Final Entry - Rotation 2: Kalgoorlie

The 5 weeks I spent in Kalgoorlie proved to be easily the most challenging clinical placement thus far. I was aware that it wasn’t going to be an easy placement but being put into the environment of a private practice opened my eyes to the difficulty involved with not only being a good clinician but also aware of physiotherapy from a business point of view. I found that being able to put all the musculoskeletal learning and knowledge into practice very rewarding since for years we have been assessing and treating each other which 99% of the time means not finding any issues. So to actually assess someone, find an issue, treat the issue and improve their movement or reduce their pain was very rewarding and made it a lot easier to understand the nature of conditions and how they can be improved.

As I mentioned prior to commencing this placement one of the main difficulties I thought I would face would be diagnosis and not having access to a clear and thorough medical history as is provided at hospitals. Initially I found this particularly overwhelming with not only having to diagnose the problem but make it quick and then figure out a treatment and plan all while questioning the patient and thinking about the situation on the go. As I saw more patients this process became more effcicient and I was able to quickly diagnose but I understand that there is still a lot of work to do and this process will be refined more and more after finishing study.

I could not have anticipated the intensity of the placement and the amount of information being thrown at me. As mentioned there is always more to learn both for the rest of the year but also beyond graduation but I believe that I made some very strong and solid in roads into developing my skills and also made me aware of just how much there is to know. I also refined the process of knowledge acquisition to make learning much more efficient and enable me to accurately learn of the many different clinical conditions and how they may present to the physiotherapist.

As I gathered I began the placement from more of an observer point of view but was regularly quizzed on what was happening in the room to ensure I was clear on the session’s situation. As time went on and I began developing my skills I was able to treat patients with more and more independence. By the end I was confident with conducting an efficient and effective treatment session.

Kalgoorlie really did open my eyes as to how far physiotherapy students really have to go before they become completely proficient. The learning never stops and we need to be open to continuing this development and also strive to add more skills every time we are exposed to the clinical environment.