This placement has taught me a lot (not everything clinical) but I am still dissapointed since it could have a much better experience. What have I learned?
1) Keep your mouth shut and agree with everything your instructor tells you even if you think and know they are wrong it is irrelevent, since they are the ones that will be passing you. I weigh my words carefully and think about it for 30s before I say anything since I know that saying the wrong thing will get me into trouble. The least amount I speak the better, since when I get nervous I start to use grammatically incorrect language.
2) They system is not fair. The sooner I accept this the better, although for some reason I always have a hard time accepting this and keep thinking I can change things when in reality I can't. A lot of services are private and it takes a lot of effort and time which most don't to get reimbursed, therefore the rich get better care than the poor.
3) Some Instructors are judgemental. Yes there are those instructors that have a chip on their shoulder and actually criticize you on your hair, and clothes (which is conservative), and posture. Yes they are crazy, yes you do have to humour them and smile and make sure they understand that you are sorry for whatever the h*** they think you are doing wrong and that you will try your best to change and be more conforming to their ridiculous ideas.
4) Placement is not school. It is worse. There is a lot more pimping and if you ask a question their answer is to look it up, which would be fine if there was a computer available to look it up on...I quess I should get a smartphone or a tablet although with their ridiculous rules, I might be banned from using them.
5) Everybody lies. Patient will lie although mostly unintentionally and its your responsibility to probe and find the answer.
6) Work does not make you happy. This is probably the hardest to accept since I've always had this fantasy that therapy does wonders for people and people are overjoyed with the help. Now in one way this is true, and physio does help many people BUT it does not solve all the problems in their lives and this is the problem. Even though people may regain their physical functioning after a medical emergency or traumatic event there are other issues that can not be helped such as memory problems, having to rely on disability due to the impossibility of going back to work, having to downgrade your lifestyle, changing relationships with your friends and family. Work is still work. Most days are hard since no matter how emotionally distant you are, you cannot mask the fact that the person will not be able to achieve what he achieved before the accident. The work is difficult physically as well as emotionally and it becomes difficult to prevent your own injuries when helping others. I need to find other hobbies
7) Changing reality of the job market. Unless I am very lucky I will most likely not work in the public sector. Therefore what I see will not be the reality of my future work-place. I will not have the oppportunity to see 1 patient per hour and only see 5 patients per day. I will most likely work in a ortho setting and see 20 patients a day. I will not have the amount of time they do to provide good education and build good rapport.
No comments:
Post a Comment