge built up from all of my experience plus CEUs all over the place. So I just started searching for different coursework. So I found a lot of like online CEUs that I could try to just build up my knowledge. ⁓
Elise – @TheOncoPT (24:48)
right.
Theresa Walchner (25:04)
I’m close to Ohio State University, so they offer some courses and Chris Wilson was one of the speakers and they started talking about that oncology rehabilitation textbook and they had a couple of contributors at that conference. I was like, maybe I should get this book. So that was kind of like my main study guide along with going back through some other course material. I worked with
Elise – @TheOncoPT (25:23)
Okay, nice.
Mm-hmm.
Theresa Walchner (25:32)
⁓ Our friend Alex Hill ⁓ took one of her courses. ⁓ Thank you, Alex. Her pelvic floor class for the oncology rehabilitation specialist is very helpful. Because like you, I am not a pelvic floor person. ⁓ I know just a little and that’s good. ⁓ So, know, I found, ⁓ Katie Schmidt, who you’ve also had on.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (25:42)
Yeah, that’s a gem.
haha
Theresa Walchner (26:01)
⁓ She has that online course on the APTA oncology site on her neuropathy treatment. That was a great review of neuropathy side effects, ⁓ causes and all that stuff. I just pulled together quite a few things, the Edge Task Force work and all of their papers on radiation fibrosis and neuropathy and fatigue and all those things.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (26:02)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm. ⁓
Nice.
Theresa Walchner (26:31)
⁓ So yeah, I had so much stuff floating in my head, but that was kind of my guideline of this is how I want to study. So let me get in a course here and let me review this article here. ⁓ Let me check that chapter out ⁓ and just kind of studied probably from October to my test date in March. ⁓
Elise – @TheOncoPT (26:46)
Mm-hmm.
Right.
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
And then you eventually took your exam. You eventually heard back on the results. So we’re sitting on pins and needles here, Theresa. What happened? What happened?
Theresa Walchner (27:08)
⁓ I passed. I passed. Yeah.
That day that they sent out the email that your results are being uploaded. my God, the website like was crashing. And it was like, it was just like such a roller coaster. Like something came up, some error message like that you don’t have authorization. I’m like, God, did I fail? You know, like what happened? And a friend of mine had taken the geriatric specialty and she’s like messaging me. I got it. I passed. And I’m like,
Elise – @TheOncoPT (27:31)
my god.
Okay.
Theresa Walchner (27:38)
I can’t get in, what’s going on? So yeah, it took like a couple of hours after we got that email. And then the email they sent said something it could take like up to like 48 hours to upload your results. And I’m like, what? No. So yeah, I found out within like about two hours of that. yeah, of course. Yeah, so I had to my husband, my parents first. And then, you know, I took a screenshot.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (27:52)
No, no, no.
thank God.
Theresa Walchner (28:07)
that ⁓ approval you passed and like sent it to my manager like, ha! I did it, you know? I think I s- yeah. Yeah. I think I still have that screenshot on my phone somewhere. Like, I need the proof. Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (28:14)
As you should. I would blast that all over social media. Like the whole internet needs to know at this point.
Ugh.
Amazing.
So now you’re a board certified clinical specialist in oncologic physical therapy. What like what has that meant for you and your practice? Like it literally is a year long journey from application open date, actually like a year plus technically, to submitting your application, writing your case report, submitting your case report, getting it approved, studying.
Theresa Walchner (28:44)
Mm-hmm.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (28:52)
sitting for the exam, waiting for those results, like what has that meant for you and your career as an on-coup T?
Theresa Walchner (29:00)
You know, personally, I don’t feel any different. I think it is validation of everything I’ve experienced personally and professionally. ⁓ I don’t lord it over people. You know, I am the same easygoing, for the most part, ⁓ person. ⁓ Don’t take my tape measure. Yeah. I’ve got my special tape measure. Yeah. Don’t take my stool. I’ve got my stool. ⁓
Elise – @TheOncoPT (29:05)
Mm-hmm.
