It's Notts Just Physio
Welcome to the 'It's Notts Just Physio' podcast, your go-to pod for an insider's perspective on the School of Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham! Specifically tailored for students, this podcast aims to bridge the gap between you and the dedicated staff who make up our vibrant academic community.
Join us as we dive into insightful conversations with faculty members, uncovering their stories, expertise, and valuable insights that go beyond the classroom. From exam tips to navigating academic challenges, we're here to provide you with the resources you need to thrive in your academic journey.
But that's not all! As our podcast family grows, so does our commitment to bringing you a diverse range of perspectives. We're excited to feature input from fellow students, welcome external speakers who bring fresh insights, and engage with professional bodies within the university.
So, whether you're a student looking to connect with your faculty or seeking essential resources for exam periods, 'It's Notts Just Physio' is here to support and inspire you. Tune in, get to know your academic community, and let's embark on this educational journey together.
It's Notts Just Physio
Education Placement Takeover - Lewis, Amy & Cesca
Tune in to this insightful episode featuring our Year 3 education placement students, Amy Heran, Lewis Wright, and Francesca Moulton. They share their experiences on placement at the University of Nottingham, offering a candid look at the day-to-day challenges and rewards of the 9-to-5 placement life. The discussion covers highs and lows, navigating imposter syndrome, collaborating with fellow physiotherapy students, and practical advice for using PARE (Practice Assessment Record and Evaluation) and updating CPAF documents. Don’t miss their valuable tips and tricks for making the most of your placement journey!
Chapter markers:
00:11 - Intro
02:02 - Education placement experiences so far
04:00 - Physiotherapy placements so far
07:52 - Highs and lows of placement
19:25 - Learning from experiences
25:22 - Imposter syndrome
28:46 - Working with other students on placement
36:02 - Non-clinical placements
40:54 - CPAF documents and using PARE
47:46 - Wrap up
so
SPEAKER_00:Hello everyone, and welcome to It's Not Just Physio podcast. The episode today is going to be hosted by three of the current education placement students. So my name's Lewis, I'll be doing the most of talking and asking questions, and I'm joined by Chesca and Amy.
SPEAKER_01:Hi, I'm Chesca. And hi, I'm Amy.
SPEAKER_00:So today we're going to be talking about some of our day-to-day experiences on placement, sharing some of the hints and tips we've got for student listeners, and basically helping everybody get ready for their next placement. But before we get into the juicy stuff, let's break the ice a bit. What's your favourite biscuit to dunk in a brew?
SPEAKER_01:Right, so there's a couple. It's a very interesting topic, this. Jessica goes to bed thinking about this. Oh yeah, I stress about this on a daily basis. So I feel like the most basic option is a rich tea, but I feel like because it's made for dunking in tea, so it's going to be good. But if I'm really going to push the boat out, maybe like a chocolate digestive. But I'd say avoid the hobnobs because you're going to get a little floating oat if you leave it in too long and it'll just ruin the whole cuppa and you need to enjoy the tea as well as the biscuit but you know the texture of the hobnob and if we're really going for it a little bit of a chocolatey hobnob that's where my money's at I have to say what if it starts floating in your tea you don't give it I mean I
SPEAKER_00:think I allow it yeah I think I'm alright with that you
SPEAKER_01:know what sometimes let them stay
SPEAKER_00:yeah I
SPEAKER_01:think
SPEAKER_00:maybe like a shortbread a skip for me.
SPEAKER_01:That's a
SPEAKER_00:good one. I didn't even think of that. You get good dunking time with that. You've gone
SPEAKER_01:fancy with that. I was just thinking basic, what would you get in your local corner shop kind of thing. I mean, okay, but the question is, what's your shape of shortbread? Are you a
SPEAKER_00:finger? It's going to need to be a finger for a brew. It
SPEAKER_01:has to be. Not like a little triangle or a circular one. Yeah, it won't
SPEAKER_00:fit in the cup. So as we say, we're on the education placement at the moment. So how's it going for you?
SPEAKER_01:I'm really enjoying it so far. We've obviously owned this is day five now um this week's been a bit different because there's been no students the students start next week um but i've absolutely loved it obviously i'm speaking for the team but you guys can put your words in in a sec but i think it's been really good fun um we've gained an insight into obviously the planning of lectures we've gained an insight into meetings we were able to go into the undergraduate committee which was really cool um but yeah just actually getting prepped for next week and not just going straight into it's been quite nice to get us get us ready really. Yeah absolutely and I mean so absolutely all the kind of behind the scenes I guess of the undergraduate courses has definitely been really insightful but I think a massive highlight and again speaking for the group was our second day here we went to the vet school and we had a little field trip going round seeing how the vet school does things and that was such a fun experience we learnt how they learn we were seeing x-rays on you know like how they do x-rays. We were in a dissection lab. We kind of just talked to how these students were learning. It was just really nice to see everyone be so nice and friendly and inviting and showing us around. So, yeah, it was really cool.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, really good day, definitely. For me, I think, yeah, the first week's been really insightful to see sort of the prep work that goes into the sessions that we then are in. You don't realise how much is done beforehand and all of the work that goes into that even something as simple as sort of just a practical session that you sort of turn up to and think, oh yeah, I'll just do a bit of this, bit of that. It takes a lot of
SPEAKER_01:work. Yeah, and like big shout out to all our lecturers for really putting in the effort and we respect and understand you just that little extra more, I think, from this week.
