Reflections

My experience in rural block
During my rural block at Elim I had a lot of experiences, to work as a multidisciplinary team (OT, SPL&Audio, Diet, Optom and physios) when treating patients during out reach/clinic visits, this helped me to gain knowledge on referring patients to an appropriate professional as they were referring patients to us .I also had an opportunity to treat a patient presenting with lumbar disc prolapsed. We also attended a workshop at Thsilidzini hospital where one of the physios at Elim was presenting about head injury and he also demonstrated the physio treatment. The last thing is that I have learnt about different conditions and treated them.
Challenges during the block
The block itself to me was a bit challenging, at first at the physio department there was discrimination between Medunsa and Wits stundents,the most important challenge was the use of the computer at the physio dept because during the day the staff are very busy with it, then in order to do our school work we had to use the computer after working hours until late because the internet was another problem, then as a result of that we had to go back to the residence very late and on our way back to the residence we came across a big snake and there was a nurse walking behind us he killed the snake, there are a lot of snakes because the day before we saw that one our supervisor told us that they killed a black mamba at the residence where we stay. Another challenge was transport to home visit to do our case study because at the hospital they don`t provide transport for students to home visits, then we had to go on Tuesdays and Wednesdays when health support group are going for outreach or clinic visit and we use to came back late at around the evening. the last challenge was the use of the blogging that was introduced by our block coordinator because the internet was so bad and he expected us to send him everything we were doing almost every day, and during our last week of the block we were not allowed to go use the internet at the physio dept then we had to go to the internet cafe and pay money in order to send our tasks via blogging.
Acknowledgements
.Acknowledgements to the CEO and the clinical manager of Elim hospital for welcoming us and allowing us to do our tasks at the hospital.
.Acknowledgements to our supervisor for helping us to complete our tasks and to arrange transport to home visits for our case study.
.Acknowledgements to our rural block coordinator for making arrangements for the block and for guiding us to complete our tasks
.Acknowledgements to the sister in charge of mbhokota clinic for allowing us to conduct our screening and health talk at the clinic.
.Acknowledgments to my patient Ms Anniki Mnisi for allowing me to treat her and trusting me that I will make a difference in her life.



SWOT NOTES (week 1)
Strengths
To do a full assessment and treatment of patients presenting with back problems and applying of OMT techniques
Weakness
Treating and strapping if a club foot
Opportunities
Learning how to strap a club foot
Threats
To treat patients being observed by the supervisor and the language barrier
WEEK 4
Strengths
Treating patients presenting with different conditions
Weakness
Nothing because i was able to strap a club foot and to treat any condition a patient may be presenting with
Opportunity
I had an opportunity to learn more about head injuries and haemophilia
Threats
Nothing because I was used to be observed by the supervisor when treating patients
SPAR NOTES
Situation
The situation occurred at the physiotherapy department at Elim hospital
People
The physiotherapy staff, HOD and Medunsa students

Activity
There was a problem with the printer at the HOD`s office where the Medunsa students were accused of using the printer after working hours ,then one of the physio assistants insisted that we are the ones who were printing .
Reaction
We denied that we used the printer ,but at the end we went to the HOD`s office and apologised for using the computer to search for articles and she also apologised to us for accusing us as we were not the only ones using the computer after working ours, then problem was solved.
Daily diary (week 4)
Day
Date
Time
Activities
Monday
15-03-2010
07H30-10H00
10H00-10H30
10H30-13H00
13H00-14H00
14H00-16H30
Treating OPDpatients
Tea
Treating OPD patients
Lunch
Treating ward patients
Tuesday
16-03-2010
07H30-8H30

08H30-16H30
Discussion of our tasks with the supervisor
Home visit
Wednesday
17-03-2010
07H30-10H00
10H00-10H30
10H30-13H00
13H00-14H00
14H00-16H30
Treating ward patients
Tea
Treating OPD patients
Lunch
Typing our tasks
Thursday
18-03-2010
07H30-08H30


08H00-15H00


15H00-16H30
Discussing results for screening with our supervisor
Workshop at Tshilidzini hospital about head injuries
Consulting at IT dept for help about analysing screening results
Friday
19-03-2010
07H30-10H00

10H00-10H30
10H30-12H00
Treating of OPD patients
Tea
Treating OPD patients