I’ve made it! I’m now a physiotherapist and I still feel like pinching myself every time I put my badge on. Placements are probably the biggest thing that have helped me develop my physiotherapist identity, I know the physio I want to be, and more importantly I know the physio I don’t want to be. Placement brings some of the biggest highs during your degree and can also bring some of the lowest lows. I had a long commute for my first placement which caused long days, by the time I got home I was too exhausted to absorb anything I was reading, I felt stupid, I couldn’t remember anything. I questioned whether I was in too deep and whether I was cut out to be a physiotherapist. I felt like none of my physio friends were having this problem and none of my non-physio friends understood how draining it is. I cried every time my visiting tutor came and didn’t know why, and I just about scraped a pass.
I think physiotherapists and physiotherapy students are a certain kind of person, we try to fit a lot in, we have high expectations of ourselves, and are often quite competitive. Don’t let this lead you to burn out. It cause me to process things differently and knocked my confidence which was a huge set back. Speak to your educator, your visiting tutor, know how to identify burn out in yourself and your peers, prepare your support networks and don’t be scared to utilise them because once you start burning the candle at both ends, it can be difficult to get things under control. Physiotherapy is a hard degree to do, not just academically, and everyone around you knows that.
For the rest of my placements, I had to get temporary accommodation because they were even further away. I was dreading it. I envisioned myself in the same situation of exhaustion and despair but without any friends around me to talk to.
But, my days were shorter- roll out of bed, into the hospital and onto the ward within 20 minutes- early enough to have a bowl of cereal in the therapies office while building friendships with the therapy assistants (don’t underestimate them, fountains of knowledge and a real support). I had more energy, I felt more comfortable with what this placement malarkey is all about and was able to plan a systematic route up the mountain in front of me. My friends were obviously all very busy on their own placements but I found myself not needing to rely on them so much for support so the whatsapp group was a bit quieter, instead I phoned my family every day while I made dinner or walked to the shops to get my chicken nuggets (brain food). I sat down and looked in my note book and did my learning in my own way (top tip: have a notebook that fits in your pocket to write down everything in the day you think you should know but don’t want to ask (also, don’t be afraid of asking- not knowing something doesn’t mean you’re stupid, it just means you haven’t learnt it yet)). In the shower I reflected on my day. I didn’t write it, I didn’t use a model, I just remembered my day and thought it through and processed everything. When I got out of the shower, I switched it off and gave myself my own mental space, no more learning, watch something on catch up TV or go for a run, get to know others in hospital accommodation- there’s a lot of locum physios from all over the world in hospital accomodation who love students, nurses with all different specialities, on-call cardiologists, biomedical scientists, surgeons, pharmacists… The list goes on! But giving myself this time to have a guilt free cognitive break from placement was probably the single most important thing in preventing burnout.
I did get lonely and feel isolated at times while living away on placement, and I won’t pretend it was easy even with my family always on the other end of the phone, but I was able to prioritise my placement and make the most of the opportunity to learn, I was able to do extended hours shifts, see what weekend working is like and shadow and on-call shift because I was on site or very close. I even had the energy to prepare a packed lunch (much cheaper than the Marks and Spencer’s sandwiches from the hospital shop)!
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