Matt Donnelly – working as an Advanced Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist in an emergency department, and tips for students on clinical placements

Physio Foundations

This week I had a conversation with Advanced Musculoskeletal Physiotherapist Matt Donnelly from Monash Health in Melbourne, Australia. We talked about the role of Advanced Musculoskeletal Physiotherapists in emergency departments, how advanced practice roles help people higher quality care, and how his career and experience led him to this role. We also talked about Matt’s tips for students on clinical placements, including how to be successful and how to manage feeling nervous. This was a great conversation and I learned a lot, I hope you do too.

In this episode

0:00 About this episode

1:38 Welcome Matt

4:03 Surgical screening clinics and triage of people in emergency departments – overview of advanced practice roles

10:25 The importance of professional relationships and understanding your own limitations.

13:42 How do you ask questions well? Be proactive.

14:54 Tips for students on clinical placements from a clinical educator

16:33 Tips for students who are feeling nervous on clinical placements.

21:58 The most important foundational knowledge and skills for practitioners – find out the most important concern of your patient, how to do reflective listening, the importance of silence.

27:50 Doing a clinical master’s degree as part of a pathway to an advanced practice role

30:50 The goal of doing an entry-to-practice physiotherapy degree is to become safe and effective – it’s ok to not know everything.

36:15 Final thoughts – it’s ok to not know what you want to do for the rest of your career when you graduate. Just be safe, effective and learn from your colleagues and patients.

This is a discussion aimed at health professionals and health professional students. Always seek the guidance of a qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition.

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Always seek the guidance of a qualified health professional with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition.