A thousand mile journey begins with a single step...

...Or in my case, a thousand hours of fieldwork begins with a single day of fieldwork. And every day of fieldwork, is an opportunity to learn new things. Today I attempted to do my first treatment session... and had varying degrees of success throughout the session.

My first session was bed mobility and I used my observations from Monday's session to come up with the treatment plan. As every person's day begins with getting out of bed, it made the most sense to work on helping the client be able to do this (basic client information, observations and assessment findings in previous post.)

For my client (spinal cord injury), it was quite a successful session as he learnt new techniques to be able to sit up in bed so that he can be functional, even with his lack of lower limb function. This involved transferring from supine to long sitting and then transferring from long sitting to short sitting (sitting on the edge of the bed - SOEB.) The session was taken a step further by transferring from supine to side lying then to SOEB (see attached image for an idea of the session.)The client felt very happy with his session, and grateful that he learnt something new. I was immensely proud of my client as he was able to push past his pain (which he said was manageable) and tiredness (as the activity involved a lot of weight shifting) to finish the session.


For myself... it took a lot of guidance from my supervisor to make the session a success. I needed help on proper hand placement to provide support while doing the session, different ways to facilitate movement by lightly touching certain places and where and how to stand to be sure my client was safe at all times, while still helping with the actual transfer. Information overload? Yes. Feeling like you know nothing? Definitely. Successful session as a therapist? Definitely NOT.

So all in all, I felt like I did about a tenth of the actual treatment session, hence my earlier use of the words "attempted to do my first treatment session" and "varying degrees of success." 

However, mistakes are just a sign that you are trying and can only be called mistakes if you don't learn from them. So I have opted to call today's session a lesson and as it usually goes with lessons, you learn new things. So what did I learn today?

I learnt how to transfer a patient out of a wheelchair using a transfer board. This was an amazing experience as I have only ever done a 2 person transfer, which requires myself and another colleague to lift the client out of the wheelchair and onto the plinth. Using a transfer board allows the client some independence and control of his movement.

I learnt how screening a client can narrow down your assessment list quite considerably. It also allows for further planning for the next session. 

I learnt different techniques from my supervisor on how to facilitate various movements, proper hand placement for maximal support, and where and how to stand to ensure my client is safe at all times. I will put this knowledge into practice on Monday when I will continue to improve bed mobility with my client.

 I also learnt that walking into parallel walking bars can be extremely painful and I will now be sporting a wonderful bruise on my right thigh. 

I am receiving my new client on Monday and I will once again have an opportunity to screen and assess. In other words, another opportunity to come up with a treatment plan and put my new knowledge into practice. So while I am still on step 1 with teaching a client to transfer to various positions and  moving at a snail's pace in actually learning the various techniques, I am still moving, still growing and still learning.

Therefore, I am going to share a quote that got me feeling a bit better about today's "lessons:"
"If you can't fly, then run.
If you can't run, then walk.
If you can't walk, then crawl, 
but by all means, keep moving."
- Martin Luther King Jr.

So whether I flew, ran, walked or crawled, I took another step in my journey today.



References:

1. Sitting. (2019). Retrieved from https://dribbble.com/shots/4651403-Sitting

2.If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward - Martin Luther King, Jr. (2019). Retrieved from https://institutesuccess.com/library/if-you-cant-fly-then-run-if-you-cant-run-then-walk-if-you-cant-walk-then-crawl-but-whatever-you-do-you-have-to-keep-moving-forward-martin-luther-king-jr/

3.Improve Bed Mobility With This Exercise Program. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.verywellhealth.com/exercises-to-improve-bed-mobility-2696514

4. https://otblogcb.blogspot.com/2019/02/a-hard-beginning-maketh-good-ending.html

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