Organisation(s)

Bournemouth University

Sigurður Pálsson and Hannah Webb-Peploe

Third year physiotherapy students at Bournemouth University. Undertook a ‘long arm supervision’ placement at a care home.

Summary of placement

We independently provided physiotherapy to the care home residents with weekly meetings with our practice placement educator.

We provided one-to-one sessions, group classes, modifications to handovers, and made a contracture-management leaflet in cooperation with Dorset Healthcare University NHS Foundation Trust.

The care home’s MDT gave us free reign to provide whatever inputs we deemed appropriate. They also requested we see certain residents at points where their function and mobility had declined. They highlighted contracture management as an issue and encouraged us to work with contracture-risk cases (which became the inspiration for the contracture management leaflet being made).

We offered every resident (for whom it would be appropriate) physiotherapy input and gave exercise programs to many of them. Additionally, we left the activity leads with some ideas for increasing physical challenge/engagement in their group activities in future.

Benefits

  • Independence/freedom

  • Problem solving challenges

  • Confidence builder

Challenges

  • You need to be proactive

  • Uncertainty in a new environment

  • Building rapport with MDTs

Advice you’d give to others

  • Familiarise yourself with protocols early (i.e. where to document notes/pictures, who to ask about this and that, who to email/call if needed, how to change handover, etc.)

  • Use your lunch breaks to chat with the MDT (you can learn plenty from all levels of the MDT)

  • Build rapport with all the residents, not just the ones on your caseload (increases the odds of them turning to you if they eventually need your help)