Entry 5: Final Entry

My 5 weeks on the ortho ward at JHC are up and I had a fantastic time and learnt so many new things! My initial prediction that life on the ward would seem ‘flat out’ was correct. My first week was especially fast paced and I was unsure if I could adapt to the pace of the ward, but as my communication skills improved, along with my documentation efficiency and other things, I quickly settled in.

I had 2 supervisors over the duration of the placement, both were awesome and I learnt so much from them. On day 1 they asked what level of patient interaction I would like to begin with. I told them I was a little nervous and said I would be happy to start by observing until I picked up how things went. This worked well because I felt really comfortable and by day 2 I was starting to lead treatments and things steadily increased to the point where I was leading for the majority of patients towards the end of placement.

As I mentioned in my initial entry, I felt it would be important to ask questions and take initiative with my learning. An example of this was in week 3 when I was still unsure of some ward equipment (eg oxygen therapy equipment, cannulars etc), so I told my supervisor and she took 2 hours at the end of the day to show me the store room and some of the things in there. This was really beneficial to my understanding of the running of the ward. I also asked to see a surgery performed and was allowed to see a total knee and total hip replacement surgery in my final week – both were incredible! So gentle, but so brutal!

I learnt many new skills, such as judging how appropriate a patient is for an ambulation aid, use of CPM machines, exposure to ortho x-rays and practice with patient handovers, but one of the most important things I learnt was the importance of team work. The physio department was great, if 1 ward was quiet, that physio would check on the other wards to see if anyone needed help. They had such an awesome team there and I learnt that with everyone working together, more work can be completed. The beauty of the team environment also meant that people would often call each other to ask for advice from other’s previous experiences, this meant the patient could be treated in the best possible fashion.

I had a great placement at JHC, it was an awesome intro to the hospital environment, I learnt so much and the message I will take home (amongst others) is that you can’t underestimate the importance of team work, in any situation.

Ozzman out!