SPEAKER_00:Definitely. So next up, just thinking about the other placements that you've had. So do you want to just sort of list out some of the areas that you've been
SPEAKER_01:in? Yeah, so I've had quite a range of placements. I've been quite lucky in that idea so basically I had my first one was healthcare of the elder people so that was HCOP and dementia patients then my next one was an elective orthopaedics at Nottingham City Hospital then I had the opportunity to be it was kind of like a charity situation so less clinical and it was multiple sclerosis and neurological rehabilitation and then the one in September was paediatric musculoskeletal outpatient And then the one now, obviously education. So I've had a proper mix and I've actually loved them all. So sure that I'm in the right profession if I've enjoyed every placement. I agree. Yeah. Same here. So I had my first one again, doing HCOP. That was in Best Montrent. So really wide variety of things you get in there. It's not just elderly, it's elderly plus everything. Then I had hand therapy in Derby, which I'd love to talk more about because when first going into it, you're like, okay, How much therapy can you do with a hand? If you think about the hand, it's one limb with about five different limbs coming off it, mini limbs coming off it. And genuinely, I loved it. So see me as a future hand therapist. We've also got, what else did I do? I did NSK Outpatients in Mosaic. So that's where Ed the lecturer works. I don't know if we've had a podcast with Ed, but genuinely love that one. Absolutely amazing team there. And then I did Stroke Community, which again, I loved, I think community and stroke, some people are definitely, not a bad cup of tea, one of my favourites. I really love having a long interaction with patients and really being a holistic carer, so yeah, I've had some great experiences too. Like Jessica said, I think me liking them probably says that I'm doing the right thing, yeah. What about you, Lewis? Go
SPEAKER_00:on. So my first one was, it was orthopaedics in Chesterfield, so that was really good. It was sort of elective and trauma, so quite a mix. Nice. My second one was actually non-clinical. So it was a leadership placement working remotely for Sherwood Forest Hospital. So we were doing like projects and stuff like that, which was pretty cool. And then I did a community stroke one as well. Absolutely love that. I think, yeah, I sort of just going into a person's house and the ability to then build that rapport with them, knowing sort of their surroundings.
SPEAKER_01:Completely
SPEAKER_00:different to seeing them in a ward setting or a clinic, anything like that. Final one that I did before this was a MSK private practice. So I was actually in a little practice. Yeah. It was quite different. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. Cause it was, it was just like a one man band pretty much. There was one therapist there and I was working with him. So we, we basically were able to sort of take the opportunity when there wasn't a patient in to go through anything we wanted to do, use the time really wisely. So it was, it was really good though. Very cool. Yeah. And then yeah, onto this one. So real me, between us all by the sounds of it
SPEAKER_01:I know and I think generally that goes to show that again another shout out I think Zoe Taylor is a kind of main coordinator but the rest of the team they really know their stuff and try and get us in with anyone and everyone all around Nottingham all around I think it's Leicestershire, Derbyshire loads of places yeah genuinely so if you're looking to come to Notts or if you do come to Notts you've got some good placements lined up I can tell you that you've got a mixture of areas a mixture of specialist qualities also obviously you've got um non-clinical clinical acute god there's loads loads you can do so that's really good you'll never be bored not to say
SPEAKER_00:the least so just a quick heads up for our listeners uh the next bit that we're going to talk about there might be a couple of sensitive subjects in there so just a bit of a heads up if you are sort of sensitive to that then you may want to sort of turn off or put one of the other podcasts on for now so thinking about the experiences that you've had on on your previous placements do you want to just sort of tell us some of your highs your lows some of the things that you did
SPEAKER_01:I do high first I guess yeah yeah so I just love the teams I've worked with um they've been brilliant uh especially the one at Mansfield Kingsmill and at Leicester Royal Infirmary they were just such good teams I love them all um and also just like five weeks felt like it was far too short um so it was just so nice to be in a really good community there also just working with patients in general I've just absolutely loved it um that's like my favorite thing of doing physio is just the patient and interactions so I just think that's just a really good part of the job also I've had brilliant opportunities during my placements in the paediatric one I was able to go into intensive care I was with the cardiac team I was with loads of different people and got just such brilliant experiences which are quite rare actually especially being in paeds so just getting the opportunity to see all of those and then also I actually had my birthday in October when I was in Leicester on placement which initially I was like oh my god it's going to be awful like I'm just going be on my own because i lived away as well so i was like gonna be on my own in this little shack for my birthday
SPEAKER_00:one
SPEAKER_01:little cupcake but no um the team actually like it was so cute i went into placement and they had balloons and they had like a card and presents and we went out for dinner and it was just so cute because they made the effort which i just thought made made it so much more enjoyable sadly it was my last week of placement but it was just so nice
SPEAKER_00:it's not a nice thing to do at the end yeah
SPEAKER_01:i 100% like celebrate and then also family yeah i just thought it was really really nice it's the effort they make as well and just spending time with them is just lovely yeah I think yeah that's a good point to note that if you have a good team and you nine out of ten times you will do just really kind of get involved because physio is so social and so I mean it's kind of comes with the role load of people just love people as well and it's just so interactive so get stuck in like get to know the other person on your team not just your educator and yeah so In terms of my highs, again, similar to Jessica, patient interaction is such a lovely part of the job. The community stroke team, you're seeing a lot of the same patients day in, day out. So obviously you can't tell your patient details, but my favourite patient, she wasn't doing too well initially in the first weeks that we saw her, but she was unfortunately not able to kind of mobilise up her bed, but we got her to the point where she was now sitting on the edge of her bed by the end of the five weeks and able to hug her husband sitting up for the first time and seeing that interaction and just human connection and those sort of very like small ways is just huge and by the end of the placement she didn't realise that I was only a student until that point so I told her I was leaving and she cried and she was So she can't communicate verbally but you could just see the emotion and I cried a little bit myself. It's just, it's one of those things, experiences like that, definitely take that onto yourself and know that you're doing a really good job for these people and be proud of yourself I think is a huge thing to take from that. You're having such a big impact aren't you on these people and you don't kind of realise until things like that happen, you're like oh my goodness. And it really goes to show that i do love what i do and just having a job like that which can make you feel that way i'm i'm very lucky i think at that point
