Initial Entry
For my second placement this year, I have been assigned to go to Fremantle Hospital. This is my cardio-respiratory rotation, and I am excited about going on this placement because cardio-respiratory was one of my favourite units during my physiotherapy course. I’m hoping that the practical side of cardio-respiratory will be as interesting as the theoretical side of it.
I will be at Fremantle hospital every day from 8:00am to 4:30pm.
I have been told by other students that I will have my own caseload. I’m happy about having this responsibility as I think it will give me more opportunities where I can learn and therefore gain more confidence in my own abilities and skills.
I have also heard from other students who have been on this placement that you are placed on a number of different wards, including general medical, surgical and ICU wards. I hope I get to experience the general medical and/or the ICU ward as I think I will be able to use a few more of my skills on these wards. I think the surgical ward could be a bit repetitive, as I think you may be using the same methods to treat patients.
I’m a bit concerned about how I will get to Fremantle hospital. The car parking is very sparse and expensive in Fremantle so I think I will have to take 2 different train lines and then walk from the station to the hospital. It may take over 1 ½ hours just to get to the hospital. I will have to be going to bed very early each night!
I hope to see a range of different conditions as well while I’m on this placement. I’m hoping that I will get to see patients who have COPD right through to patients that have pneumonia, asthma, and bronchitis.
Another expectation I have is that I hope I will be able to help run a few pulmonary rehabilitation classes. I feel as though I need to have more experience working with groups of people and I think working out exercises for a pulmonary rehabilitation class would stretch my knowledge in the cardio-respiratory sector of physiotherapy.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
INITIAL ENTRY-FREMANTLE HOSPITAL
Initial Entry
For my second placement this year, I have been assigned to go to Fremantle Hospital. This is my cardio-respiratory rotation, and I am excited about going on this placement because cardio-respiratory was one of my favourite units during my physiotherapy course. I’m hoping that the practical side of cardio-respiratory will be as interesting as the theoretical side of it.
I will be at Fremantle hospital every day from 8:00am to 4:30pm.
I have been told by other students that I will have my own caseload. I’m happy about having this responsibility as I think it will give me more opportunities where I can learn and therefore gain more confidence in my own abilities and skills.
I have also heard from other students who have been on this placement that you are placed on a number of different wards, including general medical, surgical and ICU wards. I hope I get to experience the general medical and/or the ICU ward as I think I will be able to use a few more of my skills on these wards. I think the surgical ward could be a bit repetitive, as I think you may be using the same methods to treat patients.
I’m a bit concerned about how I will get to Fremantle hospital. The car parking is very sparse and expensive in Fremantle so I think I will have to take 2 different train lines and then walk from the station to the hospital. It may take over 1 ½ hours just to get to the hospital. I will have to be going to bed very early each night!
I hope to see a range of different conditions as well while I’m on this placement. I’m hoping that I will get to see patients who have COPD right through to patients that have pneumonia, asthma, and bronchitis.
Another expectation I have is that I hope I will be able to help run a few pulmonary rehabilitation classes. I feel as though I need to have more experience working with groups of people and I think working out exercises for a pulmonary rehabilitation class would stretch my knowledge in the cardio-respiratory sector of physiotherapy.
For my second placement this year, I have been assigned to go to Fremantle Hospital. This is my cardio-respiratory rotation, and I am excited about going on this placement because cardio-respiratory was one of my favourite units during my physiotherapy course. I’m hoping that the practical side of cardio-respiratory will be as interesting as the theoretical side of it.
I will be at Fremantle hospital every day from 8:00am to 4:30pm.
I have been told by other students that I will have my own caseload. I’m happy about having this responsibility as I think it will give me more opportunities where I can learn and therefore gain more confidence in my own abilities and skills.
I have also heard from other students who have been on this placement that you are placed on a number of different wards, including general medical, surgical and ICU wards. I hope I get to experience the general medical and/or the ICU ward as I think I will be able to use a few more of my skills on these wards. I think the surgical ward could be a bit repetitive, as I think you may be using the same methods to treat patients.
I’m a bit concerned about how I will get to Fremantle hospital. The car parking is very sparse and expensive in Fremantle so I think I will have to take 2 different train lines and then walk from the station to the hospital. It may take over 1 ½ hours just to get to the hospital. I will have to be going to bed very early each night!
I hope to see a range of different conditions as well while I’m on this placement. I’m hoping that I will get to see patients who have COPD right through to patients that have pneumonia, asthma, and bronchitis.