Hehehe
That’s where we draw the line.
Theresa Walchner (29:30)
But yeah, otherwise, you know, I feel like I get a little more respect from my peers when we have like new grads hired on, you know, that’s, I’m like, hey, come look at my wall of my certificates, you know? And I always take on ⁓ the students we have in the clinic just to like ⁓ have the lymphedema review and have them shadow with me. And I think that kind of legitimizes like, yeah, this is…
Elise – @TheOncoPT (29:55)
Yeah.
Theresa Walchner (30:00)
where she’s coming from and this is why she’s doing it. So I think that backs up my clinical knowledge by saying that I have this title.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (30:03)
Right, right.
Right, right. What is something that you would go back and tell your younger self, Theresa, before starting case report, writing process? Like what is one thing that you wish you had maybe known when you were about to start the application and writing process?
Theresa Walchner (30:34)
think it would have been nice to realize a little bit better that yeah, this is gonna be a long haul. You know, I do think I handled it well. But yeah, it was a lot. It was a lot. ⁓ And I don’t think I expected quite so much of that that I’ve always been a decent test taker. Like, did I really study that hard? Yes. Because there’s so many little things to look at.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (30:57)
Yeah.
Theresa Walchner (31:03)
Yeah, some of those questions really threw me, but yeah, I think just, yes, you are a good therapist. Yes, you can do this kind of work. ⁓ Probably would have started a little sooner even, you know, that’s probably the only thing I would have changed. I don’t know that if I was in the right headspace to do it earlier year-wise, you know. ⁓
Elise – @TheOncoPT (31:23)
Yeah.
Mm-hmm.
Theresa Walchner (31:32)
if this had even been available earlier than 2019, I don’t know if I would have been ready in that head space yet. Yeah, so it’s, I think maybe do it a year or two earlier, I don’t know. That’s about all I can say is, but just realize that it is gonna be a big part of your life for that year and hopefully your family understands.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (31:39)
Right. Right.
Yeah!
Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah. So a lot of people that I’ve talked to who are considering sitting for the oncology specialty certification, they’re looking at the application. They’re looking at that case report requirement. And I hear this all the time from many therapists who are like, you know, I’ve been out of school for a while. Or, you know, I’m not…
away from retirement. I don’t even know if this is really worth my time. I’m big, I’m very pro specialization because I know the knowledge that I have gained from this process has really transformed my practice. And so for the therapist who’s been practicing for a while and knows that this is something they’re interested in, but they’re kind of on the fence of like, this a good idea? Is this for me? Can I even do it this far out from PT school? What would you tell them?
Theresa Walchner (32:53)
Yeah, you know, I have my masters in physical therapy because as I said earlier, the doctorate wasn’t a thing. Like they were coming out with the transitional doctorate when we were just about to go off on our ⁓ final clinical rotations. And it was like, what? What are you talking about? ⁓ So I think the fact that I haven’t, I didn’t go for the transitional doctorate, but I could still do something like this.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (33:09)
huh. Yeah, right?
Theresa Walchner (33:22)
⁓ It makes my education still worthy. I’ve worked with people that had bachelor’s degrees and were from the military ⁓ and had just a wealth of experience and they could have done this. ⁓ I think it just, that you don’t have to be ⁓ at the upper echelons and
Elise – @TheOncoPT (33:39)
Mm-hmm.
Theresa Walchner (33:51)
teaching or in research that it’s still, your experience is still valid.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (33:59)
Yes. Yes. And again, just to re-highlight what Theresa has said multiple times, and we talk about this on the podcast too, you don’t have to be an academic to do this process. You don’t have to be a researcher to do this process. In fact, that’s not what the specialty certification is designed for. It’s designed for clinicians who are in the field who are practicing.
