Reflections of my
experience at a physical practical
My placement site was at Clairwood Hospital, which is a
semi-acute rehabilitation hospital.
We were a group of 10 students who were equally divided amongst
external supervisors and each of us was assigned to 2 clients. With each client
I had to compile thorough assessment findings of physical, psychosocial and a
broader context of the client and then compile an intervention/ treatment plan
for them.
Fortunately, and this is dependent on how I view it, being
placed at Clairwood was an advantage to me. Reason being, I had been placed at
Clairwood Hospital before but unfortunately I failed my assessment block. I had
then been placed at other site where I passed. Therefore being placed at
Clairwood again meant I had a score to settle; I had something to prove to
myself and my capabilities. And that’s exactly what I did.
Throughout my block I was assigned to clients that presented
with diagnosis such as cerebrovascular accidents, tuberculosis meningitis, and
paraparesis and one even presented with complete blindness, which was something
I had never been exposed to which was probably my biggest challenge at the
site, but fortunately she wasn’t my finals client.
Initially when I started my block I was actually energized
and prepared, I knew what to expect in terms of the context of the client’s socioeconomic
status, the type of diagnosis and what role I had to play as a student
therapist. Preparation into my physical block really helped me because I was
able to tackle each challenge positively. My experience in this block helped me
realise my strengths, I got the opportunity to realise that I’m good with
forming / building rapport with my clients, I’m skilled at being able to find
out research information about the client at their diagnosis and adequately
finding my role as a student for each client. I also realised, that my group
members at the site where a support structure that was available for me to use
,whenever I needed help or resources they were of assistance to me.
The problems that I at times encountered at the site,
problems that I have identified and am currently working on which are still a
challenge to me is being able to be more specific on my treatment sessions and
knowing how to communicate. Therefore it
is not only knowing what I know because I have identified that I’m good with
compiling important information. What is important is to apply what I know, or
else everything becomes futile. Communication
as well is very important, I still encounter problems with being able to
express and evaluate my success. This causes a barrier between me and the people
that could possibly be of assistance to me i.e.; my colleagues and my
supervisor. Overall, my experience in Clairwood hospital was a challenge that
helped me realise that I’m actually more capable than what I believe of myself.
In a group
Aside from being assigned to clients that we had to work
with on our own, we were also assigned to a paediatric stimulation group. And throughout
this semester, we have had projects and assignments that we had to complete in
groups.
My group experiences have been such a challenge for me because
as we all know. Group work requires communication, assertiveness, tolerance and
patients. Which are just some of the things I unfortunately I am not so good at
expressing myself , I hate this trait about me. It just limits me to so many experiences
which reveal opportunities that I can learn from. When I view myself as a group
member especially in a context which demands academics I somehow always find
myself as a dominant, or silent partner in the group which is rather disheartening,
most of the time I felt invincible, almost
like I wasn’t even part of the group. I felt like my members didn’t trust my
abilities and didn’t trust that I had much meaning to contribute. At times they
would meet and organise sessions in the absence of my presence, which just made
it more evident that they didn’t even need my input. As mentioned above, I am
very quiet and at times not that assertive, so being easily dominated by the
higher achievers within my group was something that I kind of accepted because I
didn’t have enough courage to confront or express how I feel. And at times I felt
like the only thing I could contribute was my ability to translate if ever it
was needed and anything I could add was side tracked.
Honestly I’ve
actually become discouraged to work with people, because I just feel that my
group members that I’ll get to work with won’t appreciate what I have to contribute.
I at times even feel overwhelmed.
Overall, “no one can make you feel inferior without your
consent” unknown. So just need to work on finding myself amongst others.
