Monday, November 3, 2008

Too many physios in charge

At the start of this prac we were under the charge of two/three different physios, and we were explained that we would receive an orientation of the ward, patients and what would be expected of us. However, the latter part was not done and instead in the confusion of who was looking after us, the physios would briefly whip us off to explain this treatment, then another treatment, then another physio would explain her treatment etc. By the end of the first week we hadn’t once followed our supposed daily treatment plan once and I was extremely confused as to what was expected of us in terms of our treatment rationale and strategies. As the patients we were seeing were also meant to be treated by the physios I thought it would be best to communicate with the patients treating physio so that we didn’t overlap in our sessions ie. If I did UL, they’d treat LL, or I treat sitting balance or standing balance, they do STS and walking etc. When I suggested this, I was told they no such collaboration was necessary and to treat irrespective of what they were going to do or their short term goals. The following week, the physios were changed and the treating physio came up to me, whilst I was treating the patient, and politely asked if next time we could talk about what we were going to treat so that didn’t both treat the same thing?!? What was I supposed to do…. It has been like that the whole way through the placement, a mixture of trying to please all the physios and not get in the way as well. I think that it would be useful if during our placements there was a definite one person who was in charge of us rather than a group. But, like most placements one needs to be extremely flexible and not take supervisors comments too personally!

1 comment:

arfy said...

I have definately found similar situations on placements, with supervisors having conflicting methods of Rx, note-writing and Ax. I believe you did the right thing in this situation, and that talking to the supervisor you feel most comfortable is the best option, and just suggesting you organise what you're all going to treat together.