Another expectation I have is that I hope I will be able to help run a few pulmonary rehabilitation classes. I feel as though I need to have more experience working with groups of people and I think working out exercises for a pulmonary rehabilitation class would stretch my knowledge in the cardio-respiratory sector of physiotherapy.
Monday, March 15, 2010
FINAL ENTRY
I really enjoyed my placement at Princess Margaret Hospital. I did have 2 half days a week but they varied from day to day. I was given a comprehensive introduction to the hospital and another student and I were introduced and given a tour on our first day.
Just as I suspected; I defiantly felt the emotional pull of being involved with children who were sick. Many times I came home feeling down, but I think at some point during the placement I realised that I could do nothing about their situation, however I could help them with the problems they had at that particular time, I could help them along their journey to recovery.
I saw a wide range of patients, many had seizure disorders, some had spinal cord injuries, a few had brain injuries and lots had muscular disorders.
Surprisingly enough I only saw one child with cerebral palsy (and that was only because the child was having a baclofen pump inserted), the reason for this being that at PMH, the physiotherapy department only sees children who are in their acute stage of their disease and cerebral palsy is a chronic ongoing condition that is usually handled in community based care.
I did see a very wide age range in the children that I treated. I treated children with neurodevelopmental delay that were only 4 months old, right through to a child with an acute brain injury that was 17 years old. I felt that I gained a lot of experience with working with children of different age groups, I now feel as though I can relate well to children of all ages.
I ended up seeing 3 children with my supervisor every day. These kids were my caseload. My supervisor let me assess and treat them completely while she sat back and observed. I found it difficult at times to communicate with the childs parent because they tended to look to my supervisor for confirmation that what I was saying was correct. I felt I often didn’t have the complete trust of the child’s parent, I am hoping they will begin to trust me once I am a practicing physiotherapist on my own. I have learnt that I must begin to have more confidence in my own knowledge and treatment so that other people will not doubt me.
Just as I suspected; I defiantly felt the emotional pull of being involved with children who were sick. Many times I came home feeling down, but I think at some point during the placement I realised that I could do nothing about their situation, however I could help them with the problems they had at that particular time, I could help them along their journey to recovery.
I saw a wide range of patients, many had seizure disorders, some had spinal cord injuries, a few had brain injuries and lots had muscular disorders.
Surprisingly enough I only saw one child with cerebral palsy (and that was only because the child was having a baclofen pump inserted), the reason for this being that at PMH, the physiotherapy department only sees children who are in their acute stage of their disease and cerebral palsy is a chronic ongoing condition that is usually handled in community based care.
I did see a very wide age range in the children that I treated. I treated children with neurodevelopmental delay that were only 4 months old, right through to a child with an acute brain injury that was 17 years old. I felt that I gained a lot of experience with working with children of different age groups, I now feel as though I can relate well to children of all ages.
I ended up seeing 3 children with my supervisor every day. These kids were my caseload. My supervisor let me assess and treat them completely while she sat back and observed. I found it difficult at times to communicate with the childs parent because they tended to look to my supervisor for confirmation that what I was saying was correct. I felt I often didn’t have the complete trust of the child’s parent, I am hoping they will begin to trust me once I am a practicing physiotherapist on my own. I have learnt that I must begin to have more confidence in my own knowledge and treatment so that other people will not doubt me.
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Reflection 3- Week 5
Situation
On one of my last days at my placement (10/03/2010), I was asked to treat a 10 year old girl with my visiting clinical supervisor. This girl had severe left sided weakness only present in her right arm. The day before my treatment session with her, she had undergone a MRI which revealed that she had a cavernoma ( benign tumour) in the frontal lobe of her brain which was occasionally bleeding. This bleed resulted in her presenting with left hemorrhagic stroke like symptoms. On assessment it was found that her strength was severely affected with varying degrees through her whole right arm, her sensation was completely intact and her tone was generally low (hypotonic) in her right shoulder and arm.
The girl told me she was occasionally banging into things on the right side and on observation I noticed she tended to “leave the right arm behind” when she was completing tasks.
Task
I was asked to treat (with my clinical supervisor watching) and address the problems this girl had as a result of the hemorrhagic stroke.
Action
I firstly identified the areas which the girl needed treatment on. She had; 1) decreased neural input/altered neural pathways to her right upper limb. 2) low tone in her shoulder girdle, possibly leading to a subluxation. 3) significant decreased right upper limb strength. 4) increased weight bearing to the right side in sitting/altered midline in sitting.
