Reflections of my experience at a physical practical

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.