Teesside Physio Blog - 1st Year

JackieS

This is the blog of jinglepupskye, a 1st year physio at Teesside!

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Reply 1

jinglepupskye

Can I have another 's' please Bob? In Teesside!

Reply 2

JackieS

jinglepupskye

Can I have another 's' please Bob? In Teesside!

done as requested lol!

Reply 3

jinglepupskye

Thanks for the 's' Jackie! Don't want people to think I can't spell the name of my uni!

So, first week over. Arms are 6 inches longer with all the paperwork to carry, and RSI from filling in and signing forms. However, received first instalment of student loan on Thursday so have some money to spend. Yee ha! Shame I was working all weekend, so couldn't go out. Boo!

First teaching week starts tomorrow, so I have been checking out Blackboard to see what excitements lie ahead! We will be doing five modules this year:

Preparation for Practice
Foundations of Physiotherapy Practice
Skills for Appraising Evidence
Functional Anatomy
Physiology for Physiotherapists

They all seem interesting but a lot of work is needed. Tried getting some of the recommended texts from the library, but the swots have already claimed them!

We have two observation placements this year. One starts in January - on my 21st birthday - so no boozy night out then. The second is near the end of the first year.

We had a fun day on Wednesday when we went to Aerial Extreme for some team-bonding sessions. Really loved the blindfolded driving and crossing the minefield, but chickened out of the stuff up in the trees! I get dizzy climbing on a bus. I'm really glad I went though, as it broke the ice a bit with the other students.

That's all for now.

Jingle

Reply 4

jinglepupskye

2nd week done and dusted now, and I'm a whole lot less nervous about it all. So far the subjects aren't too taxing, and most are quite fun, even anatomy! I was expecting to just be talked at for some, but they are getting us up and involved in them, which makes it a lot more interesting and also helps it to stick. Unfortunately we've spent half of each lecture this week going through the module guide.

The only module that hasn't had much relevance for me so far is the seminar of Skills for Appraising Evidence. We were just going over how to log on to the computers, Blackboard and our mail - stuff I've done at my previous college. In case you don't know, Blackboard can be a very useful place on the internet where course materials can be saved by the tutors for us to download, and it also has forums. Our tutors are using it to give us pre-lecture work to go through, so they can build on that during the lecture. If we don't do the work then they will not be happy bunnies. Despite being there every day, they are all giving us plenty to do in our own time - I think that as long as we keep up we will be fine.

We do have some very long days - we are there all day Monday and Tuesday, and half days Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The same modules run throughout the first year, and we share some with the Occupational Therapists and Diagnostic Radiographers: Preparation for Practice, and Skills for Appraising Evidence. They have also split us into groups for each module, as there is about 50 of us doing Physio.

This week I've been living in tracky bottoms and white tops, as some subjects need us to wear them, and some don't. We haven't had to strip off yet, but we will in the next couple of weeks - I'm not worried as I've been a model/client for complementary therapists before, and we do keep on a pair of shorts and suitable top.

Just found out yesterday we will be dissecting a pig's heart in about 3 weeks! Hope I don't do anything embarrassing :wink:

.

Overall I have enjoyed this week, and I think I will continue to like it, especially with it being more practical based than I was expecting - it's how I learn best.
Bye for now!

P.S. I also picked up Bob yesterday - my half skeleton :cool:

. He weighs a ton, and is very awkward to carry. We only get to keep them until the end of our first year, but I think he may go mysteriously missing so I dont have to carry him back to the Uni. Perhaps the dog will be made very happy?

Reply 5

jinglepupskye

Hi all!

Third week over, and we are really beginning to get into the swing of things. Lessons have been very good and are still interesting.