If this is something you’re interested in and it excites you even a little bit, I really want you to consider this process because it was, I think as a young clinician going through this process, it was really wonderful to be like, ⁓ I do really know this stuff. And I know now, especially like we were talking about, you know, with my case report, I found so many things that I was like, why did I not do this or why did I do that?
with my patient and it really made me think much more intentionally on looking at the whole picture. We’ve heard Theresa talk about how her case patient’s fatigue and how that was playing in to axillary web syndrome. At face value, we don’t think about those things related in that capacity, but because Theresa sat and reflected on that as she’s writing,
What a better, holistic experience for all of her patients now because Theresa is taking this big picture view at this. Are there any other kind of like insights or transformations you feel like that your clinical practice went through as a part of case report writing?
Theresa Walchner (35:39)
think it makes me more confident in what I’m doing as well. ⁓ That I’ve got that knowledge base again. I’ve said that already, but sometimes we just get in a rut and I’m just doing this because this is what I’ve always done. So I’m not going to tell you that I sit and reflect on every single patient after every single session, other than writing my note. ⁓
Elise – @TheOncoPT (35:57)
Yeah.
Theresa Walchner (36:08)
But I think it does make you stop and think, yeah, next time they come in, I really need to look at that instead. ⁓ We need to change focus. And maybe I’m doing that quicker than I would have before because of those reflections.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (36:20)
Yeah.
Totally,
totally, totally. For someone who is on the fence about case report writing workshop, they’re gonna do the application, they’re gonna do the case report, but they’re not sure if the workshop is really beneficial for them, it’s gonna work for them. What would you tell that listener, Theresa?
Theresa Walchner (36:45)
You are crazy if you think you can do this without Elise’s help. Now I would write Elise questions like all the time like, what do do here? What do I do there? And you you had the patience to deal with someone from the 1900s. It’s just, I felt like I was asking the dumbest questions all the time and yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (37:12)
No. ⁓
Theresa Walchner (37:14)
So you were very quick to respond to any questions I had, which to me was completely amazing because I’m sure you’re busy. ⁓ But I was able to take your feedback very quickly to let’s go right that section. ⁓ it yeah, it’s dumb to not use the workshop, you know, unless you just have done a ton of case reports ⁓ prior to this.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (37:31)
Mm-hmm.
Theresa Walchner (37:43)
⁓ Just all the little insights you had of like how to use the CARES statement. I hadn’t heard of the CARES statement before. ⁓ Just all the little advice you gave along the way, I wouldn’t have been able to do it otherwise. So thanks.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (37:52)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
For the record, Theresa did not ask dumb questions. And that’s what I really actually like about the workshop is because you are actively writing your case report as you’re going through those modules. And I’m lurking in the community to answer the questions that people are posing because
Theresa Walchner (38:07)
Hahaha!
Elise – @TheOncoPT (38:24)
I remember how challenging it was to write the case report and be like, I don’t even know what the heck I’m doing. And I was really fortunate that, so I submitted mine and I talked about this before. I needed corrections on mine. Like the abbreviations we talked about earlier, Theresa, I got dinged on those dang abbreviations so much. And I also write with ampersands for the listener. That’s the little and sign on your keyboard that you’re probably like, what the heck is an ampersand?
Theresa Walchner (38:45)
god.
You
Elise – @TheOncoPT (38:51)
I write with ampersands all the time and I had to go back through and like, and it was just silly things like that that I wish I had someone who went before me who was like, Hey, don’t make that mistake. Cause I did. And I had to change that. And so I think that’s what I like about workshop, our case report writing workshop, because I can be like, doesn’t work. Fix it now. What were you, you you make that mistake. And again, Theresa submitted her case report and required
Theresa Walchner (39:10)
Yeah. Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (39:18)
as zero corrections, which is the best possible outcome that we could ever hope for. And now she’s a board certified clinical specialist. Like again, come on now, come on now, Theresa. my God. For the listener who is like, I’m interested, Theresa, you’ve sold me.
Theresa Walchner (39:23)
Hahaha
Yeah.
You
Elise – @TheOncoPT (39:41)
What is one last piece of like wisdom or encouragement that you would give to somebody who is starting the application and case report writing process now?