SPEAKER_00:yeah
SPEAKER_01:definitely yeah
SPEAKER_00:i think you're right i think the patients sort of make it a lot of the time and absolutely working with the team and if you can think of yourself as part of the team you're not just a student there for five weeks you are part of the team for those five weeks and often they'll make you feel that way and so for me i got invited to their christmas um party when i did my first one and that was amazing so just being able to go and do that with them and sort of enjoy it
SPEAKER_01:awesome
SPEAKER_00:and then the ones that sort of keep in touch so after my MSK one there were some patients that would sort of be coming in for follow ups after I'd left and the educator got in touch with me and said oh so and so is doing really well by the way so just to get that sort of follow up was really nice to know that actually what I'd done the treatment plan that I'd given had worked oh that's amazing because yeah sometimes it end of a
SPEAKER_01:placement it's like you've got this person so far and then it's like i'm not going to see you again like i don't know what's going to happen because you make with some patients you're like i'm so sad that i'm not going to see you again it really yeah so
SPEAKER_00:oh that's really nice good definitely um so they were some sort of the highs i guess there's always going to be there might be a bit of a low point so is there anything you'd like to share
SPEAKER_01:i just think sometimes i wouldn't necessarily call it a low i'd just say tie on placement. The bags I have by the end of placement, I'm shattered, but it just shows that you've worked hard and you've really embraced the opportunity. But that kind of comes with it and it's just getting into that routine, getting used to it. I also think in the healthcare of older people that I worked in, that was quite challenging initially because obviously with the elderly population, it comes with death and loss and dealing with that initially was really hard because I've not really experienced much of that in my life. So I found that quite challenging just, you know, because you've got a connection with the patient and then sadly they passed away. So it was, it was quite tough that bit. Also people that are struggling with their mental health patient wise, that's takes a toll on you as well. And you need to keep an eye on your mental health as well. And also I had a personal, personal issue, personal bereavement during one of my placements. So that was quite a hard thing to deal with when you've got all this stress of placement and then you're like oh no like i've got this to deal with as well so it's one of those things it's just like you need to really look after yourself um and prioritize yourself yeah i think it's really important it's quite easy to lose yourself and get so involved with your work that just some things unfortunately do happen occur but i'm really glad that like you you're here today you're happy so i think it goes to show like support within your little bubble like the physio kind of community here at knots and supra as well so that's with the sports rehabbers as well it's really tight-knit like everyone genuinely does care about each other so take that with you and make sure you know that people do have your back so if you are having problems on placement talk to your friends talk to your lecturers as well and your educators as well great support from my educators yeah great support yeah so just know that people have your back out there and no matter what you're going through talking about that yeah unfortunately so I'm a person of colour I'm Punjabi I my family are very cultural I'm very proud to be a Punjabi woman and I think it's quite of a rarity to see me and my face I'm also Sikh and my culture within my profession just just tends to be where the demographics lie and unfortunately you do get the odd patient and unfortunately the odd person within the workplace who isn't as receptive to your culture to your religion to unfortunately the colour of your skin and it's something that I mean to any of those other people other people of colour out there goodness I'm trying to get my words right it's know that you do have community around you you're not alone things do happen your resilience to bounce back from unfortunate incidences it can only help you in the future I've had unfortunate interactions where you have to just take a step you have to breathe through it unfortunately deal with have to deal with the way you have to and move on but don't shut it off don't just live with it talk to people my educator was really really kind of supportive she was a white woman as well um and unfortunately you know just unfortunately very fortunate if i had hasn't really experienced it before but she gave me some really just good words of wisdom like it doesn't make me any less of a physio the experiences i've been through it doesn't make me a bad physio to have to do all these things and just push through just keep on talking about keep making sure that your thoughts are heard and that you are getting the support you need because unfortunately things happen
SPEAKER_00:yeah absolutely yeah and I think when things like that do happen obviously there's all the support from the uni as well that you can rely on so speaking to your educators there's support even through counselling and things like that with the uni so it's worth looking into that and just reaching out so never suffering silence kind of thing and it's even
SPEAKER_01:just accessing those through like we've got QR codes on we get given them for placement you've got them everywhere in the uni like just using those and not worrying because at the end of the day even if you just want chat like the well-being team are there for a chat even if you've got nothing specific like you need to go with they're not just going to turn you away they're just going to want to chat to you personal experience with the counselling service is something I don't shy away from my mental health has been up and down in university and honestly people on those team for myself and close people in my life some of my friends and good friends we rave about it I think mental health is I'm so glad it's becoming something that we talk about these days and the support that I feel from the university, from people in my placement, educators, genuinely people do give a dang, like they really care. Yeah, so hold that, know that and go forward with it. Have you had any lows or lowers? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:I think again, I think it's a bit of sort of, it can be the tiredness, it can be you've got locks on and you're sort of trying to then do research in the evenings to be prepared for the next one. There's just a lot going on in it. I think, as you've kind of said, the main thing to do is to sort of try and look after yourself. So think about your mental health, but also think about physical health. Try and make sure that you're sort of staying active, eating well and all of that stuff. Yeah, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01:And that's something that, so this is the nine to five of placement, but we will also be talking with our other teammates on this education placement, the five to nine. So stay tuned for that. They'll be talking about how to kind of live with placement, as it were.
