Inital thoughts on placement

I am a little apprehensive about my first day on placement. I need to discuss with my supervisor what is expected in terms of progression of responsibility up to half way assessment then what is expected after that. I will make sure that I know what is expected of me from day one.

I have revised Gerentology and Neuro material and have looked back over outcome measures such as COVS, TUG, MMSE and have looked into Gowlands Motor Recovery Scale and revised the mechanisms of stroke and its effects. I have also revised the effects of aging and the impact this has for patents recovering in hospital and dementia.

I would expect that many of the patients I will be dealing with will have suffered stroke and will have numerous other co-morbidities related to aging that will make treatment more of a challenge. I am interested in the neurology component and would like to be exposed to rehabilitation of patents with conditions such as Parkinsons, Guillain-Barre, Motor Neurone disease, and impairments such as Ataxia, Dyspraxia and Dysdiadochokinesia. Many patients I would expect to be suffering from varying degrees of dementia.

In this placement I would hope to refine skills such as ascultation, transfers, SOAPIER writing and patient assessment and exersize prescription, and improve communication skills with patients and other health professionals as well as time management.