Sivuse Khethukuthula Mathenjwa

• Patients clinical assessment, treatment and issuing of assistive devices
• Multi disciplinary team ward rounds
• Health Education and Health Promotion
• Home Visits
• District and Cluster meetings

This seven weeks experience helped sharpen my skills in assessing subjectively and objectively then coming up with hypothesis and importantly accurately diagnosing and managing vast neuromusculoskeletal condions.

Rehabilitating patients through pain management, use of electrotherapy modalities, manual techniques, exercise prescription, education and lifestyle adaptation in a patient specific approach.

• Developed strong communication skills through interactions with diverse patient populations, including individuals with language barriers or cognitive impairments.
• Educated community members on the benefits of physiotherapy through participation in health fairs, workshops, and presentations.
• Implemented health promotion and community based rehabilitation through the Batho Pele principles and the HAMSOC model while taking into account the social deteerminants of health in the rural community

This five week experience was speficically designed to help improve students application of knowledge for cardiopulmonary physiotherapy in an Intensive Care Unit. This experience helped sharpen my connection of information when assessing a patient from considering their past medical history, present presentation, investigations done such as x rays, blood chemistry, arterial blood gases, and manual objective assessments. The improvisation of treatment when taking into account the type of mechanical ventilation and settings, and contra indications was vital when treating ICU patients where you acquire the actual skill of weaning off and suctioning to improve patients respiratory function and step down to high care and into normallife.

This five week experience as a fourth year physiotherapy student was to help polish my skills on assesssing and treating different paediatric neurological conditions. This is a mother and child hospital where I dealt with alot of neonatal and postnatal cases gaining valuable experience in after birth complications for both mother and child and emphasising the idea of early childhood intervention to prevent life long disability for paediatrics. I dealt with alot of cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, Gullian Barre Syndrome, Hypoxic- Ischemic Encephalopathy, dystonia and other conditions.

• Improved patient mobility by developing and implementing individualized treatment plans.
• I focused on evaluating patient progress by conducting regular assessments and adjusting treatment plans accordingly.
• Expedited post-surgical rehabilitation timelines by working closely with surgeons to develop tailored treatment protocols for each case scenario.
• This five weeks experience was mainly focused on orthopaedic physiotherapy in a inpatient setting
• Prevented further injuries for athletes using evidence-based injury prevention techniques such as neuromuscular training programs and balance exercises.
• Provided compassionate care for geriatric patients focusing on fall prevention strategies, gait training, joint mobilizations, and strengthening exercises.
• Observed patient tolerance and status during treatment to modify treatment program if necessary.
• Educated patients on proper body mechanics and injury prevention to avoid risk of re-injury.
• Extended post-operative rehabilitation to improve surgical outcomes and recovery.

This was a five weeks block specifically designed to improve our skills in advocating for health through Health education, health promotion, home visits, and community based rehabilitation. It also helped bring further awareness to our ethical side of health.

• Developed strong communication skills through interactions with diverse patient populations, including individuals with language barriers or cognitive impairments.
• Educated community members on the benefits of physiotherapy through participation in health fairs, workshops, and presentations.
• Contributed to clinic efficiency by maintaining accurate documentation of patient treatments and progress notes.
• Promoted a positive therapeutic environment by establishing rapport with patients and their families.

This 5-week experience was mainly focused on improving my skills as a cardiopulmonary physiotherapist, where I worked in surgical wards and in high care to assess and manage any respiratory conditions, with an emphasis on the holistic approach, where a patient is managed by taking into account their respiratory condition, other chronic conditions, and musculoskeletal state, setting short-term, intermediate, and long-term goals to regain the highest level of function possible.

It was my first time experiencing clinical or practical work so it was a reality check. An out patient setting but the five week duration was mainly focused on improving myu subjective and objective assessment for patients with neurological conditions, mainly CVA.