SPEAKER_00:Just looking back on those experiences that you've sort of discussed and thank you for sharing some of that because I know it's quite personal but it's good for other students to hear that because actually we all go through these things and just to understand you're not the only one and you're not on your own there are people out there definitely would you say that there's anything that you've sort of learnt from those experiences anything that's helped you to develop and sort of any silver linings out of those lows as such
SPEAKER_01:honestly I think we could be here for days talking about these I feel like I've learnt honestly an insane amount from placement but I think just learning that you're not perfect and things and that you're expected to make mistakes even like if educators are saying comments in terms of you're doing something wrong don't take it to heart they've got your best interests at heart they're gonna be it's not personal no of course not like they're just trying to help you improve and kind of getting that into your head is quite a good thing to do because you're thinking they're not attacking me for what they're saying they're just kind of push you and make you a better physio also like you said previously just prioritise in your mental health and your overall well-being having that work-life balance just I've learnt so much how important that really is and also just knowing that I'm kind of stronger than I thought I was and being able to get through placement and if you've had a bit of a tough time and it's like I was actually able to do that and come out happy and I've learnt a lot so I just think yeah it just teaches you that every placement might not be perfect but you kind of need to enjoy the good moments and realise actually how far you've come in well for us like two and a half years of placement absolutely
SPEAKER_00:it's that resilience as well isn't it that you kind of develop from going through it you kind of have to go through a bit of rough to get stronger at the
SPEAKER_01:end of the day we've only had this is our fifth placement we've only had five placements so we've not even had that much experience really if you break it down how many days is that 25 times five someone do quick maths for that so yeah 125 yeah okay look at me I can still do maths we've done good but yeah what about you Amy yeah just hopping on from that I think celebrating yourself and being proud of your achievements really I think my first piece of advice actually came from my mum she was like write down the things that you're really chuffed about yourself with and I was like yeah I've got a little kind of cookie jar I don't know why I called it that but it's just something I take out I'm like remember when I did that I'm kind of cool I think it's yeah like resilience is one of those things it's thrown around a lot I think these days but literally I sound like one of my tutors my educators from like you know year six being like you need to be resilient you need to battle through it and you do like it's a lot of things life is crazy you get hit with all sorts but how you react to things how you kind of take it onto yourself and then move move forward with it is incredibly important. I think I pride myself on my ability to take feedback in, process it, and then be proud of my output as well. So when you are getting a piece of feedback where you're like, ah, okay, it stings. No one likes to be told they're doing something wrong. It's awful. It's like, oh my God, I'm not doing the best for myself. I'm not doing the best for my patient. But like you said, it's all to make you that next time just a little bit better and that's not a bad thing when did learning become something that we should be afraid of no one was built to be the perfect physio from day dot 125 days goes by crazy fast so yeah take it on you I think when it comes to educators as well touch wood like I said 9 out of 10 times you are going to be met with someone who can provide you with that feedback that does want to make you a better physio but you get a rough roll of the dice and sometimes it gets a little bit sticky and just having the confidence in yourself to be like this isn't working for me is a really really cool skill to have just knowing to put yourself first I think unfortunately it was my first placement where we didn't really see eye to eye and it made it a bit hard but having that resilience to kind of push through next time and stand up for myself was really, really good. What about you, Lewis?