On Monday in Prep for Practice we went over Primary communication skills, Attending and listening and observing, and also profession specific communication issues. the format is a lecture, followed by two seminars. The lecture could be potentially boring, but I personally find it easy to stay awake - unlike some lectures I've had in the past! The seminars are also interesting, as we get to discuss things in groups then feed back to the rest of the class. I was a bit bemused when I pre-read the lecture on Blackboard - any ideas what counting llamas have to do with communication?! www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama.php

Tuesday was shorter than normal - the afternoon lectures were cancelled because of the Annual General Meeting. The morning session (Foundation of Physio Practice) was a bit scary - we had to go through a warm up and stretch routine that our group came up with the week before, and also be victims for someone else's routine :p:

.

Functional Anatomy on Wednesday was brilliant! We had a short lecture, then paired up for the practical - we had to analyse posture, and then find certain vertebrae and bones/joints on each other. I think this is going to be my favourite module.

Yesterday in Physiology for Physios we had to do a poster presentation on a certain type of tissues - either epithelial, connective, muscle or nervous. Then we had a version of Question Time, where we had to defend our type of tissue, then vote for who should win the election - connective won overall, followed by epithelial and muscle tied, and nervous coming last from all the sessions. I think my group did very well defending our tissue (even though we didn't win :eek:

)

All in all a very busy week, but highly enjoyable too. Now if I can just get through next week without the lecturers freaking me out again!

Reply 6

jinglepupskye

Hey.

Bit late with last week's update - sorry! Really starting to get into the swing of things now, and although there is a lot to learn and do it is still manageable. On Monday we were doing lectures and seminars on teamwork, multidisciplinary working etc and working on various tasks in groups. Tuesday was much more exciting - we did passive movements (where the patient does not move themselves) in order to check the range of each joint, and in the second session (on Thursday) we began learning the basic techniques of massage, such as effleurage, kneading etc. That was the high point of my week! We also looked at using blackboard, doing emails and posting on forums :rolleyes:

. Do you think I'm doing well so far? Wednesday was taken up with the movement of the spine. Thursday and Friday morning were about the bones - we had a lecture on Thursday, then a group worksheet to answer during the practical session on Friday. So overall, very busy.

There have been some recent additions to our timetable - we are now there all day Monday (with a three hour break :eek:

), all day Tuesday, Wednesday 9-1, all day Thursday at the moment (another three hour break), and 9-11 Friday. The three hour break on Monday was bad enough, but the Thursday one is for the sake of a 1 hour lecture! They probably think if they keep us busy enough we won't have time to complain :wink:

.

Just finished organising my files, so my work is nice and neat now - much better than having it all over the dining room table. Less hassle too off a certain someone :biggrin:

.

That's all for now. See you!
Jinglepupskye

P.S. No llamas this week!

Reply 7

jinglepupskye

Half term is finally here (sort of) so we get a bit of breathing space. Only problem is, the physio half term is the week after everybody else's!

So this week we have all our physio modules, which means today is our only proper day off, then next week we are only in on Monday for a shared module. One of our lecturers decided to take pity on us and said we didn't have to come in next week for that module. The lecture scheduled for Thursday morning is also not going to be a regular thing, thank goodness.

Unfortunately another lecturer has made up for that by changing the timetable - the Friday subject has us split into three groups, and we are allocated a specific time for part of the year, and later rotate to the different times. We were supposed to change times after Christmas, but it has been brought forward to 3 weeks from now - I only just managed to change my hours at work! I swapped my Saturday for a Friday night, so I had one day free in the week. Now when the lecture time changes, I can only work 6 - 10, so less money to spend in what little free time I have left :frown:

.

Our student reps organised a pub crawl last Wednesday, and judging by the state some people were in it was a good night :biggrin:

. Generally I don't think Middlesborough is as good as some places in the North East - Newcastle in particular, but it does have quite a good shopping area, with lots of big name shops. We even have a Waterstones on campus, as well as one in town. The student union is a good place to hang out at dinner time - it has a pub style restaurant and a cafe style one. There is also a Wellbeing place (somewhere!) that does complementary therapies and sports advice etc, and we can use the sports halls and squash courts if you join up. Membership also gets you into the city swimming baths and some other places.

