On placement a few weeks ago, I was assisting one of the physiotherapists with a post-op stand. As the patient was in a two patient room, and the other patient was being stood at the same time, we had to move the bed first. After the bed was moved, the brakes were reapplied, and the patient was stood up without incident. After the session was over and the patient was back in bed, I was dismissed from the room. The physiotherapist remained in the room to talk to the patient and reposition the bed and told me that I could head off to find my supervisor as I was no longer needed.
Later in the day, I was at the nurse’s station reading some notes with the same physio, and we were approached by a nurse who was looking after the patient that we had seen that morning. After the session had finished and the other physio had left to see other patients, the morning tea trolley had done the rounds and the nurse helped to pass the tea to the patient. However, in doing so she leant on the bed, and it rolled. After the bed had been moved back to its original position, the brakes had not been reapplied. I had been dismissed from the room before this could happen, and I assumed that the physio was going to finish up and set the room as it had been before we came in. This had apparently not happened. Luckily nothing was spilt on the patient. The nurse firmly told us that this was not good enough, which was fair enough, but the physio let her believe that it was my fault. I understand that as students we are there to learn, but to be blamed for another’s mistakes is not very good professional practice.
As students, safety is drilled into us at all times. Whenever I start and finish my treatments I ensure that brakes are on, and that all aspects of treatment will be safe. In this case, I was simply assisting and the physio was running the session. This experience demonstrated to me the importance of diligence in terms of safety, and I believe that as students we need to double check things to ensure incidents like this do not reflect badly on us and put patients in unnecessary danger.
1 comment:
You might like to consider what the physiotherapist was wanting to achieve by not making whose fault it was clear? Similarly you might want to think on why the physiotherapist might choose (to by implication) to allow the blame to fall on you?
It's worth reflecting on. If you haven't done so already you might also at the end of the practicum (once there is no fall back on you) like to ask the supervisor why (if you can do it in a non threatening fashion)they by implication let you take the blame.
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