SPEAKER_00:So I think, yeah, I think, as you say, it's sort of you develop during each placement. So actually some of that feedback that you might get that you think is, oh, I'm being attacked, you're not, obviously, and it is there for your development. Often that's sort of week one, week two, and then by week three, week four, the good feedback's really flying in and actually we've got to be sort of vigilant to to pay attention to that too because a lot of us will sort of just pay attention to the negatives it's
SPEAKER_01:such a normal thing to do
SPEAKER_00:yeah exactly and if we can just go actually they just said i did a really good job and you need to absolutely because we we yeah we can focus on what we need to work on but actually not taking all the good stuff so i think really if you do get positive feedback even if that's from a patient or from somebody else in the mdt that you're working with anybody just take that on board and where you can if you want to formalise it and add it into you yeah they love
SPEAKER_01:art too like your cookie jar thing you were saying like record it and kind of come back to it like if you're having a rough day and you're like god today went poor just kind of having a look and being like actually but yesterday I did this so having positive positive outlooks yeah so now it's literally like I've shared it with my mum and I've shared it with my boyfriend as well and they're like literally just like go back to that just have a little look remember all the good you're doing and yeah just know that you're doing pretty good absolutely yeah
SPEAKER_00:that links actually quite nicely to the next question so we were going to sort of talk about imposter syndrome basically so a lot of students I understand sort of will experience elements of this throughout their placements whether it's their first placement or even their last one and have you guys got any techniques any tips anything that you do to sort of overcome it if you have experienced
SPEAKER_01:it yeah so honestly personally I've never really experience imposter syndrome but I'm aware I'm aware people experience this and I think personally I don't know if this is completely imposter syndrome but I've found sometimes like when I've had patients on my own and my educator's gone do your thing kind of thing and I'm in a situation when I'm quite shocked and proud that I'm like wow I can actually do this like I don't know whether this is imposter syndrome but kind of having like being like that's really cool quite cool and thinking trust in your abilities um uh yeah that kind of thing of being quite proud of what you're doing and how far you've really come but yeah have you had any experience amy i have i have so um for my fellow overthinkers out there and i think i mean everyone has their bad days with overthinking but i mean i struggle quite a lot with anxiety um and just having faith in myself it's definitely something that's improved touch with I've found myself believing in myself a lot more than I could say a couple years back but I do remember my first couple placements especially talking to my educator talking to patients talking to other MDT consultants and things like that and being like what the heck am I doing here I don't know how to talk to these people this is all coming out of my mouth I mean even just with this podcast I've never done a podcast before and I'm like, what am I doing here a little bit? But hopefully, for those who live it, yeah, you do. It's just knowing that the human experience is really a fun thing and no one technically really knows what they're doing at the end of the day. It's like, ask your parents. Everyone's winging it. Yeah, everyone's winging it. Ask your parents, do they know how to be parents? No, they're just trying their best. Do we exactly know how to be a physio? No. And does that band-aid over there with their head held high. Do they know what they're doing? Everyone has situations that they've never been in before. Exactly, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And we're all pushed outside of our comfort zone, aren't we? And that's the only way to actually learn. Yeah, I think we'll all sort of feel it a little bit. But again, it is going back to the positives of, well, actually, I got really good feedback from that patient. Even though I thought at the time I was like, what am I doing? I don't really
SPEAKER_01:know.
SPEAKER_00:You actually, you get that feedback after and they think of you as not a student, as the physiotherapist. yeah and
SPEAKER_01:like just don't get in your head about being a student like everyone is a student or something so just you know you know what you're doing take a step back think to yourself be like no I got this give yourself some credit and if you don't ask your questions like absolutely ask people placements are a place to learn it's okay to go to your education and say I don't know what I'm doing like the amount of times I think we've all done that and just know that it's okay everyone wants what's best for you yeah yeah
SPEAKER_00:so within some of the placements now you may be sort of out there in a placement area as a lone student or in some cases you're sort of with other students in the same area so have any of you experienced that
SPEAKER_01:yeah so on my what would it be now third placement I believe when I was at the MS and neuro centre I was with quite a few students I believe I'm going to get it wrong now but I feel like there was five of us. It's quite a small place. Yeah, I know. Sorry, guys. Yeah, I think there was five of us. And it was honestly such a good experience. And we were just able to work with each other. You had someone to relate to. We used to drive, all of us in the car. And you just used to have a bit of a debrief, just have a chat. And if someone's struggling or situations like that, you can support each other. And also, I wouldn't be afraid to go, oh, Lewis, can you help me with this patient kind of thing? Because you already know each other. Yeah. Whereas if you don't know someone, it's always a bit of a more awkward one. And initially you might be quite, you know, holding yourself back. But when you're with people you've known for two years, you're going to be quite relaxed anyway, which is quite nice. And also just like knowing you're on the right track as well is really good. Obviously, there will be a couple of negatives with working with others. I feel like quite frequently people compare themselves. When you're working with them, like you've all come from the same uni. I feel like sometimes educators might be like, right, you three, you've all learned the same thing, same content. Yeah, exactly. why is your knowledge not the same 100% and it's like that pressure to be all the same and if someone's doing that you might go oh my god why am I not doing that so sort of it makes you more critical of yourself I feel like so it's just not doing that is quite important obviously like I said just pressure and comparing yourself so really try to still focus on yourself and if someone's doing something cool maybe learn from it don't just think oh I don't know that that's embarrassing be like oh teach me teach me your ways and why you're doing that, so I think that's really important. Physios love to teach. We love showing people how to do things. And it helps with the clinical reasoning as well. The amount of times I've been like, I'm so sorry, I'm asking so many questions, and they'll be like, it actually helps because it makes me reason what I'm doing, why I'm doing