So I treated her, and gave her exercises that, encouraged weight bearing to the left side in sitting (increased her awareness of her midline, by showing her a mirror), I gave her neural input and stimulation to the right hand using different textured materials. I educated her about taking care of her right upper limb and refraining from doing any movements that would injure the joint and lastly I gave her some strengthening exercises for her right arm.
Result
The result was a straighter alignment in sitting on reassessment, with almost a even weight bearing on both sides. Other improvements from the treatment could be seen further down the track.
Evaluation
I think my intervention was a bit mediocre. I think I had some strengths in the treatment but I had a lot of weaknesses as well.
My strengths were that I engaged the child well during the treatment session and I think I selected appropriate exercises that targeted her problems.
My weaknesses were that; Firstly, I needed to cater my exercises to a more paediatric level, I needed to make them more exciting. Secondly I needed to have progressions on the exercises. I needed to make the exercise more difficult by adding in different and harder dimensions once the child had mastered the easier version of the exercise. Thirdly the treatment session needed to be longer, it was only 40 minutes when it was supposed to be a hour; I needed to plan out a variety of exercises that would achieve the same result. Lastly my supervisor said I needed to also investigate the fact that the child was banging into things on the right side. I needed to check her vision filed on the right.
Strategies
I think next time I will try to improve my treatment session by implementing these strategies;
1) Plan out the treatment session so I know how long each activity will take and hence I will be able to treat the patient for their given time.
2) Research treatment ideas, if I cant think of enough exercises, I will go research some different ideas that achieve the same result.
3) If the child identifies a new problem in my subjective, make sure I assess it at the beginning of the session to find out if it is a problem.
4) Try to incorporate childish games into my treatment to make the session more appealing to the child.
On one of my last days at my placement (10/03/2010), I was asked to treat a 10 year old girl with my visiting clinical supervisor. This girl had severe left sided weakness only present in her right arm. The day before my treatment session with her, she had undergone a MRI which revealed that she had a cavernoma ( benign tumour) in the frontal lobe of her brain which was occasionally bleeding. This bleed resulted in her presenting with left hemorrhagic stroke like symptoms. On assessment it was found that her strength was severely affected with varying degrees through her whole right arm, her sensation was completely intact and her tone was generally low (hypotonic) in her right shoulder and arm.
The girl told me she was occasionally banging into things on the right side and on observation I noticed she tended to “leave the right arm behind” when she was completing tasks.
Task
I was asked to treat (with my clinical supervisor watching) and address the problems this girl had as a result of the hemorrhagic stroke.
Action
I firstly identified the areas which the girl needed treatment on. She had; 1) decreased neural input/altered neural pathways to her right upper limb. 2) low tone in her shoulder girdle, possibly leading to a subluxation. 3) significant decreased right upper limb strength. 4) increased weight bearing to the right side in sitting/altered midline in sitting.
So I treated her, and gave her exercises that, encouraged weight bearing to the left side in sitting (increased her awareness of her midline, by showing her a mirror), I gave her neural input and stimulation to the right hand using different textured materials. I educated her about taking care of her right upper limb and refraining from doing any movements that would injure the joint and lastly I gave her some strengthening exercises for her right arm.
Result
The result was a straighter alignment in sitting on reassessment, with almost a even weight bearing on both sides. Other improvements from the treatment could be seen further down the track.
Evaluation
I think my intervention was a bit mediocre. I think I had some strengths in the treatment but I had a lot of weaknesses as well.
My strengths were that I engaged the child well during the treatment session and I think I selected appropriate exercises that targeted her problems.
My weaknesses were that; Firstly, I needed to cater my exercises to a more paediatric level, I needed to make them more exciting. Secondly I needed to have progressions on the exercises. I needed to make the exercise more difficult by adding in different and harder dimensions once the child had mastered the easier version of the exercise. Thirdly the treatment session needed to be longer, it was only 40 minutes when it was supposed to be a hour; I needed to plan out a variety of exercises that would achieve the same result. Lastly my supervisor said I needed to also investigate the fact that the child was banging into things on the right side. I needed to check her vision filed on the right.
Strategies
I think next time I will try to improve my treatment session by implementing these strategies;
1) Plan out the treatment session so I know how long each activity will take and hence I will be able to treat the patient for their given time.
2) Research treatment ideas, if I cant think of enough exercises, I will go research some different ideas that achieve the same result.
3) If the child identifies a new problem in my subjective, make sure I assess it at the beginning of the session to find out if it is a problem.
