Not so long ago we put up a post explaining that there’s only so much they teach you at Physio School read more here

Like many professions, new physios come out pretty green and then have to make their own way in their chosen profession.  As a general rule we employ staff with at least two years post-graduate experience, occasionally a little bit less and often significantly more.  In each case we shape and mould the staff through our own expectations of how we would like our patients and clients to be treated and also by listening to and working with our staff to help them achieve their own professional goals.

Some physios wish to become a specialist in treating a particular body area – the shoulder, neck or pelvis for example; others choose to focus on the disorders and conditions evident during a particular stage of life – paediatric physio, the pregnant or post-partum mum, adolescents and the elderly; others still focus upon industry – occupational physio or a particular sport – football, cycling, tennis or golf; some physios love the diversity of treating everything and anything that comes through our doors – this is one of the beauties of being located in regional and rural centres, our staff see far more variety in working with us than they would in the big smoke with it’s plethora of specialist and lastly we have staff who aren’t really sure where they want to end up so use their time with us to try out a variety of approaches.

The consistent theme in each of these cases is that we work with our staff to help in this journey through their profession.  We start on day one by setting goals with our physios and establishing time frames and methods for reviewing these goals to help our staff become the professionals they wish to be.

We arrange for our physios to visit the underground and open-cut mines or factories and construction sites of our corporate clients in order for them to gain a greater understanding of the demands, environment and language of the patients they will treat.

Our staff undertake weekly peer-led professional development where they have an opportunity to problem solve difficult cases; this is reinforced by regular staff development days where we provide further support and training.  Each of our physios receive a generous yearly allowance to spend on attending courses to further their clinical knowledge – to date we have had staff attend specialist-run courses on treating the shoulder, the neck, the pelvis, the viscera and the cranial-sacral complex; they’ve learnt dry-needling, acupuncture, Pilates and treatment of the pelvic floor; they’ve attended strength and conditioning courses; mobilisation of the neural system and techniques to move and mobilise joints and associated tissues.

The best part of it all is that we ask them to pass it on – staff returning from such a course brief and train their colleagues on what they have learned – and pass it on again when they use their new-found knowledge with you, our patients.