On Monday morning we woke to some snow around the region. Suprisingly North Dunedin wasn't too badly affected whereas South Dunedin was. Odd! Our plan was to travel to Mosgiel on Monday morning to visit a new patient with COPD, but after checking the road status we rang the patient to make sure they were still alive. They were, thank goodness! In the end we didn't go to Mosgiel as the patient was not feeling well enough for a visit. We then rung around other patients, many wished to have a physio visit another time (because it was so cold and miserable). Much of the time on Monday was spent preparing Heart Foundation booklets for our Friday placement and drinking coffee in the staffroom. In the end we visited one patient while there were small snow flurries going on outside.
On Wednesday morning I saw my usual clients. I've enjoyed having some clinic time with patients with chronic illnesses. What hasn't worked well one week is improved upon in the next, and is even better the week after that. We have had a chance to practice independently - with the occassional visit from the educator to check up on the patient and share a good yarn or two. Following the session I have enjoyed debriefing whilst I'm writing my patient's notes. Debriefs have challenged my critical thinking and clinical reasoning - we've discussed psychosocial aspects which in theory have simple solutions, but in practice these are not at all easy to influence. I feel that one of my patients has taken onboard the message that he needs to continue exercising regularly. This patient in particular is known for being 'stubborn' and having zero compliance with exercise programmes. However, it seems that over the three weeks I have found an activity that the patient enjoys and they have indicated that they will start exercising at home. To me, this is a success. If we put in the hard work, physiothearpy has its rewards.
On Thursday afternoon I decided to explore Waipori Falls!
On Friday we were handing back the risk assessments for 'cardiovascular disease risk in the next five years'. We were following up with some education - discussing the results and allowing for some Q&A so they could be better informed about their health.
We have covered all the musculoskeletal tests we will need to begin practicing as musculoskeletal physiotherapists. Our manual handling skillls, communication, subjective and objective assessments are getting pretty sharp too. Our last lab for the MSK module in our degree was left to us to practice what we wanted - there was a lecturer roaming the room helping us with techniques. So we're well versed in soft tissue therapy, Mulligan and Maitland manual therapy, exercise therapy, taping, etc. In addition we've covered the fundamental electrotherapy techniques (thermotherapy, cryotherapy, ultrasound, laser, TENS, FMS, NMES, biofeedback). Our toolbox is getting bigger! Our last physical agents lab (electrotherapy) was on biofeedback. To demonstrate how the equipment worked (and it's set-up) the demonstrators had two students arm wrestle each other. The biofeedback measured their muscle activity, the highest muscle activity theoretically won (this was reinforced by the outcome winner of the arm wrestle). Unfortunately the winner didn't face-off against a lab demonstrator... Anyway, the biofeedback machine beeps when a your muscle isn't activating enough or is overactive (we control the settings) - this can help train us to relax our muscles when we're stressed or to target specific muscles (amongst a host of other uses).
Neuro portfolio in... check!
Physical agents assignment in... check!
PHTY355 clinical placement portfolio for semester one in... check!
Evidence based practice assignment... it can wait.
I'll write one blog to cover this exam period... catch you in a few weeks!
Wish us luck!
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