it, and actually helps them learn, which is really good. I mean, that's what this placement is in. I was initially thinking like, oh my god, the amount of physio I'm going to be doing, or I'm just going to be teaching physio, I'm not actually going to be doing physio. and you're like actually hold up I'm going to be teaching physio which means that I'm going to have to know my little bit so I can actually impart onto these students and I think it's a really good thing because it will just clarify my own learning and just because they're younger students they haven't got maybe I wouldn't say as much experience at all they've got different experiences so having different student perspectives I'm really excited for it I'm excited to know what they know and learn what they learn and share it's not I'm imparting all my information to them it's a back and forth it's a it's a conversation so that's gonna be good yeah but yeah so in terms of kind of students I've kind of worked with I haven't really had much input sorry experience but um I live with um three of the physios so um quite a few yeah it's Aleve yeah Aleve, Jasroop and uh Bryn like they're my bros shout out If you guys are actually listening to this, you better be. You're going to force them, sit them down in the living room. You will listen to this podcast. You are my friend. No, but they are my besties. We've been like really good mates, all of us since first year. And now we live together and we are all on such different placements. And so it's one of those really nice things. People are in the same boat as you. So if you are looking to live with your fellow physios, some pros to that is just really everyone's in the same boat. and it's so nice getting up in the early mornings but knowing that your mates are there with you everyone's getting up in the early mornings and you know it's dark when you're coming home don't worry because it's dark for everyone it's coming home everyone's like have you eaten enough today have you like you love yoga have you been doing yoga have you do you want to go on a run with me like me alif and brin we are um on sundays we're doing a little yoga together we got our mats out and we have a little stretch it's literally it's just a little things like we go out when we want to go out and we know when it's just a bit too much for us we're okay with that we we have our little cups of teas we love like like I know like watching traitors for those who are watching traitors right now like it's so nice coming home being like right Wednesdays Thursdays and Fridays come on everyone sit on the sofa we get into our blankets and watching tea did you watch last night's episode I did you need to get on it Lewis what's happening this is the only negative from the education team only us two watch traitors and nobody else does and we have no one to debrief with the day after and I'm lying there on my own because nobody's in the house currently and I'm just like oh my god like I need to speak to someone about this it's okay like genuinely come round to us like we are yelling at the TV it's great amazing Lewis what about you have you worked with other students
SPEAKER_00:yes I mean obviously this placement we're all working together so that's really cool on my leadership placement I work with one other student so Sam and I we worked really quite closely together on lots of different projects and things like that and it was nice And I see what you mean that you can fall into the trap of comparing yourself. But actually, I think the best thing to do is just use it as an opportunity to learn from each other that they might have a different way of doing something. And actually, just because it's different doesn't mean it's better or worse. But if it does work better, then learn from it. And yeah, just help each other out. So I think don't sort of see it as their competition. No, absolutely. They're there as someone else to work with and support. Yeah. Definitely. And they'll help you as well. So I think working with other students is a positive. Don't ever think about it. No, of course
SPEAKER_01:not. I think it's easy to fall into that, oh, we've come from the same place, we need to know the same stuff, but you do just need to keep on your own track and
SPEAKER_00:know you're doing okay. And you're your own person, obviously. Yeah, of course, you're not going to be exactly
SPEAKER_01:the same. No, and it might be a niche thing, but coming from a grammar school, unfortunately, a lot of that mindset was ingrained. Me and Jessica both went to grammar schools for what you were supporting.
SPEAKER_00:no no
SPEAKER_01:i wasn't extremely competitive so a lot of my first year and my second year was a little bit of unlearning that so i mean it's not global experience like i'm sure there are definitely grammar schools that don't go that way or feel that way but so just knowing that yeah i'm i'm good where i am
SPEAKER_00:not everything's a competition and we are competitive
SPEAKER_01:physio but like it's it's like i think it's taken into it's taken lightly i think it's like it's a lot more humorous, I guess. It's a healthy contest. You're just pushing each other in. You want what's best. I want what's best for Lewis. I want what's best for Jessica. I think it's really obvious. Everyone actually just cares about each other. No one will see you fail at the end
SPEAKER_00:of the day. Definitely. It's cute. So just moving on, I'm just looking at the time. We could be up here all day. So the next bit that we wanted to talk about was if anybody's had any sort of non-clinical placement. So obviously this is one where it's non-clinical I did a placement the leadership placement that I spoke about and that in itself just was quite overwhelming in that I'm not going to a ward I'm like what am I doing I mean I'm fortunate I'm a mature student so I've sort of had a career and worked in other places before this and worked from home and stuff like that before so going into that wasn't too difficult or weird for me but actually it is something that we kind of need to be aware of aware of that actually you might go on a non-clinical placement and therefore it's not going to be the same as your other ones where you're going into a hospital or a clinic or community for example it's it's going to be managed differently so for mine there was sort of flexibility in your working hours you could so i was volunteering it was good really good like it it's hard because you have to make sure that you do still get the work done so if you start late on a morning because you've got something else on you need to work later into the year you need to get the work done you can't just sort of go oh well it's five o'clock I'll finish it but you started at midday so
SPEAKER_01:did you find I'm turning into the host now sorry did you find like it was quite hard if you're working at home all day having that switch off because like for us like we did yesterday we worked here we went home that's it don't do anything else did you find that really hard
SPEAKER_00:yeah I think it's sort of even harder if you've not got like an office or anything like that you're literally working at the kitchen table it's very tempting to go back to that at any point throughout the day sort of thing. And also very tempting to step away from that desk at any point in the
SPEAKER_01:day. Yeah, it becomes all a grey area about when am I, like, because if it's your own home, then you're just like, okay, I eat, I live, I breathe in the same space the whole day. Where's your divide in that?
