I started my neuro placement this past week and I found it fairly daunting. From the get go, our clinical supervisor says: “at this clinic, we use integrated techniques, but roughly 90% Bobath based”. Needless to say, I felt unprepared for the placement. From a safety standpoint, I felt fine. I knew I wasn’t about to endanger any of the patients. However, as most students would agree, there is an inherent preoccupation to impress the clinical supervisor with the limited knowledge we have, to ensure that we pass the placement at the end of the day. I was gob-smacked when she mentioned “90% Bobath”. I have only heard of Bobath in passing and essentially have no clue what philosophy or manual techniques it involved. Of course, I tried to read up on some Bobath material during night, but it was tough after a full day of working with neural patients. Some of the concepts were also tough to visualize without a patient in front of you, such as ‘key points of control’.
As much as I thought our neurology courses were taught well, I was quite disappointed with how under prepared I felt during the first week. If Bobath techniques are used so prevalently, shouldn’t we spend more time in class and labs learning and practicing it?
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4 comments:
It’s quite surprising that your supervisor told you that your neuro prac will be 90% Bobath based. I am sure she knows what neuro material we have covered at university. Fair enough if she wants to teach you some of the Bobath techniques, but she can’t expect you to know then as we haven’t been taught. I would suggest you to talk to other guys that are on prac with you, as I am sure they would be experiencing similar issues. May be you all guys should approach her and express your concerns or otherwise may be contact school of physiotherapy if you thing that your supervisor is unreasonable in terms of what she expecting from you.
I find this quite suprising as well. Like you I thought that Bobath was something that was useful but didn't really think it was that widely used in the physio community. I know that the guys who had their neuro placement at Freo were taught some Bobath techniques. Maybe some other people who have had neuro placements can say if they've had similar experiences. I guess what I'm trying to figure out is whether or not this ratio of Bobath usage is normal or unique to this one place?
Hey guys,
Yes Bobath was pushed at Charlies.....they recommend going to a Bobath course (basic) as a new grad and then the advanced if you're going to be working in the area.
Mads
Bobath was also widely used at Shents. While I agree that it would have been beneficial to have learned Bobath techniques at uni prior to starting our neuro placements, I think that actually learning the techniques on patients rather than on fellow students who don't have a neuro compromise, provides invaluable experience and (at least for me) helps with the understanding of the underlying concepts. I also felt quite neurologically inadequate initially, but over the course of my neuro placement it all started to fall into place. There is so much to learn that at times it can be very overwhelming. But what I think my placement did was help spark the interest and strengthened the realization that continued education is a must following the completion of our degree. Enjoy the placement Minh!
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