Tell me about studying a physiotherapy undergrad, hours, intensity etc?

bo0li5eumx12kp

I got great responses in the other thread about what an undergrad in pharmacy is gonna be like in terms of intensity, hours and commitment required.

Physiotherapy UCD claims contact hours in their 1st year is about 35 per week.
Trinity claims about 20 hours per week in 1st year.
RCSI claims a full morning 9 to 1 most days and two classes afternoon, so I guess that falls in between the two at 25 hours per week or so.

Clinical placements I assume are 9 to 5 days + travel.

Like I said in the other thread I know guys doing/have done this course and they keep busy outside of college as well and not get weighted down to heavily.

Just general overview from any graduates - naturally around exam time you're going to need to put in full time hours, 9 to 9 basically.
But in the general course of term, how did you find the intensity of the course?

Naturally I assume if you have a interest in the nervous system, muscle/skeletal function and probably physiological well being in general, the concepts are gonna come easier to you also.

bo0li5eumx12kp

Also, is it true that RCSI are the only outlet to use actual cadaver dissection to accurately train students in muscular attachments?

Out of the four outlets in Ireland - TCD, UCD, RCSI and UL?

Maybe Limerick do but, who cares?
Living in Limerick, lol - f**k that noise.
Out of the three Dublin based institutions basically?

bo0li5eumx12kp

I'd also be super interested to know when it comes to placements - Trinity, do they do the majority of their physio placements in St James hospital?
As I know they're primary physio teaching faculty is based there.
Or do they send students in equal quantities to other hospital around Dublin/the country, also?

RCSI didn't really specify if they have one primary hospital used for placements, but does mention they pay for travel and accommodation for placement, regardless of where you're based.
The other outlets specify this cost falls entirely with the students.

So - do placements tend to be random/anywhere, or specific to St James for Trinity, specific to any other hospital for any other university?


Via RCSI website:

https://www.rcsi.com/dublin/about/faculty-of-medicine-and-health-sciences/collaborations-and-partnerships/teaching-hospitals-and-clinical-sites



Beaumont seems their main placement center, pfffff.

Via Trinity website:

https://www.tcd.ie/medicine/physiotherapy/practice_education/

"The Dublin Teaching Hospitals associated with Trinity College Dublin......" - doesn't give any more information.

5 x 6 week placements in total, but mostly through St James hospital.... or elsewhere?

bo0li5eumx12kp

I mean, if it's cool with moderators - as a means to kind of clarify exactly what a physio undergrad is comprised of, I'm happy enough to carry on the conversation with myself by way of effectively logging or documenting physio practice and how one attains competency in the area.

Feel free anyone to jump in and correct me at any time.

Primary areas:
1) Musculoskeletal

2) Cardiorespiratory

3) Neurological

Physio essentially assisting by way of physical movement rehabilitation exercise in each situation.

One thing it mentioned on the Trinity website was, "physios need to have a good sense of emotional stability for this job".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtMBPbYC7us

Assisting recovery in a situation where someone's quality of life has been so devastatingly effected, I can see why that's an important message.


Thus far I've been using (as a shamen MSK therapist by way of weekend qualification), primarily approach of muscle spasm alleviation and weak muscle strengthening.

Exercise prescription is unquestionably the most effective approach, but most folk don't have time for that.
They want to just get fixed up and get back to their regular routine.

RCSI modules year 2:

Anatomy I (5 credits)
Neurousculoskeletal I (10 credits)
Physiology (5 credits)
Methods of Enquiry (2.5 credits)
Physics (2.5 credits)
Second semester

Anatomy II (5 credits)
Neuromusculoskeletal II (10 credits)
Health, Behaviour and Patient Safety (10 credits)
Professional Development I (2.5 credits)
Clinical Placement 1 (2.5 credits)

Obviously anatomy (vastly expanding on my current knowledge base presumably), physiology - nice to see physics, I'd like to think by way of understanding the fundamental wave based natural of nerve biochemical function.

And innervation of the MSK system.

bo0li5eumx12kp

RCSI 3rd year modules:

Neuroscience Anatomy (5 credits)
Neuroscience Psychology (5 credits)
Respiratory/Cardiovascular I (5 credits)
Neurology I (5 credits)
Professional Development II (5 credits)
Clinical Placement 2 (5 credits)
Second semester

Advanced Musculoskeletal (5 credits)
Clinical Placement 3 (5 credits)
Respiratory/Cardiovascular II (5 credits)
Neurology II (5 credits)
Clinical Placement 4 (5 credits)
Research Methods I (5 credits)

Big focus on neuroscience/neurology - extremely cool.

And then final year heavily weighted on clinical placement.


Trinity:

YEAR 2
Year 2 introduces the student to clinical subjects and includes the core areas of physiotherapy – cardiorespiratory care, neurology and musculoskeletal systems. These are taught at the Trinity Centre for Health Sciences, James’s Campus in large practical rooms. At the end of the 2nd year, students begin their clinical training in hospitals and other sites.

YEAR 3
Year 3 is evenly split into clinical practice and more specific subjects building on the core subjects in Year 2. These include Scientific Investigation, Paediatrics, Gerontology, Gender health, Oncology, Mental health etc.
Clinical practice covers 2 separate placements and there is the possibility of a international placement between year 3 and year 4.

Syllabus seems similar but outlined less specifically.


Primarily allusion to understanding body mechanics and function and subsequent nervous system implications kind of, like extrapolating out from base cellular function.

Looking at some of the neurological rehab cases like motor neuron and MS, clearly compromised cellular function (albeit poorly understood exactly how this manifests), devastatingly implicating mechanical function.

What goes wrong at that base cellular level, and addressing that, or kind of reverse engineering and treating mechanical function and development as a means to maintain a healthy nervous system.

I guess it's gonna work in partnership with drug therapeutics anyways but, from what I understand it's largely unheard of for physios to have any prescribing authority (though reported cases of botulinum toxin administration in cases of uncontrollable spasming and spasticity?)