Monday, January 15, 2007

Time Management

Hello all! I appologise for being so late but was having some computer/e-mail issues!

I am currently completing my musculo prac at Curtin and am enjoying my time. An issue that I have had with both this prac as well as my cardio prac was "time management". Now this comment was not always made directly towards me but I feel that it is something that the supervisors and tutors love to tell us to work on. Now, I realise that this is definitely something that we do need to be aware of and that when we graduate and are practicing that we will constantly have to deal with, however, I do not feel that it is the "be all and end all" of being a good physio and that, while we should be aware of it, it should not be one of our main concerns in the first couple weeks of the practicum. I feel that, as students, everything is brand new to us, and while we can't "dilly daddle" and waist people's time that it should be taken into account that we need to get a good grasp on ALL of the information to start. In learning how to establish all of the recently learned new material into clinical practice I feel that it is far mor important to go into greater detail and learn as much as we can about everything. This then allows us to have a good understanding of the issues and what we can and can't miss as a practicing physio (ie; knowing what is the most important assessment, treatment, to do and what can wait till next session due to time constraints).

So, in conclusion, I feel that a student should not be necessarily labeled as "doing well" because they are able to treat more patients and hold to the time contraints, as this may be simply due to them missing out important information! I can definitely say that I, myself, have felt the pressure of time and have most likely missed out on something I probably shouldn't have and have, in fact, being praised for it! If anyone else has anything to add I'd be happy to hear!

Nicole

1 comment:

Minh said...

I agree with you that time management should not be near the top of learning priorities in terms of a fresh student starting in a new facility. I concur that the purpose of the clinical placements is to produce competent and highly skilled physios. Nonetheless, I can see why a private out-patient musculoskeletal placement may stress the need for time management early on. Although the clinic is a training ground for budding physios, its other purposes (as with all clinics) are to the serve the public by treating patients with musculoskeletal conditions and generate income. I would argue the patient’s wellbeing is just as important as teaching students. Patients are busy and complain of time constraints all the time. If the patients are unhappy with the service of the clinic due to excessive time expenditure, there will eventually be no patients for the students to learn from.