If anyone has any questions just let me know, I'll be happy to answer them. I'm not living in myself, but I can ask some of the others what they feel about the accomodation - it can't be worse than my cousin, her building had a fire this week and she ignored the alarm! Not much harm was done, and everyone in the building was put up in a hotel, except for one poor bloke who only came back from boozing after everyone else had been shifted - with no light or heating I'm sure he felt very sorry for himself! This wasn't at Teeside by the way - my cousin moved half way across the country!

jinglepupskye

Reply 8

jinglepupskye

I forgot to mention that we were fitted for our uniforms last week. Unfortunately no one likes the trousers! They are made of blue shiny material with a sewn in crease up the front of the leg, so they look like they've just been pressed. Can't wait to wear mine - not!

If anyone reading this is thinking of applying to Teesside for next year I would say go for it. I am loving the course and the lecturers are friendly and approachable. Remember if you have any questions don't hesitate to ask them.

Reply 9

Whisper

Jinglepupskye Hi

I would like to say thank you for posting! It is very very interesting to read!

Good luck with your course, so glad you are enjoying it :smile:

Reply 10

jinglepupskye

Hi Whisper.

Thanks for your reply, it's good to know that people like what I'm doing here - I wasn't sure what kind of stuff people would want to know. Although the hit count is going up, it's hard to know what is relevant to people.

Thanks again, and good luck with whatever you do.
Jinglepupskye

P.S. Your penname is making me want a Wispa, I haven't seen them in the shops for ages!

Reply 11

jinglepupskye

Hi
Back again! The last couple of weeks have been quite hectic. We had reading week and I managed to put some extra shifts in at work to build up my funds for Xmas!

Back at uni we have had a couple of tests, both of them just formative or class tests, so they won't count toward the year's work. I've just finished, hopefully, my first written assignment for Skills for Appraising Evidence, we have to take them in tomorrow, if we want a tutor to comment on them before the official hand-in on Friday.

I've got my uniforms, which fit okay though the trousers are meant for someone with 6ft legs and I'm only 5ft 2! Mum says she will turn them up for me. We've had to fill in forms stating our top three choices of places to do the first Observation placement in January. I've put my home town down as my first choice as it will probably be the worst time of the winter, and if necessary, I can walk to the hospital or ride my bike and not have to hang around at drafty bus stops. I'm getting really excited now about the placement and a bit scared. I keep telling myself the emphasis is on the observation and I won't be asked to do anything I'm not capable of doing. But, on the other hand, it would be nice to lay hands on a real patient!

I've just received an invitation to the uni Christmas party for physio students. It sounds like it will be fun. I will have to borrow my reindeer antlers from work - we have to wear them. :redface:

I'm off to bed now as soon as I finish sorting out Yoshi on my DS.

Reply 12

EskimoJo

These blogs are making me sooo eager to go to Uni! Please tell me all/most physio courses are like this one. Yes, it sounds like a LOT of hard work, I was already aware of that, but it sounds so interesting too and the hard work sounds like fun in a strange way, because you're all in it together. Teesside sounds like a great Uni, too bad I was adamant that a) I wasn't going to live in London and b) I wasn't going to live too far North, I've probably missed out on some really good Unis. Oh well.

Reply 13

jinglepupskye

Hello all

Glad to hear you're enjoying the blogs EskimoJo. Unfortunately I can't vouch for any other physio courses, since this is the only one I've experienced! One of my old workmates is doing nursing at Northumbria and having a bad experience of it. One of her lecturers told them that they take on too many students and then aim to get rid of 20% of them by Christmas!
And yet an old schoolfriend in the third year nursing at Teesside is loving it - I think it is different each place you go. Although it takes a lot of time and work, it is fun and I'm still loving it (no, I'm not advertising for Macdonalds :p:

).

Personally I think I would prefer living in certain areas of the North, as we tend to get less traffic, fumes etc than other much larger cities, and yet we still get good shops and shows etc if you know where to go. The Metrocentre is definitely worth a visit especially at this time of year.

