Clinic Day 2

Sleep has been an issue so far this trip. After a few hours of restless sleep I actually drank a cup of coffee with breakfast (I do not drink coffee so I knew I was tired).

Emily and I headed to clinic while the students stayed back for the day. The clinic was back to normal and we got going right out of the gait.  In mentorship today my first mentee, Denis, was able to treat two patients. He is an experienced therapist of 8 years who decided to do the residency to improve his manual skills. Most of the therapists work in a hospital setting but this therapist does home visits. It was cool to see that there are other options for income and employment. Denis did great for his first patient really going through a sound examination. The patients symptoms were in the low back region and he had to determine lumbar vs SIJ involvement. Using special tests and palpation we were able to determine the driver of the patients symptoms. Being systematic with assess, treat, and reassess, the therapist was able to gain a stronger understanding of this clinical pattern.

The second student was having her first ever mentorship experience so our emphasis was gaining confidence with patient interaction, working on gainaing a flow for an evaluation, and trying to use assessment to find impairments.  The challenge for this patient was that she had two areas of pain without a clear connection between them. Being the first time treating a patient it was a challenge for the therapist to keep on track.  She was able to get through the whole exam and I think she will learn from this but was not optimal for a first session.  I hope that we can have another session over these two weeks.

After clinic Emily and I had a late lunch with Martin who is one of the mentors in country. Martin has a passion for growth in the profession and improving quality care in Kenya. It was inspiring to see his passion and emphasis on continuing education and clinical reasoning.  I am excited to build a friendship and have more discussion as we have very similar beliefs about thought process and the future of physiotherapy globally.

Day 3 to come!