SPEAKER_00:Exactly. And
SPEAKER_01:like being flexible, I don't know about anyone else, but I really like structure and routine. So I don't know if I would do well.
SPEAKER_00:If it would work for you.
SPEAKER_01:But it's an experience I'm happy to try as well too. So you never know until you try
SPEAKER_00:it. And that's it. And I think it's worthwhile going through that experience to go well how do I manage myself and manage my time and prioritise things and you
SPEAKER_01:passed it so you must have done well
SPEAKER_00:they are really good so I would just say on the non-clinical ones you might think oh I need to be getting practical experience but actually this is still practical experience in terms of what you're going to do in your career and transferable
SPEAKER_01:skills
SPEAKER_00:are plenty exactly so don't ever think of it as like a negative that oh I've got that non-clinical one now and I'm going to be behind everyone. You're just developing other skills that are going to be really useful to you. Cheska, I think you had one. Yeah, it's a bit
SPEAKER_01:of an iffy one because obviously it was kind of still medical, clinical. It was the MS one. So that was kind of like a charity. So it's a bit of a different one because it wasn't that I'm so used to the ward environment, hospital environment, very medical and acute medicine that actually this was a bit different. And although it wasn't obviously the same as yours it was very like getting used to patients going home in between sessions people might not turn up or it's just a bit more flexible because they're not just sat in a bed and you're going to them like it's very very different and I think it was just getting used to that environment really and obviously the hours were different because it's normally in a ward you'll start at like 8 or maybe even earlier whereas this was obviously a bit later because it needs to fit in with people's routines so I think it's just getting used to that obviously yours is a definite non-clinical experience and from now obviously with this education placement that is my proper non-clinical experience so I think we're going to learn a heck of a lot from this but yeah I just think it's really quite cool just to have a step out from the medical sector and just actually see that physio is a lot bigger than we think it is like there's so much you can go into but I mean even within clinical physio that is such a broad thing I mean you have inpatient you have outpatient you have community which are obviously very general terms in themselves they are so varied so whatever you see yourself as a physio it's not one box by any means genuinely this whole career is so fortunately broad you can really make physio what you want it to be and genuinely so I mean me, Lois and Jessica are very different people and it's great because we'll go into very probably different physio and that's exciting Just know that the door that you are going through, choosing a visit area if you are considering it, is a really broad thing. It would be so cool to have a catch up in like 10, 20 years. Like, what are you doing? Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:So obviously while you're on your placement, there's a bit of admin that we kind of have to do. So we have the CPath document and we are now using Pear for
SPEAKER_01:that. Previously PebblePad.
SPEAKER_00:But what are your experiences of using that? Have you got any sort of hints and tips for students in using it
SPEAKER_01:well we've used it quite a few times now so I feel like we've got it down to a T but one thing I've found is with doing the CPath you need to well I find it helpful my educators have done it before like printing off the CPath because I don't know if you guys listening have used Pear before but it's kind of you go through each screen and you kind of need to obviously click on and then if you want to look oh what grade am I on this you need to go back like five pages so having it printed and having it next to you is probably quite easy um but that's what I found has benefited me obviously it is quite a good resource I quite like it initially when I started I was like oh my god this is overwhelming so much to do there's so much but kind of just going through it and realising what you need to do pre-placement what you need to do mid-placement throughout your placement and post-placement is really good just to get a grasp maybe even write like a list just so you know what you're doing there's also a section that says like I think it's like feedback from others or something utilise it oh god yeah I like throughout my placement I've tried to get feedback but my last placement I really got loads on that and I've realised now like I should have probably started that from day one like literally at the end what I would do is literally go to your educators and be like anyone on the team write me some feedback and put it in that and then you can use it for your CPD file for you know getting jobs in the future because it's a professional document you can use this for your CV so yeah plug plug plug that just definitely any sort of quotes from there you can take it to your future interviews your future people but like look this is what clinical professionals have said about me on a professional document. Yeah, absolutely. I also think that at the beginning of your placement, setting out expectations of what you're expected during the placement, also potentially, obviously, depending on time constraints, but going through the CPAP and agreeing on what each section means. So with this education placement, they sent us and went through, actually, each stage and were like, this is how we're interpreting this section. This is how we're interpreting the next section. And I think that's so important. Yeah. because there's a couple that I've had on my placements and they'll go, I think it's this. And I've had a completely different view and I've graded myself completely different. So I think being on the same page with that, keeping up to date with your reflections, try to do like one or two a week. I know it's a bit of a pain, but it kind of becomes second nature towards the end. It's useful as well, isn't it? Yeah, and sometimes they ask for those in job interviews as well. So just keeping everything up to date and make sure you save it after you've done all that. The amount of times... press that save button no I've literally like typed out like a whole reflection and I press save and it's been like refreshed and I'm like no and it's actually blank so yeah please save it and get your feedback they're the two things if you don't do anything else feedback and save press that save button yeah I mean if any like the save path document editor people like we love your document thank you for it but please can you I don't know do something with that because it's so painful like when you've like done a very yeah like if you want some really good reflective practice be like bosh I really just Did well on this and it goes heartbreak, instant heartbreak. But yeah, honestly, top tips from Jessica. If there's anything to take away from this podcast, listen to that. Yeah, like I think reflective practice, honestly, I think I just need some, Jesus Christ. Reflective practice as a physio is so important. I think you only really realise it kind of in your later placements, how good it is to be like, huh, I did that this way. this is how I did that would I change how I do that so the mechanism of what so what now what really basic really simple that's my favourite one I like that the other one is yeah I'm not a fan of that one it's so long so obviously with CPAP writing it down is really good but Asari talked to me about this but voice notes so I am a waffler I talk for a living I don't love writing like it's fine I'll do it if I have to but for to waffle so voice notes go for it hence why this podcast yeah sorry about that guys but yeah go for it anything else Wes?
