Kim McKee, Licensed Physical Therapist

Kim McKee is a licensed Physical Therapist, practicing in the San Francisco Bay Area. She grew up in Southern California and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from UCLA and a Masters in Physical Therapy from Chapman University.

Kim works at two facilities in the Bay Area; Kentfield Rehab Hospital, Kentfield, CA and Embarcadero Physical Therapy, SF. The Kentfield Rehab Hospital is an in-patient rehab facility which treats both an elderly patient population dealing with strokes, MS, neuromuscular diseases, plus recovery from total hip or knee replacements and younger patients with spinal cord and head injuries. At the Embarcadero Physical Therapy, Kim works with patients that have sports and orthopedic injuries.

When Kim began college she was interested in getting into the medical profession. While studying for her degree she began volunteering at the UCLA Medical Center in Physical Therapy and enjoyed it.  After taking some pre-med courses in Chemistry and Physics, she became more interested in pursuing Physical Therapy as a career.

You must have a Masters in Physical Therapy to go into the field. Kim says it is difficult to get into physical therapy programs. She feels that she was accepted into the Chapman University program because students, from the UCLA program, are well prepared.

Kim feels "the qualities needed to be a good physical therapist are flexibility and patience because you are working with great differences in physical problems and in types of people."

Kim says that "the most difficult aspect of physical therapy is keeping the quality of care good and getting reimbursed." (Insurance coverage is limited). In addition her type of work is physically demanding: you have more patients (sometimes 20-30 per day), shorter time with patients, more paper work and longer hours. Kim works four, 10 hour days every week.

The most rewarding and enjoyable aspect of being a physical therapist is seeing improvement and/or recover by her patients who had been seriously injured.

Kim says continuing education programs are not required. However, she attends 1 or 2 a year and thinks they should be a requirement.

When Kim is not working she enjoys international travel, working out, jogging, cooking ice, skating, and hiking. Her favorite book is The Beak of The Finch.