Final Entry

After 5 weeks in a rural acute hospital setting, I feel I have gained a vast experience in a variety of presenting conditions. I initially focused on studying orthopaedic cases, however I soon realised that an acute ward, particularly in a rural area contains a variety of cases.
I was able to gain experience clinically on the ward with a combined case load including cardio, neuro and orthopaedic patients. I also gained some experience in musculoskeletal in an outpatient setting.

By the end of the placement, I was able to run the ward and delegate the patient load and plans for the day. This became challenging towards the end of the week as the case load almost tripled with new admissions, theatre admissions, and current patients. I was able to further develop my skills in prioritisation of a case load and time management skills.

Throughout the placement, I developed the confidence to approach multi-disciplinary team members and provide opinions from a physiotherapy perspective and aid in discharge planning. This is something that I found difficult in my previous placement and I was able to overcome this challenge. I also developed some musculoskeletal outpatient skills but I did not have a lot of time allocated to this area and this will need to be consolidated in my musculoskeletal focused placement.

Overall, this placement was the most beneficial I’ve had to date as it allowed me to be in an acute hospital setting, see a variety of presentations, enabled me to work closely with multidisciplinary team members and become more confident and independent with applying my skills. Although I am still not confident with particular presentations such as ICU, I feel this placement has prepared me well for the next three this year and has provided a foundation as to the field of work I may eventually end up in the near future.