Mike Stewart posted an interesting picture (link) on his Facebook feed a couple of days ago (thanks to Paul Lagerman - The Naked Physio - for the link, and Mike for posting). Participants on Mike's course were asked to respond to the prompt; "If I designed a healthcare course for students, the first 3 lessons would be...' The responses proved interesting. https://www.facebook.com/100008119901926/posts/2199382033675772/ My suspicion is that if you asked any experienced physiotherapist, they are likely to say something similar. In fact, the evidence suggests that most employers, practitioners, and consumers want their clinicians to have good communications skills, be empathic, … [Read more...] about What is at the heart of physiotherapy?
Closed boxes
This blogpost was first published by Dave Nicholls on 26 July 2011 via www.crticalphysio.me. Since 2007 I've been involved in a comprehensive curriculum review project. We've delivered the first year of the programme once now and this year (2011) we've moved on to year 2. Naturally, we're arrived at the point where we need to think about some of the minutiae of what is being taught. Some of the staff in our team are concerned that some of the content of the old curriculum could have been lost or postponed in the move to the new curriculum; leaving us with an excessively heavy third year or worse still, a curriculum that doesn't 'train' physiotherapists fit-for-practice. So, on the … [Read more...] about Closed boxes
Physiotherapy needs more than just a radical curriculum
A few days ago, I blogged about the new graduating competencies that will begin to be used in Australia and New Zealand in the the next few years (click here to read this post.) To me, they represent the kind of radical (critical) thinking that is so desperately needed in the physiotherapy profession. As I mentioned in the blogpost, the new competencies are drawn - almost verbatim - from the CanMED system which has been operating in Canada since 2000. The CanMED system was based on public consultations that took place as far back as the 1980s in Ontario (see Nuefeld et al, 1998) which pointed to the fact that 'scientific knowledge has brought large benefits to patients in clinical … [Read more...] about Physiotherapy needs more than just a radical curriculum
Thinking about silence
This is a general call out to anyone who reads this blog who might be interested in looking further into the therapeutic and educational possibilities of silence. I'm interested in the idea of silence as a way to stimulate thought and practice in the way that Erin Manning talks about the thousand possibilities that exist for dancers before they finally resolve into this movement or that (Manning, 2007). I'm also interested in its deliberate use as a postmodern strategy designed to leave problems unresolved as a way to keep open the possibility of thinking otherwise or a thousand alternative 'lines of flight' (Deleuze & Guattari, 1987). And as an educational strategy akin to Jacques … [Read more...] about Thinking about silence
Tone Dahl-Michelsen’s interview in Norwegian
Please refer to the earlier posting to access links to Tone's article. Hvordan ble du interessert i spørsmål om kjønn i fysioterapeututdanning? Min interesse for spørsmål om kjønn i fysioterapeututdanning startet i min egen studietid i 1992-1995. Fra første dag på fysioterapeututdanningen så var kroppen hovedsakelig fokusert som en generalisert, anatomisk og biomekanisk kropp. Jeg husker at i første time med ferdighetstrening så sa læreren at «upassende oppførsel» ikke skulle forekomme. På denne tiden var jeg ikke klar over hvordan dette dreide seg om kjønn. Jeg tror at min interesse for betydningen av kjønn i fysioterapeututdanning ble trigget gjennom det paradokset jeg erfarte ved at … [Read more...] about Tone Dahl-Michelsen’s interview in Norwegian