4) Try to incorporate childish games into my treatment to make the session more appealing to the child.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Reflection 2- Week 3
Situation
On the third week of my placement, on a Wednesday the 24th of February, I was asked to conduct an individual hydrotherapy session for a 14 year old girl with Transverse Myolitis. She contracted the virus 2 months ago and this virus manifested itself as a neural virus. The virus caused inflammation and scarring of the spinal cord at level T8, the result of this was paralysis of her legs (she now mobilised in a wheelchair), bowel and bladder, a loss of sensation to her legs and a loss of reflexes to her legs as well. As a result of these consequences this girl was having an enema administered in the morning before she entered the pool to make sure she had completely emptied her bowels. Another complication to this girl’s condition was that she was very obese, and her tolerance for exercise was low, it was very difficult to motivate her.
The girl I was conducting the hydrotherapy session for was receiving hydrotherapy 3 times a week and 2 land sessions a week. She had been having hydrotherapy sessions for over a month now and she was quiet confident in the pool.
The recovery from Transverse Myolitis is variable, with some people recovering completely while others are totally paralysed for the rest of their lives. Therefore physiotherapy had to include the possibility that this girl will be wheelchair bound for the rest of her life.
Task
I was asked to perform a 40 minute hydrotherapy session that catered to this girl’s needs. I was conducting the session with my supervisor present beside the pool. I based a lot of my treatment around firstly preventing generalised deconditioning, secondly improving the strength of her upper limbs, thirdly encouraging any recovery of her lower limb muscles and lastly raising her cardiovascular fitness ( in the hopes of addressing her weight issue as well).
Action
After transferring the girl to the pool using a chair lift; I began my treatment session. I asked her to perform;
1) 2 laps of the pool, choosing her preferred stroke.
2) shoulder, arm, wrist and chest exercises using resistor pads.
3) 2 attempts at diving for sunken objects ( rings etc.)
4) treading water for 2 minutes
5) facilitated hip flexion, encouraging any activity of lower limb muscles.
Result
The girl did enjoy the hydrotherapy session however she did seem tired after the session commenced. During the session I did see a bit of hip flexion being exerted on the left hip, which is encouraging and is something to work with in the future.
Evaluation
I think the session went well. I addressed the girls deconditioning by giving her lots of cardiovascular exercise such as the laps in the pool and treading water. I also gave her some choice as to which activities she wanted to do (so she felt as though she had some control over the session). My supervisor said my arm exercises were a bit too general and I needed to concentrate on giving her more specific exercises that would target muscle groups that she would defiantly need to be stronger (eg. the triceps for the ease of transferring between her wheelchair and her bed/toilet etc.). My supervisor also said that I needed to allow her to keep her independence in things, so teaching her how to move around the pool on the steps and the hand rails independently and without the use of her legs is also pertinent in her hydrotherapy session.
Strategies
I think next time I would firstly try to make the session more tailored to my patients needs. The girl was having difficulty with her transfers (as she couldn’t clear her bottom off the surface it was on) so I should have focused on strengthening her tricep muscles to improve her independence in transferring herself. Next time I would also keep the activity as fun as possible. I would try to add in some music, or ask her if she had an activity in mind that she would like to do for 5 minutes. Lastly another good strategy would be to incorporate into the session activities that allowed her to keep her independence in and around the pool. I would teach her how to get on and off the steps and teach her how to take care of her legs when other people are helping her into the pool.
On the third week of my placement, on a Wednesday the 24th of February, I was asked to conduct an individual hydrotherapy session for a 14 year old girl with Transverse Myolitis. She contracted the virus 2 months ago and this virus manifested itself as a neural virus. The virus caused inflammation and scarring of the spinal cord at level T8, the result of this was paralysis of her legs (she now mobilised in a wheelchair), bowel and bladder, a loss of sensation to her legs and a loss of reflexes to her legs as well. As a result of these consequences this girl was having an enema administered in the morning before she entered the pool to make sure she had completely emptied her bowels. Another complication to this girl’s condition was that she was very obese, and her tolerance for exercise was low, it was very difficult to motivate her.
The girl I was conducting the hydrotherapy session for was receiving hydrotherapy 3 times a week and 2 land sessions a week. She had been having hydrotherapy sessions for over a month now and she was quiet confident in the pool.
The recovery from Transverse Myolitis is variable, with some people recovering completely while others are totally paralysed for the rest of their lives. Therefore physiotherapy had to include the possibility that this girl will be wheelchair bound for the rest of her life.
