Initial Entry 4

For my final rotation I will be going to Royal Perth Hospital (RPH) for Medical Cardiopulmonary. I have heard mix feelings from other students and physiotherapists regarding RPH, which makes me a little bit nervous about the commencement of this placement. My expectation of RPH is that it will be very busy, with a patient list from day 1. I do not have much of an idea how it will be structured. I believe that I will be allocated a ward, through which I have to work though the patient list, determining who needs treatment and then treating them. I believe the ward will be full of patients who have had acute exacerbations of conditions such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cystic fibrosis, bronchiectasis and pneumonia, just to list a few. I believe my role a a physiotherapy student at RPH will be to assist the physiotherapists with the load of the ward, whilst increasing my cardiorespiratory knowledge.

My concern prior to beginning this placement are that I am not prepared enough, that my supervisor will be nasty and that I will have to stay back most days. I have undertaken some study during this study week, however with cardiorespiratory being a huge unit, I found it difficult just to find the most important aspects to learn. I tried to learn as much as I could but I am scared that it is not enough. I do have faith that I will learn a lot more on this placement and so as long as I have a reasonably sound knowledge on assessment, medications, treatment and safety, and have the ability to ask questions, I should be fine. I have heard about some supervisors being very harsh to students and not letting them even sit with the staff at morning tea and lunch. I hope that my supervisor will not be like this, however I am prepared to face what ever challenges confront me at this placement. My final concern is that I may have to stay back for finish unfinished work. I have a fairly tight night time schedule at the moment as well as prac and so if possible I would rather not have to stay back. I have good time-management skills and so I am hoping this will help me, but I also understand that prac takes total precedence over all other aspects of my life at the moment.

I did enjoy cardiorespiratory at university and I am excited to expand my knowledge and hopefully love for this area of physiotherapy.