Head Injury Patient

Hi All,

At the moment, I am on a neurosurgical ward in RPH. I have come across a few difficult situations and would like to share some of my experience with all of you.

On the first day, my facility supervisor had clearly stated she was a big fan of Bobath technique and she wanted me to treat patients with this technique. As a student, this was a really good learning opportunity and I was more than happy to learn this new technique from my supervisor. I had used the Bobath technique to treat my patient and things went pretty well until I met my Curtin tutor.

When I first met my Curtin tutor, she asked me what I had done for the last few days. I gave her a quick handover on patient’s condition and reported what sort of treatment I had given to my patient. She was not really impressed on my choice my technique and she gave me a big lecture on Bobath technique and said this technique was not appropriate for most patients (Head Injury) on this ward.

During the three hours with my Curtin tutor, I had treated all my patients with ‘Carr and Shepherd’ approach and when she was not there, I had to use the Bobath technique to treat my patients.

I understand every clinician will have his/her own way to treat a patient but I just wonder will this inconsistency of treatment affect patient’s recovery. Is it better to stick to one approach than using different techniques on head injury patient?