I've just found out that I'll be going to my local Community hospital for my January placement - it is supposed to run Tuesday to Thursday, but the hospital may call me in on Monday and Friday. I'm going to phone them tomorrow and check which uniform I have to wear - tunic or physio t-shirt. Hopefully it'll just be the t-shirt as it is far more comfortable.

I'm getting quite nervous now, but there are other things to worry about at the moment - I have to take part in a presentation and exercise regime tomorrow, and on Friday I have a formative (mock) multiple choice question exam to see how we are doing. Mostly we have the summative (real ones) assessments at the end of the year, but there are also some in January/February time :eek:

. Guess I'll have to spend at least part of Christmas revising. I don't know when I'll find out about the MCQ test, but so far I've passed my Handling Skills exam - we had to talk a bit about the theory, and then do the practical for one of several possible scenarios. I got respiratory, just doing cupping, vibration and shaking to help remove excess sputum. I got between 60-69% mostly, with a bit in the 50-59% bracket. Not bad for my first test!

Hope you all have a lovely Christmas.
Bye!

Reply 14

jinglepupskye

The new year is nearly upon us, so I thought I would do a bit of a recap.

Re-reading my blog reminds me just how quickly I've settled in at Teesside, it seems like such a short time, yet so long ago that I started. I'm now on friendly terms with a fair few people on the course, and the atmosphere is just getting better. At first we were united by the strangeness of it all, and the desperate need to find someone who understood this stuff that was being chucked at us. We're not quite as cowed now, but we are still helping each other with homework, practicals etc. I'm lookig forward to going back the week after next to see everyone again, and get back into the lessons - but I'll probably be begging for a holiday by the time the next one comes around :biggrin:

. Still haven't heard anything about the exam I did (didn't really expect to) but I think I did ok.

Middlesbrough itself was getting kinda boring by the end of term - even with Christmas, once you've been round the shops half a million times you've seen everything they have to offer.

I've recently seen the uni accomodation, and it isn't big enough to swing a cat in! Once the bed, desk and books (a ton weight of them :wink:

) are in, there is only enough floor space for one person to walk from the window to the door. I don't know what the shared living room is like, but I personally couldn't live for a year with so little personal space - but then I am an only child and used to having plenty room for my stuff and personal space.

For anyone considering going to uni in this general area I would really recommend it - if you can get around the language barriers :wink:

- us geordies and mackams tend to talk weird, and at times have a language all our own. This brings to mind someone I met on a first aid course, who was from down south and didn't know what 'it knacks' means. In this situation, it means it really hurts, but if something is knackered it can mean it is really tired or broken. For the rest of the course, the tutor took the mickey out of him, poor bloke.

All the best for 2007, and I hope you get the offers you're after.
jinglepupskye

Reply 15

Wilfers

All sounds interesting stuff. I'm a 1st year Physio at UWE and our course sounds diff from yours. We don't go on placement until June. We go for 5 weeks then it's the summer hols. We do our exams (2 practical and 2 written) in May. The only essay we have to do is on Interprofessional working, which all the health related degree course do at UWE. We did that back in Nov. We only do 3 modules this year. We do Intro to Physio studies, Intro to Physio practice (placement) and Kinesiology. The first term was all about the lower limb (anatomy, Biomech, physiology, injuries, examination tecq, special tests etc). We also covered histology, rheumatology, neurology and Cardiovascular. The second term is all about the upper limb, respiratory, more Neuro and more about being on placement. It's interesting to see how other unis structure the courses. The first term went a bit too fast and I'm sure the second term will also...

Reply 16

jinglepupskye

Hi all.

Just done with the first day back, and I'm glad it's over with. I'm not used to the early mornings anymore, so now I'm ready for bed, but I still have some powerpoints to read through for tomorrow :frown:

. Strangely enough though I'm glad I'm back - I like having some structure to my life. It was nice to catch up with everyone on the course. The lessons today focused on continuing professional development. We have to keep a portfolio throughout the course and our careers which demonstrates how we have kept up to date and are still qualified to practice.

