Study Smarter Not Harder If You Have Failed The CHT Exam.
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[00:00:00] Hey, how's it going? It's Hoang here with hand therapy secrets. . We have had a really busy week, but very exciting, lots of new things happening. People coming into the hand exam prep program, people getting ready to prepare for the November exam. People thinking about and preparing for the may exam of 2023.
[00:00:24] It doesn't really matter. Where you are in the world. We have an opportunity to help people with, you know, Handon arm injuries. I spent yesterday funny enough in a business, a course where. You know, we were really diving into like why we help people and how we help people and just telling people over and over and over what we do, you know, as occupational therapist, as certified hand therapist, it's just really key.
[00:00:51] I had an opportunity just to hang out with a friend mine's inform out of town and she's here for a continuation class. And so I'm gonna have an opportunity to get some treatment myself. And it just reminds me of like how. You know, even though we want to, as therapists, help other people, we're a person too.
[00:01:12] We're a person. We need therapy. We need to like constantly evolve and grow and be able to use our bodies, be able to use our hands and arms. And I often seen, and I I'm creating the content too. Right. I'm creating the, the videos, the live stuff, [00:01:30] the, the. You know, showing you how I, how my therapy clinic works, how we treat like hand injuries or make splints, but really hand therapy.
[00:01:41] Isn't just all about that hand therapy. Isn't all about, you know, the actual therapy part. Sometimes the hand therapy of becoming a certified hand therapist is really about the preparation. Behind the actual doing work. So you gotta prepare in order to become the person that you want to become.
[00:02:02] I know that most therapists I speak to pretty much all of. Want to be the best. Right. Now you might not say you want to be the best, but you sure as hell want to do a really great job. There's I, I don't know of any therapist who wants to specialize, who are just like, yeah, I'll just kind of like be enough, right.
[00:02:24] At the end of the day, you wanna be really good. You wanna be respect. As a clinician. I mean, tell me if I'm wrong. Tell me why I don't wanna be, you know, respected. I don't want my coworkers to think that, yeah, I know what I'm talking about. Tell me you don't want like a referral source a doctor to be like, oh yeah.
[00:02:46] You know, that person does really great therapy. Wanna send home our patients there. Right? You do want that. but being, you know, becoming that person takes effort, becoming that [00:03:00] person, you are gonna have your ups and downs. Right? What, what do you see on social media and everywhere? You're looking, everything is looking peachy.
[00:03:08] Everything's always looking fun and nobody really wants to talk about the downside. I always talk about what's the upside. What's the downside. And can you live with it? Can you live with. Right. Those are the key questions. Ask yourself those questions. You know, if you are someone who want, you want to become an expert, you took the exam so that you can become an expert and you failed this.
[00:03:36] Video is gonna be for you, right. This video's gonna be for you often. Like I said, we, we see the good things. We see all the, how tos we see the quizzes. We see the fun parts about therapy, but if you enjoy the journey, you'll have fun either way. So if you're new here and you're not really sure am I supposed to be here?
[00:03:57] My name is Wong. I'm an occupational therapist and certified hand therapist. And this is gonna be for you. If you two are an OT or PT and you want to become a certified hand therapist. And this is especially key is if you have taken the exam and failed, and you're just wondering, should I do it again?
[00:04:13] Should I do I want to let me just tell you nobody's talking about this, but it sucks to fail. it never feels good. It really squashes your hopes and dreams that you're just gonna do this one time and you're gonna be like that person that did it one time. [00:04:30] Right? It squashes it, it hurts your egos.
[00:04:32] Let's be honest. It really hurts your egos. And we cannot help, but somehow internalize, like if we fail, then we're a failure, but I can tell you all. Is not true. I know you can't help but feel it, but I just want you to know it's not true. And there are other people going through same things that you're going, because let's face it.
[00:04:55] They put this the. , you know, they, the, the HCC, the people who put on the exam, they purposely grade the exam a certain way to really kind of hone in on the people when they pass are the people who can really critically think through some of the toughest cases. Right. Cuz it's never really the easy cases that you don't do.
