Final Entry: third placement

On reflection I have really enjoyed this placement, I think due to a combination of being a good placement and livign in the the country for five weeks. In terms of structure, the case load varied with some days having 3 patients spread across the day to others where I had 8-9 patients. The majority of my patients did have back pain but were all completely different in nature, none of them were straight forward! I enjoyed travelling between augusta and margaret river as Augusta was predominantly geriatrics and some hospital work so I got a taste of all aspects. I definitely found the diagnostic process the most challenging part of the placement, as I wasn't used to starting from scratch with no previous diagnosis provided. In some respects your spoilt working on a ward as you usually already know what the main reason the patient is there. I found it at times so complex and challenging and almost a guessing game as you'd trial one treatment to see if it works, and if not try something slightly different next time if they didn't improve significantly. Something I found challenging was the nature of the private practice as patients were booked in and paying to see my supervisor, so at times I a little self conscious as I thought they'd prefer Rob over me as I'm a 'student'. In the end however I didn't have any troubles with the patients and learnt that confidence was the key and they would trust you as a physiotherapist. In all I have absolutely loved this placement and I will definitely keep my options open for rural jobs at the end of the year!