Initial Entry (round two 4th year prac)

My second practical placement for this year is at Osborne Park Hospital in the Women's Health area. In terms of structure I think the placement will consist of a mixture of inpatient and outpatient clients both individually and in an exercise class setting. I think that the morning will be spent on the ward assessing and managing inpatients, and in the afternoon I will have student outpatient appointments and an exercise class on some days. I think the majority of my patients will have incontinence issues and the rest will be antenatal and postnatal.

I think in the first few days I will be shadowing my supervisor to learn the expectations and protocols of a women's health physiotherapist. I hope that by the end of the week I will have my own case load which I can manage independently. I understand as a student in the women's health area that there will be things that I won't be able to do such as internal examination so I hope that I will have the opportunity to observe this instead. I predict that I will be able to observe a birth at some stage aswell.

I expect that my role as an educator is a vital part of women's health physiotherapy. Therefore my ability to translate my knowledge into layman's terms will be essential. I am concerned whether the depth of my theoretical knowledge is adequate as I am unsure of the expectations of me as a women's health student. I am also concerned of my ability to put this knowledge to practical use as we only spent half of a semester practicing and I have since not put it to use. Lastly and although petty I am concerned about getting along with my supervisor, unfortunately I have heard from past students that she is very intimidating and intense. I worry that I will be intimidated and constantly nervous under her supervision which will affect my performance. However I am not to going presume anything and that the opinions are completely subjective, I will also have a tutor for support if there is are conflicts. Overall though I am excited to start this placement as I really enjoyed the unit at university and now have a unique opportunity to gain hands on experience in the area.