Tom Varcoe – 6 Hours, 11/12/19
Tom is one of the newer members of the physio team although, he still had over 5 years’ experience as a Physio. Tom’s diary consisted of pre-booked, face to face follow up appointments. The majority were post-op who he’d worked with as inpatients at the hospital, the others had minor injuries who were paying privately for treatment. Initially, I was slightly nervous and apprehensive because I felt like I was being a little intrusive by essentially eavesdropping on what would normally be a private conversation. Tom, of course gained consent first and within minutes of the first appointment I was put at ease as the patient engaged me in conversation as much as Tom. All of Tom’s appointments that day were equally engaging and happy to have me there, one patient seemed to quite enjoy having someone else there to retell his bad jokes to and tease Tom with. One thing that surprised me straight away was the length of time with each patient. As a PT, I am used to having a full hour with minimal paperwork required. Each appointment was for half an hour, which included meet and greet, subjective assessment, objective assessment, treatment and clinical note taking. Each appointment felt rushed and the 4 hours were relentless with little time between appointments. I quickly noticed a common trend with most of the patients, which was how the conversations seem to go. Maybe the structure to Tom’s conversations or just how it went that day but it seems like everyone just wanted some reassurance that they were improving and not going backwards. As a result, it led to the same questions, reassuring comments and one-liners, which left me feeling a unstimulated. I do appreciate that when you have such limited time with patients you will find the quickest ways to draw out information and reassure them. There was one opportunity to go into the gym, which was very exciting for me. Although again, it was very brief and the exercises were very simplistic. I didn’t feel there was time in the day to do a lot different however, before my next observation I questioned what type of appointments they had booked.
James Spear – 6 Hours, 21/02/20
James is one of the longest standing Physio’s at the club. Like before with Tom, I was observing James’ appointment list that day which was a combination of half hour and hour bookings and again, the majority were post-op follow ups. James has a very laid back demeaner so I wasn’t sure how productive the session with him would be. Initially, he seemed to be going through the motions until his hour appointment arrived, who was a known patient but with a new complaint. The patient was a keen adventurer and rower, in his 40’s but very athletic who was experiencing neck and shoulder pain. Now James had a puzzle to solve, he came alive, assessment and treatment of new injuries was clearly what he is passionate about. Equally I was very interested in this so was interested to see how this differed, if at all from what I’d learned. Throughout the process James talked me (and the patient) through everything he was seeing, often inviting me in to see if I could spot the same things. His assessment, treatment and teaching were very insightful. More of this experience is exactly what I need when there is an opportunity to do so.