SPEAKER_00:I think for me I like the idea of printing it actually I never thought about doing that what I've done when I have three tabs open of the same document
SPEAKER_01:I sometimes take photos on my phone but then it just gets too much
SPEAKER_00:but yeah I think for me I sort of obviously reflect back but I don't always note it down. And I think having it within the document is really helpful and kind of just forces me to do it. And I think, as you say, the feedback section is really good for collating anything that you hear. And whether that's just something that has been said verbally that you just jot down so that you remember it.
SPEAKER_01:It doesn't need to be
SPEAKER_00:massive, does it? No, exactly. It doesn't need to be over sort of formal or anything like that. You can just jot down notes in there and make use of it. I think the key thing with Pear is update it as you go along don't leave it until the last minute don't leave it until the end because then on your last day when you've just finished placement you're like oh I've got a million things to do
SPEAKER_01:and it's like obviously remembering the time sheet and things like that little things that you might not remember the amount of times I finish placement and you'll get these notifications after placement being like you haven't done this bit and I'm like last placement I fully thought I was so thorough did everything and then I got one I was like how but yeah also I think just one last thing is just being keeping your educators up to date on what you're doing. If you're uploading these reflections, you need to tell them because at the end of the day, they won't automatically look. They've got a busy life as well. And if you've uploaded all of these, you finish your placement and they go, you've done no reflections. Yeah, exactly. You just need to communicate and let them know what you're doing. Communicate with your educators is like communication with your educators. If you don't tell them what's going on, they're not going to know. Everyone has their own lives. So if you want them to know something, don't give it to yourself. If you want something to change, let them know. like I do have obviously like previous places like first placement kind of thing where I have friends being like yeah like this happened and like I just didn't know what to do about and I was like did you tell someone and they were like no and I'm like well girl you gotta you gotta make your voice known you're a student but you also have a voice so yeah use it
SPEAKER_00:perfect
SPEAKER_01:anything else
SPEAKER_00:well I think just a final sort of wrap up I think if we've got any any final tips that you'd like to share with the students overall about sort of nine to five of placement yeah anything that any little nuggets of wisdom
SPEAKER_01:why don't we change it up and you start
SPEAKER_00:yeah i think for me um the key is to just not sweat it too much i think that first day of placement is always going to feel a bit overwhelming and quite pressurized you you're a bit daunted because you don't know who you're going to be working with what it's going to be like any of that actually sort of from day two day three day four all of that sort starts to drop off and you do get more confident and I think remember that actually your placement is for you to learn you don't need to be the best physio ever when you arrive on day one it's for you to develop over those five weeks and that's where you can sort of work with your educators work with everybody else that you're on that placement with to develop so don't see it as a sort of a test as such it's more of a lesson and it's for you to actually try and
SPEAKER_01:I just think enjoy it because it's going to be over before you know it and uni just goes crazy fast so I just think enjoying every experience get as many experiences as you can on placement if someone says do you want to do this for a day absolutely go and do it even just asking just be like what experiences have you got what you know you're in this department can I go and shadow this for a day can I see this just asking as much as you can in terms of opportunities But also just asking questions. You need to just ask loads of questions. If they're doing something that you don't understand, don't think you're going to sound stupid. Just be like, what are you doing and why? Because they'll like it and it'll make you look really, you know, ego and they'll like that. So yeah, definitely take those on. And it's like, most of the time you will be eager. So it's like kind of having that confidence to make, they want to hear from you. So go for it. And you just reminded me, so experiences wise, like you can get, you can get to see things like surgery, which I found really cool. Yeah. You can do things like, I don't know, shadow with nurses. I worked with a consultant for the day, which was really scary. They're really smart. And asked me all these questions, which I swear imposter syndrome comes in for sure. But yeah, just embrace it. Really just take everything. You don't need to be an expert by the end of the day. Everything you've done, just enjoy it. And I think what's going to be leading on to the next segment of this podcast segment next episode this podcast which will be the five to nine is learning how to still be yourself but with placement and kind of that five to nine we're calling it of after placement so stay tuned for that
SPEAKER_00:awesome well thank you yeah thanks amy thanks jessica no worries well yeah keep a keep an ear out for that next podcast as well if you want to hear about the stuff that you do outside of placement yeah and uh yeah stay tuned Shall not have gone away
