Final entry

Upon completing my first clinical placement my expectations of prac where not only met but completely exceeded. The placement gave me an opportunity to discover my strengths and weaknesses and experience many different types of patients and conditions.

I had a few concerns regarding my placement and being in a rural setting before embarking on this placement. One was regarding the expectations of my supervisor. In my experience down at Collie Hospital i discovered that my supervisor gave me lots of responsibility and independence. She was always available if required but she did not overcrowd me. This really took the pressure off me and i was able to relax. I also had a bit off autonomy in regards to the patients i booked in and wanted to see. I was able to sit in on my supervisors patients as well when i had no patients booked in. This was great as i was able to gain more knowledge and treatment ideas and gain a better understanding of how things normally run and are treatment in that particular setting. For example i discovered that my supervisor does not treat chronic pain and that the closest hydrotherapy pool is 45mins away and so although it is often recommended, it can often not be accessed. Another concern i had was how i would cope in a rural setting away from my family and friends. I was lucky enough that Collie was close enough to come home on the weekends, which made this a whole lot easier. If lots of calls from my parents and lots of text messaging to friends, this was suprisingly not as hard as i expected. Most the day was occupied by prac then but the time i exercised, cooked dinner then watched a bit of tv it was time for bed. I did get a little bit lonely in the first 2 weeks with no one else staying at the nursing quarters but that changed when another student arrived.

Having a really relationship with my supervisor and the therapy assistants defiantely made a big difference to my confidence and enjoyment on placement. I did not will embarrassed asking questions and i was encouraged to get as much hands on treatment as possible. I definately got to enhance my skills and knowledge base on this placement, and i even got to watch a caesarean section in theatre, which was amazing.

Being a rural placement, i expected to see both inpatients and outpatients and see a variety of conditions. This was as expected however i was surprised to see no cardio patients at all on my placement. I mainly saw patients with cardiac or respiratory conditions for exercise programs. We ran a lot of exercise classes which was good fun and kept me fit. I felt like throughout my classes and treament sessions i had good time management skills. I used the resources available to me including the huge array of books my supervisor had in the office to answer any questions i had and expand my knowledge. I did discover after a assessment and treatment of a lady with neck back that my neck asessment skills need revising. I was lucky enough to get lots of women's health and paediatric experience whilst on this placement.

I thoroughly enjoyed my placement at Collie Hospital. All the staff were lovely and i had some great clients who were very sad to see me leave. Now that i have finished i have gained a greater understanding or how the rural setting works, and the roles of different staff memebers in ensuring better health for the community.