[00:05:19] Well, it's the tough cases that are people that people are coming to you as an expert. It's the tough cases and that's what they judge. So don't be so hard on yourself if you weren't successful the first time. I want you to essentially consider if you've, you know, you felt like you studied, you put in the hours, you've put in the time you've sacrificed doing things.
[00:05:43] You may have spent money. You're like all is lost. Well, I wanna encourage you that not all is lost. Right. So how do we. Start, like how do we study smarter? Not harder. Cause I don't want you to think that you have to start all over. These are the [00:06:00] questions that I'll, that I get oh, should I start all over?
[00:06:03] You know, what resources am I missing? What did I do wrong? Let's see what you did right. As well. Let's, let's see what you did right. As well. And then let's go ahead and analyze, but let's not think that you have to necessarily do more or harder. Let's see what you need to do to study smarter. Right. And when people ask, you know, when they fail and they talk to me and they're like, you know, what should I do?
[00:06:30] Should I take, you know, what should I do? Should I take the exam again? My answer. If you want to become a certified hand therapist and you fail, the only way you can become a certified hand therapist is if you take the exam again, that's the truth of it. You cannot become a certified hand therapist. If you don't take the exam again.
[00:06:50] Now I always encourage people to take the exam as soon as possible, like right away. So if you took the. In in April and may and you didn't get the passing score. I always encourage you to take the exam again, like right away. And here's why, if you really think about it, put this into perspective, right?
[00:07:11] Put this into perspective. Think about your patients that are not getting the results that they hoped for. Right. Do you want them to just quit? Do you yourself, if you are not able to help get them the results, do you just want to quit therapy? You know, quit [00:07:30] doing therapy on them, right? Results happen at the end of the day.
[00:07:33] Results happen when both people are committed, right? When you, when you have a patient that comes to you, I get the best results for people when they're as committed as I am. So when your patients come to you and they're committed into doing the. right into doing the work based off of what they want. And you are committed into developing your skills and, and your critical thinking skills.
[00:08:01] So you can help them get the results together. You both get the results. That's when magic happens, right. When you fail, chances are you have a lot of the information and it's just, you have the experience. But having taken the exam, try again. Cause if your patient, if they didn't get the results from that one session, imagine if they were like, I don't wanna come back.
[00:08:30] How will they get the results? They have to come back time and time and time again. And a lot of times it's not that you don't know what to do. Yes. They need range of motion. Yes. They need to reduce their pain. But it's really about tweaking their program so that you can get better results for them. So when you are taking the exam and you think about giving up, how are you going to become an expert?
[00:08:59] How are [00:09:00] you going to become a certified hand therapist? If you give up, I can tell you it's been, you know, it was challenging for me. Studied for the exam. I'm very grateful that , I studied and I was able to pass, but there's many people who study and then didn't pass. And one thing I can tell you is that sometimes they, if they're honest, they'll tell you that they didn't really study.
[00:09:26] Right. Sometimes they'll tell you that they didn't really study as much as they needed to study. Right. But here's the thing you already know so much, you already know so much. So be rest assured or rest assured that you're not starting from scratch. You have it all, you just need to think about how can you study in a, in a way that's gonna give you a better chance of becoming the best ch.
[00:09:51] How do you study in a way that's gonna give you the best chance of being the best therapist you can be and, and then be able to pass exam. So here are my four tips, number one, and the most important tip I can give you. I always try to start with the most important tip. If you listen to nothing else, the most important tip is you need to make a decision to take the exam again and stick.
[00:10:19] One thing that I've seen is, you know, if you're wobbling, oh, maybe I should. Maybe I shouldn't you're half-assing it you're honestly you're, half-assing it. [00:10:30] Imagine your patients. They, sometimes they come, sometimes they don't come. Right. If they're inconsistent about it, they're not gonna get the results.
