Final Entry - Women's Health

FINAL ENTRY

I enjoyed my placement at Fremantle/Kaleeya in the Women’s Health area, however a lot of my thoughts prior to going on the placement were not entirely correct. I had expected to do a lot of observing (which I did, especially in the continence area) but I did get to treat my own patients too. I did not expect the role to be so much about education, but I quickly learnt that it is a very important skill in this area. Rather than the typical “hands-on” approach I am used to, my role was primarily educating the patients (such as the new mum’s at Kaleeya).

There was so much information I had not learnt at uni, so it was an amazing learning experience. I was expected to be able to conduct the subjective questioning, even if I could not do the treatment or develop a plan. I had expected this and was comfortable using the assessment forms. My favourite aspect of this prac was running a variety of group classes. These included ante-natal education classes and post-natal exercises classes.

I found it difficult having 5 different supervisors, who sometimes gave me different feedback but it was also great to see so many areas of Women’s Health. I had not expected to spend so much time in the maternity ward, however I also spent time in outpatients and the community setting.

This prac has taught me the importance of treating each patient as an individual, even if it seems that they all have the same “problem”. For example, in educating the women who have just given birth the information needs to be tailored specifically to them and delivered in the best way for them to understand it. You cannot educate every woman the same way, it is important to find the best way to get them the information.