Intial Entry

I am quite unsure about this upcoming paediatrics placement. Having never had any experience working with kids as a physio I am quite concerned about how I'm going to perform. Although we have been taught the techniques in class there has only ever been one opportunity to get "hands on" experience and so I hope I pick it up quickly. I guess my concern is further fuelled by the fact that not only am I dealing with the child but I'm also working with the family. Something that I seem to be thinking about is whether the parents are going to be happy with a student physio working with their child? I expect that a sceptical parent would be not uncommon and might be something that I will cross during my time at Disability Services. One positive is that I have worked with kids at football clinics before so I'm not completely naive to working with children.

I expect that my supervisor will ease me into this placement. I think she will already know that I lack experience working with kids and recognise that because paediatrics is such a special discipline that I will need some time to develop my skills.

I already know that I will be doing home and school visits so it will be really interesting and valuable to see how each child copes and performs in their normal environment. The way I picture the placement is that I will be doing a lot of observational work, watching how my supervisor handles, treats and communicates with the kids and predict that it wont be until later in the placement that I have more autonomy. Speaking to others who have had paediatrics placements this seems to be the case across the board and I guess its due to both our inexperience in this specialty area but also the concerns of the family.

In regards to my preparation for the placement I think I'll need to know a child's developmental milestones, have a background knowledge of the various conditions and be able to come up with a treatment program appropriate to the child's age and interests. Maybe even know a few nursery rhymes! To be honest though, because our paediatric units involved so much information and it was difficult to go into each condition in depth, I think I'm going to do most of my learning whilst on this rotation.

Beyond my concern is some genuine excitement for the challenge that lies ahead. Although I don't think that I will work within paediatrics in the future I think it is going to be a great opportunity to improve my interpersonal skills and my ability to build rapport. If I by the end of the placement I have improved my ability to talk with kids and their families I think I'll be more confident with communicating with any patient that I cross. Overall it's going to be interesting to see how the program works and the effect that it has on the lives of kids within the community.