Wilfers was saying about the structure of their course, well ours is a bit different. We have 2 observational placements lasting a week each, one the 23rd January and the other at the end of the year. Then in second year we go on several long placements where we actually get involved with the patients. We have already done one 500 word essay, and we have practical exams at the end of January, beginning of February. At the end of the year I believe we have two essays, plus practical exams.

Overall we are doing 5 modules - Preparation for Practice, Foundations of Physio Practice, Skills for Appraising Evidence, Functional Anatomy and Physiology for Physios. Anatomy is the main module where we cover - guess what - anatomy! Physiology covers stuff like what muscles are made of etc, whereas Anatomy covers muscle attachments, bony landmarks etc, plus the practical means of how to locate them. Foundations builds on that stuff and applies it to practice, such as gait analysis. This year we are focusing on different areas of the body - upper and lower limb, trunk etc, plus a bit of neurology etc. This year is considered to be the basis for everything else, and next year we have specific modules before and in between the placements to teach us about neuro, respiratory and the other main disciplines within physio. Overall I think it is a good set up, but then I don't really have anything to compare it to. Today we had a talk from one of the third years about our portfolios, and apparently they have tightened up that module in the third year to make it more clear what to do with them.

Hope you are all enjoying yourselves (just not too much) and have a good year.
jinglepupskye

Reply 17

jinglepupskye

Good evening!

I've been back a week now, and I'm used to the early mornings again - but I still don't want to get up, it's too cold! This week we have been going over mostly neuro stuff, like what the central nervous system is, how to find some pulses and tendons and their nerves in the lower limb, and some extra moving and handling techniques for our assessment in Prep for Practice.

I have also been in contact with my placement mentor and arranged when and where to come. I have to be there on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and I can wear either the official physio tunic and trousers or the Teesside polo shirt and tracky bottoms (which is what we all wear to class). I need to think about what I want to achieve over the three days, and be ready in case I get the opportunity to do an assessment, which would be brilliant. Next Monday we have a session going over the Prep assessment for the week after, which should help hopefully.

That's basically it for last week.
See you!
jinglepupskye

Reply 18

jinglepupskye

My observational placement is over and done with now, that's a big relief! As I said I was there for three days. On the first day I met my mentor, and we did a mini induction, showing me round the hospital and sorting out my aims for the placement. Some of them turned out to be unachievable because of the lack of equipment/staff that you would find in larger hospitals rather than community ones, such as hoists for moving and handling. Teeside had also given us some placement aims on Blackboard which I included, one of which was to do a subjective and objective assessment. However now I believe that may have been meant for our second placement, which is assessed and counts towards our thousand placement hours, unlike this first one. My mentor also asked what we had been learning about at uni.

After the induction we just got straight into seeing patients - not that there was that many the first day, the snow must have put a lot of people off. One physio usually sees 15 returning patients and 3 new patients per day, and yet we only had 4, plus a spinal rehabilitation clinic in the afternoon which aims to improve management of long term lower back pain using exercise - it does sound contradictory but it is proven to work. The physios have a very long day - 8.30am until 5pm.

I'm actually glad that we weren't busy the first day as it allowed me to settle in - the physio himself was very nice and approachable. The only problem with a lot of the patients over the three days was that we have only really covered the lower limb, and most of the cases were upper limbs - I was told there is usually more of a balance. It was really good seeing real assessments being carried out, as it is one thing being shown how to do a technique, but another entirely to judge who to use it on and actually use it, plus I got to see lots of new techniques. At the end of the first day I was much more relaxed, but nervous about doing my assessment. However the physio had gone through the content of the subjective assessment (the interview) and I swotted up on the objective (practical examination).

The second day was much the same as the first, except busier. I got through the assessment ok, and overall the physio said I had done well, but gave me some pointers for the future. I also got to see the ultrasound machine being used - this one works differently, in that it only sends sound waves out, and does not moniter them bouncing back as it would on a pregnancy scan. The waves are designed to promote blood flow to the area which encourages healing and gets rid of swelling in the long term. I felt that although I wasn't learning as much 'new' material as I would at uni, being able to see the stuff I had already learnt being applied and linked together was more than worth it.