[00:10:38] So if you are inconsistent about it, you're not gonna get the results. So, you know, Make a decision. If you wanna do it, if you don't wanna do it, then don't do it. Give yourself the release of letting that go, right. Let it go. But don't half acid cuz you're not gonna get what you want and then you're gonna be frustrated.
[00:11:00] Right? So one thing I see is people can't make a decision and so they wait, wait, wait. And then like they, they hail Mary. A few weeks before the exam, maybe I'll take it again. That FOMO comes in. Maybe I'll take it again and maybe, you know, I'll get a different result, but you haven't really studied.
[00:11:19] You haven't dove in, you haven't looked to see what's going on. You haven't done anything. So this whole time you've been angst about it. You didn't make a decision. Right. So I would encourage. The number one tip that I have for you. If you failed the exam is make a decision, a hard yes or a hard no, to go ahead and do it again.
[00:11:39] And this is the best time to make that decision, make that decision. Now, if it's yes, and stick with it and go, if it's a yes. Then listen to the rest of the tips, right? If it is a. then you've got to declutter your mess. That's number two, declutter your mess, [00:12:00] declutter your notes, declutter your books. Maybe some of you guys have way too many resource way too many books.
[00:12:08] And you're going from, from so many books that is confusing. You you've got so many like justs ands and sacks of notes, and it's confusing. You declutter that. Right. Declutter your mind. That's kind of hard. Declutter your mind. What are you saying to yourself? If you're talking shit to yourself then you're gonna live it, right?
[00:12:34] If you have, if you're, if you're mean to yourself, then that's, you're gonna get it. Like you're, you're not, it's gonna drain your energy. Right. So you have to kind of like, let go forgive yourself for not having done, you know, it the first time or however many times, or, you know, so we all have personal things going on that distract us.
[00:12:56] We might have personal things in our lives. It could be a relationship thing. It could be a you know, a personal thing. You know, some people are starting out their lives with partners, starting families, having family types of issues. I know I have some, this year it's been really tough for my family.
[00:13:15] You know, my parents dealing with some, you know, unexpected things have come up with them. Right. But if you let a lot of that stuff, Clutter your mind, it's gonna make it really hard to move [00:13:30] on and do the things that we need to do. Right. So it's, I'm not saying it's not challenging. I'm just saying that.
[00:13:38] That that's one of the things that you need to do. And you know, the more, the faster we catch it, the faster and the better we're able to deal with it. So if you're saying bad things to yourself, if you're saying I'm stupid, if you're saying you're not good enough, if you're, if you find that you're, you know, words matter, if you're saying bad things to yourself they stick in your head and they take up a lot of room and it makes it for.
[00:14:05] it's kind of like a self sabotage, right? You're self sabotaging yourself. It's just it's the same. If we go back to number one, which is making a decision and you Teeter tarter and you can't make a decision and then all at the end, you do a hail Mary and you're like, maybe I could do it. Maybe even though I waited so long, maybe you're literally self sabotaging your self, sabotaging yourself for a failure and then blaming your.
[00:14:30] Give yourself the best possible chance and the best possible chance is making a hard decision and then giving yourself time to actually complete your goal. Right. And then declutter your notes and then declutter your mind. And then really number four is, is some of the most important things that you could do is, is where you're actually taking.
[00:14:52] And in the action. Here's what you're gonna do. You're gonna analyze your score. You're gonna study. Are you gonna analyze your study routine? And then you're going [00:15:00] to need to create that plan in order to like, where are the gaps? Cause if your score, if you have a a lesson five point gap, then. You know, a lot, you're just missing a small component that can help you gap that knowledge you're so close.
[00:15:21] I mean, I always help. You're so close. There's just something there that you're not able to to analyze. Right. If your score is over 10 points of a gap, then you have to do a lot more. There's a certain amount of studying. There's a, a particular group of topics that you're just not, you just ignored.
[00:15:43] You said it was hard. You said it was hard. You know, some people tell me, they tell me that they're not good attendance and flex attendance and access attendance. Right. Let Meur. You know, so much more about flexor tend and Accenture tendon, because every hand case is a flexor and Accenture tendon case.
