A typical Paeds day...

So on paediatric respiratory, like many areas of physio, our days have a specific structure. 

Our shifts start at 08:30 and finish at 18:15. We have a late shift that runs from 10:15-20:00.

At 0830 we split up and get handover, some of us will go up to the wards, check the patient list and then check with the nurses to see if anyone needs respiratory physio, and to get an update on any of our current patients. Others will go round each bed space on Paediatric intensive care (PICU) and ask about each patient to see if they need physio.

Let's pause here; for those of you who don't know physiotherapists don't just deal with bad backs! I turned up to a patient the other day who had a large volume of secretions and needed assistance clearing them, one of the parents asked me if I could assess their back whilst I was there, unfortunately I didn't have a plinth so I couldn't. But they were amazed that physiotherapy could help children clear phlegm from their lungs!

So back to the day! 

We then all meet together for handover and discuss all our patients and decide who is going to see them, this all takes about 45 minutes as we cover about 100 patients in total! 

Then we treat patients until about 12:30 which is lunch time and we aim to see all the patients once by then. After lunch we treat patients until the end of the day. We also get time for teaching and if a day is particularly quiet we get to do joint treatments with senior members of staff. 

Joint treatments are great because you can test your clinical reasoning talk it through with a senior and they can educate you in what to do better. I really enjoy working with them because they are all so knowledgable and all love sharing their knowledge. 

Our days can range from being really busy (7 patients each) to quite quiet (3-4 patients each +doubles) both days are great because you learn a lot on both types of days and they keep you on your toes. 

I have been here for approximately 2 months now and I can safely say that if I was to stay here for 20 years I would never stop learning! 

 I treated a patient today, they were very excited for physio and I spent about 5 minutes pushing them around the ward in a toy wooden cart, they were laughing a lot.....but it made them cough, treatment successful. 

Liam