Interface has been funding a newly qualified physiotherapist from Mbarara University to work at Kagando hospital.

He has sent us his first report, which you can see here. September 2018 – Report from Justus at Kagando hospital

Here is an excerpt from his report:

BENEFITS OF HAVING A PHYSIO INTERN AT KAGANDO HOSPITAL.

• Reduction of workload on the physiotherapist. Kagando hospital has a very busy outpatients department on a daily basis. Similarly there are patients on wards that need physiotherapy treatment. Presence of a physiotherapy intern leads to better caseload management by sharing work at the outpatient clinic and on wards between the physiotherapist and the physiotherapist intern.
• There is proper and effective discharge planning of inpatients since there is always a physiotherapist on wards that can be consulted about rehabilitation needs of the patient. As a result, patients are discharged with better functional abilities after achievement of rehabilitation goals. Therefore, other medical professionals have learnt what physiotherapy can do to improve the quality of life of patients through reducing pain and improving functional ability at discharge. Recently the number of referrals from wards has increased and this adds on the workload of the physiotherapists. However, it is always encouraging when we get more work because of a good experience patients get at the physiotherapy department.
• Kagando hospital physiotherapy department is a good learning center that handles a variety of conditions. The department has an experienced and knowledgeable physiotherapist and other professionals including orthopedic officer, Occupational Therapist, Nurse and Orthopedic Technologist. It gives a fresh graduate an opportunity to grow professionally by work based learning and practicing under minimal supervision.

CASES SEEN

During the two months spent at the hospital, I have been able to work on a wide variety of conditions ranging from pediatric rehabilitation, neurological rehabilitation, amputee rehabilitation, orthopedic and many other conditions. I have also been privileged to work with Gloria who is my immediate supervisor and Hanna, a physiotherapist volunteer from Germany. I have been able to benefit greatly from the experience of these two physiotherapists.

I therefore worked with minimal supervision from either of them during the first few weeks and independently for most of the time except when there is need to consult. I have been able to work either in a team or individually on both outpatients and inpatients.