[00:16:05] If you really think about it, every single fracture, hand fracture case, right? I think a few weeks ago, I think two weeks ago, I, I went over how to critically think through like a, a hand case. And every, every hand fracture, every finger fracture, hand fracture, they all essentially are. Flexor tendon AEN type tendon cases.
[00:16:26] And it's because in order to move the [00:16:30] fingers in order to move the joints, those tendons have to glide. They have to move in order for flexors to move the Accentures have to give in order for Accentures to, to give in order for Accentures to move into extensions, the flexors have to give. So every hand case is a flexer intended.
[00:16:50] how do you tie, how do you gap that information? So you are not saying to yourself that you don't know something, right? You do know something. So if you're 10 points out, like really analyze, you know, really go in, analyze your score, analyze your study routine, and then create that plan so that you can cover all the topics that you need.
[00:17:12] If you're less than five points, then that gap is is a little bit more. Specific. And one of the things I like to say is the devils in the details, right? The devils in the details sometimes think about your hand patience when you're moving from nothing to 50% of motion, it's relatively easy. You're trying to get that last little bit of motion.
[00:17:35] So your patients get a hundred percent recovery. The devil is in the details there. So. If you are less than five points away in your score, then if you are less than five points from your score, the devils in the details in terms of how you analyze and then what you put your focus to. and you've got [00:18:00] to give yourself that chance comes down to, you gotta make the decision to take the exam again.
[00:18:06] Right. So, you know, the, the reason why I talk about this so much is, you know, we, the, the bone part, the protocol part, the actual treatment part, believe it or not, it's, that's the easy. the hard part is, you know, making that decision to go ahead and invest in yourself. Go ahead and invest in the resources that you need, whether it be books or an online or a coaching mentorship program, that's gonna really help you structure your study and keep you focused.
[00:18:42] now more than ever. It's really important to distinguish yourself between non specialized therapy. You know, if you really think about it, when things are good, things are good and no one pays attention. We as healthcare providers, sometimes we tend to think that, oh, healthcare providers won't get affected, but we do get affected.
[00:19:01] Look at what happened with COVID. You know, when COVID hit us, people lost their jobs. People lost their hours. I'm gonna tell you right now that the people have the most. People have the most skills are the ones that get hired. People have the, the most skills, the ability to solve someone else's problems are the ones that can get those jobs.
[00:19:23] Right. When I talk about choices, it's it really is about being able to, you know, being able to stand [00:19:30] out above the crowd. So when you become a CHT, it's not just about those letters. Yes. We make it about the letters, you know, but when you become a CHT, It's it's that you know how to guide your patients through it's about helping them make decisions about what can actually work for them, that your therapy can work for them.
[00:19:53] It's about, you know, it's about you making more money and having more fulfilling career in the long. So, whether you invest in, you know, whatever you invest in now, believe it or not. A couple of thousand dollars, a couple hundred dollars can 10 X over the longevity of your career. I know that most people might tell you that, you know, it's not worth it.
[00:20:18] They didn't themselves get a raise once they became a certified hand therapist. But I can tell you right now from the members that are in my program. In the past and even currently how some of them are able to move into better positions and they're able to have a stronger foundation to negotiate their salaries, how some of them are working in being able to get bonuses, you know, certain things covered costs of the programs covered the cus covered things like that.
[00:20:54] So it's possible. For you to be able to [00:21:00] use your skills, you know, not just to get better results for your patients, but also to get results for you in terms of personally, professionally in, in terms of money, let's face it, you know, everything is going up, you know, cost of goods cost of living and stuff like that.
[00:21:18] And the people who have the most skills, right? The people who have the most skills are gonna be to. Out above the crowd and be able to, you know, strongly ask for more. Right. So if someone told you that, no, you cannot make more as a certified hand therapist, I would encourage you to question. Maybe they think they couldn't, but it's possible for you.
[00:21:48] Right. It's possible for you two. I know for myself, just from personal experience, when I studied. And became a certified hand therapist. Not only was I able to get the kind of job in, in the setting that I wanted, I was able to get myself a 5% raise. And then within a course of so many years, I was able to get myself a 20% raise.
[00:22:09] And then over a course, period of time, I made the decision to go out to business and, you know, for myself and I can increase the opportunities that I provide for myself. and I just wanna encourage you that becoming a CHT for you can give you opportunities that you want, right? [00:22:30] You can dream big, you it's free to dream big and then it just takes certain amount of commitment and effort to, to do the, the necessary work, to do the steps.
[00:22:42] We always saw our patients to do the work, you know, at the end of the day, we need to do the work too. So. You can work in the different settings that you want to. If you wanna be more in a particular outpatient setting, in a hospital setting in a doctor's, you know, setting to be in your own setting to work for yourself one day it's possible, but you can't let 1, 1, 1 failure stop you from trying again.
[00:23:13] In order to be, you have to be the CHT before you become the CHT and being able to critically think through any kind of problem and making decisions like that. You'll become the best therapist in your area. And being the best will also help you pass the CHD exam, that critical thinking, making decisions, those things will help you to answer the questions correctly on the exam and not feel completely lost and flustered.
[00:23:41] When you're getting questions that you don't know, these people, the commission, they have a huge bank of questions. They have statisticians that work on these questions. It's not so easy. It's just like to make some stuff up, but what we can make, what we can make up, which really is not [00:24:00] like totally makeup.
[00:24:00] It's just using our stories. Using the cases that we currently have really helps us to critically think through right. And make decisions. And that's exactly what you do on the exam. So if you have. If you have failed your exam to become a certified hand therapist, I encourage you. That is worth it to try again and to give yourself a chance, consider investing in yourself and giving yourself a chance to become the therapist that you know is possible.
[00:24:36] Right. You know, it's possible and I think it's possible. So don't be discouraged. I hope that you are encouraged that it's possible for you. And if you need help, then apply for the hand exam prep program. We're currently open. We're gonna close enrollment August 2nd, as we get started in the program. So if you have any questions about it, if you're like, I don't know if I'm sure.
[00:24:58] I don't know if I'm ready or I don't know if this program fits me. If you are on Instagram, just shoot me a message. Slide into my DM. Ask me any questions you want. And if you're seeing this on Facebook or you're seeing this on YouTube, you can grab the link. To apply for the program. And once you apply, then I'll respond to you in an email with a series of questions, all you have to do is answer those questions and we'll be able to see whether this program is right for you.
[00:25:29] There's absolutely [00:25:30] no commitment in applying for the program, but it is an opportunity to kind of go through a series of questions to see you know, how ready you are for the exam. And You know what else you need that's possible to, to help you make it possible. All right. So I hope this helped you.
[00:25:48] So the four tips are, make a decision about yes or no, take the exam or not take the exam. If the answer is no, you don't listen. Have to listen to the rest. If it's yes, you want to become a certified hand therapist. Then the second tip I have for you is to clutter your notes. The third tip is to clutter, your mind, and the fourth tip, which is kind of.
[00:26:08] Second most important to after making a decision is you gotta analyze what you're currently doing, analyze that score. All right. So I hope this helped. And if you have any questions, feel free to send me a message and I will talk to you later. All right. Enjoy your weekend. Thanks for tuning in. Bye.
[00:26:26] Hey, thanks for listening to Hoang's world podcast. If you are brand new to the hand therapy world, head over to my website, www . Hand therapy secrets.com, where you can get started with some of our free guides and paid programs for both OTs and PTs diving into the world of hand therapy. Or if you've been listening for a while watching on our YouTube channel and you think you could benefit from developing and moving your career further along in hand therapy, reach out to me and my team at info @ Hand therapy.secrets.com and tell us exactly what you're looking for, By the way, if you know someone [00:27:00] who could benefit from today's show, please share.