Task
I was asked to perform a 40 minute hydrotherapy session that catered to this girl’s needs. I was conducting the session with my supervisor present beside the pool. I based a lot of my treatment around firstly preventing generalised deconditioning, secondly improving the strength of her upper limbs, thirdly encouraging any recovery of her lower limb muscles and lastly raising her cardiovascular fitness ( in the hopes of addressing her weight issue as well).
Action
After transferring the girl to the pool using a chair lift; I began my treatment session. I asked her to perform;
1) 2 laps of the pool, choosing her preferred stroke.
2) shoulder, arm, wrist and chest exercises using resistor pads.
3) 2 attempts at diving for sunken objects ( rings etc.)
4) treading water for 2 minutes
5) facilitated hip flexion, encouraging any activity of lower limb muscles.
Result
The girl did enjoy the hydrotherapy session however she did seem tired after the session commenced. During the session I did see a bit of hip flexion being exerted on the left hip, which is encouraging and is something to work with in the future.
Evaluation
I think the session went well. I addressed the girls deconditioning by giving her lots of cardiovascular exercise such as the laps in the pool and treading water. I also gave her some choice as to which activities she wanted to do (so she felt as though she had some control over the session). My supervisor said my arm exercises were a bit too general and I needed to concentrate on giving her more specific exercises that would target muscle groups that she would defiantly need to be stronger (eg. the triceps for the ease of transferring between her wheelchair and her bed/toilet etc.). My supervisor also said that I needed to allow her to keep her independence in things, so teaching her how to move around the pool on the steps and the hand rails independently and without the use of her legs is also pertinent in her hydrotherapy session.
Strategies
I think next time I would firstly try to make the session more tailored to my patients needs. The girl was having difficulty with her transfers (as she couldn’t clear her bottom off the surface it was on) so I should have focused on strengthening her tricep muscles to improve her independence in transferring herself. Next time I would also keep the activity as fun as possible. I would try to add in some music, or ask her if she had an activity in mind that she would like to do for 5 minutes. Lastly another good strategy would be to incorporate into the session activities that allowed her to keep her independence in and around the pool. I would teach her how to get on and off the steps and teach her how to take care of her legs when other people are helping her into the pool.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
FIRST ENTRY- WEEK 1
Situation
It was the third day on my placement (10/02/2010) that I was asked to treat a child with my visiting clinical tutor. This was the first time I had seen this child. My patient was a four year old girl who had sustained a hypoxic brain injury post resuscitation. My patient had endured damage to her basal ganglia and cerebellum. With the help of my supervisor we had established the child had difficulty initiating movements, continuing in automatic movements, poor balance, and a high level of weakness and spacticity in her lower limbs. All of these factors had considerably contributed to her delay and even regression in her age appropriate developmental milestones. My patient could not move from a seated position to a lying position, she had difficulty rolling over and could not crawl or even walk without assistance.
Due to the fact that most of the damage was on the right side of her brain, my patients speech and level of understanding of words had also regressed significantly. Therefore communicating with her was also very challenging.
Task
My treatment was therefore not only to address her physical delay in developmental milestones, but also to encourage her to talk instead of pointing with her hands to communicate. In addition to encouraging my patient to talk I needed to be able to make sure the language I used was appropriate to my patient’s age.
Action
I was facilitating my patient to transition for a seated position to a lying position on a mat on the floor, all the while I was talking to her trying to get her to communicate with me.
Result
My patient ended up moving from a seated position to a lying position on the mat, however it took several attempts. I needed to change how I spoke to her several times as well.
Evaluation
I don’t think I was affective in this first treatment session with my patient. I found it hard to get her to “ speak up” and talk to me, especially when I was facilitating her to progress in her physical development. Her reluctance to talk to me could have been that my patient was shy around me but most likely it was because I was not using age appropriate language and I was failing to use techniques that would facilitate her to talk to me.
Strategies
My clinical tutor and I worked out some ideas that I could use when talking to this patient. Firstly; to use one command at a time. Secondly to give my patient choices by asking her simple questions (that required basic answers) encouraging her to verbally communicate with me. Lastly to use more age appropriate language. For example “try to stretch your leg out like a long long snake” instead of “can you straighten your knee?”.
I tried using some of these strategies the second time I saw this patient, and I found she was much more outspoken and she seemed to have a better understanding of what I was asking her to do. Overall, the treatment session was more efficient and I think it was more successful when I implemented these strategies.
