Hello all,
Coming to the end of my neuro prac, just thought I'd share some things that I learnt. I struggled throughout this prac, stemming partially from my poor/undeveloped observation skills. Subtle things like muscle activation I found difficulty to see, and hence decipher the problems, and what to do to fix this. I thought that my skills would improve over time, and they did a little but not enough to be effective or entirey accurate.
I feel in this situation I would have benefitted from specific guidance and examples from senior staff, rather than being asked continuously what i could seeand to "think about it". I take responsibility for not requesting help in this way, and I feel that it could have been offered more by the supervisors when they saw me having troubles.
As well as this I think there needs to be a lot more exposure to real patients and neurological problems at university, rather than getting thrown in the deep end, having only 4 weeks to start learning and developing these skills. I'm not sure any of our opinions make a difference to course changes but was curious if anyone else had experienced similar issues, or has any suggestions on how I could handle this situation in the future.
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4 comments:
i find the best way to observe mms activation is not by sight it is best done by feel with your eyes shut, for me anyway.
yeah i agree with dickie. by taking the visual sensory away, it enhances what you can sense with your hands.
as for the 4 weeks duration, I do agree it is a little bit too short for a neuro placement. but i guess if you had a bad start with the work environment or don't feel you can get along with your supervisors in a friendly way or if your supervisors fail to identify your learning style, can prevent effective learning. that's the weakness/unfairness of placements.
I totally agree with what you said, my advice on observation is to develop a system. If you have a system, you are not going to miss anything at the start, once you are getting better with your observation,you will see what your supervisor sees(hopefully)
i totally agree, i think there needs to be alot more exposure to 'real' pts when the theory is being learnt. only now when seeing a parkinsons pt do i understand the function of the basal ganglia and how the neurotransmitters work and the type of problems the pt presents with and why. The same goes for stroke rehab, i find it easier to remember a pt and how they presented rather than memorise a list of impairments. accomodating pracs earlier on in the course would allow us to develop the the basic physio skills earlier (rather than at the end of 3rd year) and mean that final year pracs were about consolidating specific treatments/understanding complex conditions. I feel even if this made the course longer we would be better physios for it.
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