Theresa Walchner (39:51)
⁓ I guess, you kind like what I had done, like make the plan. Just have an idea, like this is the day of the week I’m gonna work on it, or I wanna try to get through two modules this week, or know, whatever it is for you, however you do best. ⁓ You should know yourself better than I do. ⁓ But I don’t think I would have been able to complete it if I had waited until like August. ⁓
Elise – @TheOncoPT (40:04)
Mm-hmm.
Theresa Walchner (40:22)
the the fact that i sat down with it in may, ⁓ and really just started diving in and you know maybe i only did one module here and there, but i got it done. ⁓ and i didn’t feel rushed that way. so unless unless you were one that just really works well under pressure, i would say make a plan.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (40:34)
Bingo.
Hahahaha
I think that’s sage advice, Theresa. So thank you very, very much for sharing that. As we wrap up today’s conversation, ⁓ I hear that you have a really fabulous Instagram where if people are looking for a little break, know, they’re writing on their case report. They’re like, I just need a little brain break. I need to see a cute dog or several. I hear that your Instagram is the place to be, Theresa.
Theresa Walchner (40:49)
Hahaha
Yep.
Well, I think it is. don’t know. Yeah, I try not to take it too seriously, but I have two Corgis, Joey and Toby, and ⁓ my bass and howl lily. ⁓ Joey is my life coach. So every month I put up a post of his life advice, ⁓ which is typically, let’s sleep in this position today, or let’s go for a walk, and where he wants to go for a walk. ⁓
Toby is my little security guy. He runs the fence perimeter and tells everybody off. ⁓ And Lily, you will see her grooming photos, including her toenail polish from our groomer. There she goes monthly too. ⁓ So, yeah, you just imagine a basset hound with pink toenails. So, yeah. Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (42:08)
This sounds like the best Basset helmet I’ve never met before and I need to see this immediately.
Theresa Walchner (42:14)
Yeah, she’s a blast. She’s talkative too, so yeah. She talks back.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (42:18)
my god. Are
all basset hounds talkative or just Lily?
Theresa Walchner (42:24)
Lily
talks back ⁓ and she tells you when she’s hungry and that kind of thing. So yeah, she knows herself well. Yeah. Yeah.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (42:31)
I respect that. respect that. ⁓ Good for her though. Good for her knowing what she wants, right?
She knows herself like we were talking about, Theresa, you know yourself to make those decisions. ⁓ Where can people follow you and connect with you on Instagram, Theresa?
Theresa Walchner (42:47)
⁓ On
Instagram it’s TBdubdub77. ⁓ My nickname at work is Tdub. ⁓ Because as I started getting certifications we joked that it wasn’t gonna fit on a business card with my full name of Theresa Walshner. ⁓ And yeah, I didn’t change my name when I got married or hyphenate or anything because that would have made it even worse.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (42:54)
Peace.
That’s a cool nickname.
True. True. True.
Theresa Walchner (43:15)
So yeah, that’s the T-dub kind of stuck in. So it’s TB-dub for my initials in there.
Elise – @TheOncoPT (43:16)
even longer.
Incredible. And we will of course make sure that that is linked in the show notes. ⁓ Theresa, thank you so, so much for coming on the podcast today and talking about this. It’s so nice to kind of pull back the curtain and see what this process actually looks like from someone who has gone through it ⁓ and is still, you’re still working. You’re still doing all these things that are your life.
And so seeing how you made this work with your life and your schedule to ultimately get towards your goal of submitting that case report and application and becoming that board certified clinical specialist is really, really powerful, especially for listeners who are thinking, I think this is the right next step for me. So thank you so, so much for sharing all of this on the podcast. I will definitely be linking your Instagram and the show notes so we can get to see all of your cutie pies as soon as possible.
Yeah, so thank you so, so much, Theresa. I really, really appreciate your time and all of the wisdom you shared with us today.
Theresa Walchner (44:29)
Thank
you for having me.