Always Learning
By Leanne Rees
Name: Ben Hay
Occupation: Physiotherapist
Location: Surgical Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS), Brisbane, Queensland
I caught up with Ben to hear about his experience attending the recent two-day interactive course, ‘Physiotherapy management of people with spinal cord injuries’, hosted by Royal North Shore Hospital.
How long have you been working as a physiotherapist for Ben?
I’ve been a physio for 7 years, working for about four and a half years in heart-lung transplant and cystic fibrosis, and now rehab, which includes spinal cord injury. I had a little break in the middle to test out medicine, but soon realised this wasn’t for me.
You recently attend the physio SCI course in Sydney. What was it like?
It was great. It really helped to consolidate my knowledge in spinal cord injury. Having not ever worked in a dedicated spinal cord injury rehab space, and coming into rehab later, I’ve had three years of learning and developing skills seeing patients with spinal cord injury here and there. The course made me feel a lot more confident, because it helped me realise what knowledge I did have, which was great. I also realised how much I’d learnt working with patients with other conditions, and how this translates to spinal cord injury.
Was it good to meet other physios who had an interest in spinal cord injury?
Yes, it was really nice, and it was just great to be at a course again. I haven’t been to a full professional development course sine pre Covid, so that was nice. It was great to have two days dedicated to spinal cord injury management.
What was your key learning?
The session on equipment prescription was really helpful. Things I learnt I’ve been able to bring back to our team. A lot of the physios I work with at STARS have come from services where equipment prescription is mainly done by OTs, so this is an area we have been upskilling in. This will also help other kind of patients as well.
What is it that you like about working in rehab?
I really enjoy the complexity and diversity, and the continuity you have with patients. There is always so much to learn. I also enjoy the team environment.
Thanks so much for your time Ben, and good luck in rehab world.