By my third day I was knackered (exhausted), as although I was not really doing anything other than sitting there, it was still a lot to take in. The physio said that he felt the same on his placements, but you get used to it. One thing I was surprised at was the amount of paperwork involved and the time it takes. The physios there don't have set times for writing up patients notes, they often have to do it during their breaks. Cancellations tend to be very rare. Overall I loved it there, and wouldn't hesitate to go back in my second year.

When I got back to uni one of my classmates hit me because I'd been talking to one of the physios from her placement :biggrin:

. Apparently I was the only one who thought we had to do an assesssment, and when I told the visiting physio, she went back and told the other girl's mentor who went rushing back to the girl and told her she had to do an assessment, with no warning! Needless to say she was a little bit put out :wink:

.

jinglepupskye

Reply 19

jinglepupskye

Hi. It's been a little while since I updated this, but the last couple of weeks have been a bit piecemeal, because of the assessments.

Last Monday we had the practical of moving and handling for Prep for Practice. We were given a scenario a while ago, and a list of three tasks. One was a list of eight questions, and the other two were lists of several practical tasks. We were supposed to prepare for all of these, and then in the assessment we were told which question and which two practical tasks we would be doing, and given 5 minutes preparation time. We then had 20 minutes to complete them all. We also had one of the other lecturers as an assistant, as some of the tasks were a two person job, such as sitting the patient (a student) up in bed. We all modelled for one of the other students. I think I've done ok, but we don't find out for four weeks!

It's the same story with our Functional Anatomy assessment. I only did that one this Tuesday, but at least I wasn't first like I was for Prep for Practice! I think the Anatomy was far harder and more stressful - we were being tested on one of the joints from the lower limb, either the hip, the knee, or the ankle and subtalar joint. We were expected to know the prime mover muscles, for each movement, the joint we were given was capable of, and the muscle origins and insertions. We also needed to know the ligaments, the structure of the joint and the tests for the muscles and ligaments, eg for strength and length. For example, at the knee joint, rectus femoris brings the knee into extension (straightens the leg), so the test for strength would be to ask the patient to extend their knee, while you resist it. You would bend their knee (flexion) to test it's length.

I think I've done ok in this one too, but we still have a while to wait. Other people don't think they got on so well - this exam had at least two people in tears, and that is just the ones I saw. The general opinion seems to be that people love the course, but it is a lot of work. Even in the lower limb there is so much you need to know, and at the end of the year we will get tested on a joint from either the upper or lower limb. I don't think Anatomy is a module you can compensate for either.

If I was starting again this summer, I would definitely get a head start on some of this stuff, especially the planes and axis of movement (frontal, sagittal etc), and start learning some of the muscles, and the way they move (flexion, extension,medial and lateral rotation, and concentric and eccentric contractions). I wouldn't go overboard with it, as there is enough to do when you actually start but I think it would have helped a lot, especially for Anatomy. Teesside also sent out some preparation work to us before the beginning of term.

One other thing I wish I had bought earlier is the Physiotherapists Pocket Book. It cost about £20, and is small enough to take on placement or to uni. One of my lecturers said it isn't detailed enough to take the place of a textbook (obviously, since it is only little), but for learning the muscles and planes I haven't seen a better book. It also has lots more info on musculoskeletal, neuro and respiratory, plus a pharmacological section and appendices. I wouldn't swear to it but I believe it is one of the books that you can look inside at Amazon.

Some people at uni have bought flashcards, or printed them off themselves. One site I found particularly good was http://www.getbodysmart.com/
You can either have all the muscles on a particular body section, or take them off one by one till you are left with the particular muscle you chose. It also tells you the origin, insertion, action and nerve. Pretty much everything you need to know!

All in all it's been a bit of a nerve wracking fortnight, but we don't have anything except lessons for another month - and then we have two written assignments due in together!

Bye for now.
jinglepupskye