Being able to manage myself during my previous degree was something I believed I was effective at ensuring my workload was under control, however, I found this relatively easy due to only having a couple of days in university per week and much longer breaks in order to stay on top of work. During this degree I have increase my ability to plan, prioritise and organise workload/activities through the use of a Gantt chart which demonstrates the use of resources to fulfil work requirements and commitments (1). The effectiveness of my ability to plan, prioritise and organise workload/activities was evidenced during my ability to maintain good grades during my course where I achieved an A- during my neuro viva exam (evidenced – Neuro Viva Feedback) demonstrating an ability to fulfil my workload requirements and commitments (1). This has highlighted for in order for me to be successful, it is important to effectively plan and prioritise, therefore, I shall continue to use strategies such as Gantt charts and other prioritisation systems to maintain a high level of success.

During our practical exam practices and placements, I noticed that there is not a one size fills all approach, and as a healthcare professional, I must be adaptable in relation to behaviours and actions during different situations and environments that I will inevitably be placed in during a career in healthcare (2). Adaptability can come in many forms but a key modality that I was aware of was communication. My first insight into adapting my communication was during peer coaching during our Musculoskeletal module in our first year, this highlighted to me the importance of our non-verbal communicative techniques which has been reported to equate to 55-97% of the message we deliver (3), highlighting its importance. I took it upon myself to further understand this concept and how I can adapt this idea into my own practice (evidenced – SE701: Reflective Statement), where I was able to adapt my actions in response to the demands of the situation during practical MSK assessment practice (1). I was able to look at my own practice and evaluate its effectiveness in regards to my own performance in order to continuously improve, through the realisation that the utilisation of the non-verbal communicative techniques I portray can have a large influence on my clinical caseload(1,4,5). Furthermore, the skills I had reflected upon during my SE701: Reflective Statement permitted me to transfer them into clinical practice  where I was able to be adaptable in my personal behaviours and actions in response to the demands of different situations with staff and patients alike (evidenced – Placement 3 Feedback), demonstrating my ability to implement this domain effectively (1), something that I shall continue to invest in during my career as a allied healthcare professional.

Inspiration and leadership are traits that I do not always correlate with my own personality, however, I have felt I have developed these skills in ways that are effective for clinical practice. I believe I have achieved this during my first placement where I completed a group exercise class of 10 patients with 1 rehabilitation instructor as an assistant. This was something I felt nervous about but was keen to trial this in clinical practice, I was able to effectively delegate tasks to my rehabilitation instructor in addition to leading to the participants in the group (1). My confidence grew and allowed me to develop good rapport with the people I was treating due to being able to give advice and education around pain not equalling harm (6), and adopting a biopsychosocial approach in order to tackle a range of beliefs and societal factors (7), which I believe instilled motivation and inspiration  to continue working on an exercise programme outside of the classes (evidenced – Reflection: Leadership) where I believe I was able to practice as an autonomous professional and exercising my own personal judgement on a person to person basis (5), this is something I wish to continue to grow and develop throughout my physiotherapy career and will continue to do this through exposing myself to environments and opportunities where I can lead and inspire individuals on a patient or colleague basis.

Reference List

1. Physiotherapy CS of. Chartered Society of Physiotherapy Framework [Internet]. 2013 [cited 2020 Mar 23]. Available from: http://www.csp.org.uk/professional-union/careers-development/cpd/csp-eportfolio/my-eportfolio/cpd-
2. Matheson C, Robertson HD, Elliott AM, Iversen L, Murchie P. Resilience of primary healthcare professionals working in challenging environments: A focus group study. Br J Gen Pract. 2016 Jul 1;66(648):e507–15.
3. Oliver S, Redfern SJ. Interpersonal communication between nurses and elderly patients: refinement of an observation schedule. J Adv Nurs [Internet]. 1991 Jan 1 [cited 2018 Dec 15];16(1):30–8. Available from: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/j.1365-2648.1991.tb01494.x
4. Chartered Society of Physiotherapy xx Professional Values of Members’ Code and Behaviour 2 Code of Members’ Professional Values and Behaviours [Internet]. [cited 2019 Aug 12]. Available from: https://www.csp.org.uk/system/files/csp_code_of_professional_values_behaviour_full.pdf
5. Council H and CP. Physiotherapists | The Standards of Proficiency For Physiotherapists [Internet]. 2013 [cited 2020 Mar 24]. Available from: https://www.hcpc-uk.org/standards/standards-of-proficiency/physiotherapists/
6. Smith BE, Hendrick P, Smith TO, Bateman M, Moffatt F, Rathleff MS, et al. Should exercises be painful in the management of chronic musculoskeletal pain? A systematic review and meta-analysis. Vol. 51, British Journal of Sports Medicine. BMJ Publishing Group; 2017. p. 1679–87.
7. Jones M, Edwards I, Gifford L. Masterclass Conceptual models for implementing biopsychosocial theory in clinical practice.