It was the third day on my placement (10/02/2010) that I was asked to treat a child with my visiting clinical tutor. This was the first time I had seen this child. My patient was a four year old girl who had sustained a hypoxic brain injury post resuscitation. My patient had endured damage to her basal ganglia and cerebellum. With the help of my supervisor we had established the child had difficulty initiating movements, continuing in automatic movements, poor balance, and a high level of weakness and spacticity in her lower limbs. All of these factors had considerably contributed to her delay and even regression in her age appropriate developmental milestones. My patient could not move from a seated position to a lying position, she had difficulty rolling over and could not crawl or even walk without assistance.
Due to the fact that most of the damage was on the right side of her brain, my patients speech and level of understanding of words had also regressed significantly. Therefore communicating with her was also very challenging.
Task
My treatment was therefore not only to address her physical delay in developmental milestones, but also to encourage her to talk instead of pointing with her hands to communicate. In addition to encouraging my patient to talk I needed to be able to make sure the language I used was appropriate to my patient’s age.
Action
I was facilitating my patient to transition for a seated position to a lying position on a mat on the floor, all the while I was talking to her trying to get her to communicate with me.
Result
My patient ended up moving from a seated position to a lying position on the mat, however it took several attempts. I needed to change how I spoke to her several times as well.
Evaluation
I don’t think I was affective in this first treatment session with my patient. I found it hard to get her to “ speak up” and talk to me, especially when I was facilitating her to progress in her physical development. Her reluctance to talk to me could have been that my patient was shy around me but most likely it was because I was not using age appropriate language and I was failing to use techniques that would facilitate her to talk to me.
Strategies
My clinical tutor and I worked out some ideas that I could use when talking to this patient. Firstly; to use one command at a time. Secondly to give my patient choices by asking her simple questions (that required basic answers) encouraging her to verbally communicate with me. Lastly to use more age appropriate language. For example “try to stretch your leg out like a long long snake” instead of “can you straighten your knee?”.
I tried using some of these strategies the second time I saw this patient, and I found she was much more outspoken and she seemed to have a better understanding of what I was asking her to do. Overall, the treatment session was more efficient and I think it was more successful when I implemented these strategies.
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Initial Entry- Princess Margaret Hospital
Initial entry
I have been placed at Princess Margaret Hospital in the Neurology Department. Most days I start at 8 am and finish at 5 pm, however Monday I start later and Thursday I finish earlier. The first day on placement I am supposed to be given a pamphlet on the hospital and will introduced to people and procedures in and around the hospital.
I really do love working with children so I am very excited about this placement. However, at the same time, I am a bit apprehensive about this placement. I think in this environment it could be a bit taxing, both emotionally and physically. The reason for this being; that the children I will be treating will most likely have conditions which will affect them for the rest of their lives. I will have to be careful I don’t become too emotionally involved with my patients. I have talked to a few of my other classmates who have also been on this placement. According to them I will have mostly patients with acute brain injuries, hydrochephalus and Guillian Barre Syndrome. However, because the ward is titled ‘neurology’ I think I may see a range of neurological conditions. I hope I see a range of children with different ages, as this is also my one and only paediatric placement, I hope to see children that are in the midst of development and hopefully even some neonates.
I am hoping I will eventually be able to have my own caseload ( with a supervisor present) however, I can understand how this may not be possible as parents can be quiet understandably concerned about their child’s welfare and hence, wish their child to receive optimal treatment by an experienced therapist.
I have been placed at Princess Margaret Hospital in the Neurology Department. Most days I start at 8 am and finish at 5 pm, however Monday I start later and Thursday I finish earlier. The first day on placement I am supposed to be given a pamphlet on the hospital and will introduced to people and procedures in and around the hospital.
I really do love working with children so I am very excited about this placement. However, at the same time, I am a bit apprehensive about this placement. I think in this environment it could be a bit taxing, both emotionally and physically. The reason for this being; that the children I will be treating will most likely have conditions which will affect them for the rest of their lives. I will have to be careful I don’t become too emotionally involved with my patients. I have talked to a few of my other classmates who have also been on this placement. According to them I will have mostly patients with acute brain injuries, hydrochephalus and Guillian Barre Syndrome. However, because the ward is titled ‘neurology’ I think I may see a range of neurological conditions. I hope I see a range of children with different ages, as this is also my one and only paediatric placement, I hope to see children that are in the midst of development and hopefully even some neonates.
I am hoping I will eventually be able to have my own caseload ( with a supervisor present) however, I can understand how this may not be possible as parents can be quiet understandably concerned about their child’s welfare and hence, wish their child to receive optimal treatment by an experienced therapist.
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