Before I completed by musculoskeletal placement earlier this semester, I was in no way planning to work in private practice physiotherapy. So I was pleasantly surprised to find out how enjoyable physiotherapy in a musculoskeletal outpatient setting really was. This was because it gave you the opportunity in most cases to completely manage a patients care based on our own knowledge and clinical reasoning skills. We were still guided in our decisions by doctor's referral letters, but the final decision on the patients diagnosis and subsequent treatment was mostly up to us.
In an in-patient setting the patient, in most cases, already has a diagnosis made by the medical team and we are asked to apply our skills to complement their plans and ideas on how the patient should be treated. Now in no way do I disagree with this process, in my limited experience it seems like this way works the best. What I am trying to emphasize is the greater opportunity to clinically reason and make decisions in an outpatient or private practice setting.
I still believe the direction of my career will lead me to a hospital setting, but in this situation I really appreciated this full year of clinical placements and how it exposes to work settings that we never even considered just a year or two ago.
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I was also completely dead set on working in the public system however after a year of placement I have now become more open to the opportunities that present in private practice and the ability to specialise. I will definately consider my options in private practice when we're done.
yes i agree, the private practise environment is great for taking responsibility and problem solving yourself. I would preferrably enjoy a slightly larger practise to then ensure i had support.
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