I have just arrived home after completing my four week international placement in Kota Kinabulu, Borneo. I was allocated to NASAM (National Stroke Association of Malaysia), a non-profitable stroke rehabilitation centre in Sabah. The centre comprised of a small room with two plinths, a kitchen and a verandah with exercise equipment that had been donated by local hotels (treadmill, stepper, stationary bike etc).
Approximately 30 stroke patients attended the centre. Ages varied from 39-80+ with equal number of males and females. The amount of time post-stroke varied from 6months to eight years. The centre was run by volunteer qualified physiotherapists and other non-qualified volunteers. The patients received a two hour exercise class per day.
During the 4 weeks, both myself and another student ran the exercise classes as well as conducted one-one physio treatment sessions. The one-one sessions were most beneficial however they were quite a challenge! Some patients spoke Manderin, others Malay, some Haka, some Hokkein and very few spoke broke english. Trying to come up with ways to communicate to a patient with out using language is a very challenging experience and sometimes quite humerous.
I now know the facial expression for "I have no idea what you are saying" is and even when a patient smiles and nods, I learnt to understand that the patient really did not have a clue what I was trying to explain. I found visual demonstration, pictures, tactile cues and sing language where the best ways to convey my message. The patients where wonderful and so willing to learn that it was not stressfull at any time.
I now know how to count in Malay, Mandarin and Haka and have some idea of a few Malay words! It was a fantastic learning experience.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
It sounds very interesting and rewarding. Good work for going somewhere different. Im sure it provided lots of challenges and sounds like a very fulfilling prac.
Kind of now what that feels like. I spent almost three years growing up in singapore, although the national language there is in fact english, there were many other languages that you had to contend with whilst growing up.
Sounds like you had a fun and interesting prac and with the stratigies that you were able to incorporate, your patient's were able to gain added benefit from your treatment sessions.
How very intresting! I grew up in a multi racial country.. Singapore and have to agree that even thou english is the national language when i was on my prac in singapore i was sometimes wishing i knew another language so as to communicate and relate better to my pts.
You certainly sound like you had some intresting encounters and handled them well!
Post a Comment