Today was my last day on placement in Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka. Now that I am at the end I can’t believe how quickly the time has gone! I have enjoyed the experiences and opportunities I have had out here. From tropical conditions, to operation theatres, ICU’s, the various wards and the physiotherapy department Read more
Had a lovely weekend exploring more of Sri Lanka. The girls and I headed to Trincomalee, to the beach and to explore the town. It was lovely to have a chill after an exhausting week on placement. For the last 2 days I have been based in the paediatric gym in the Physiotherapy department. Assessing Read more
Since I have been in Sri Lanka I have tried numerous curries, Sri Lankan style street food and traditional snacks. I do love a good curry and I have a little bit of a chilli obsession, so lots of the food has been amazing! Twice a week we have Sri Lankan cooking lessons to try Read more
Yesterday morning I was allowed to go to theatre to watch some surgeries. A lot of the doctors were on strike so only emergency surgeries were being carried out, no routine. On arrival I had to change into green scrubs, plastic white shoes, a hairnet and face mask. (As a physio student I never get Read more
So today I went and shadowed in the OT department. There are only two OT’s who work in Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital, who are both male, a bit different from the female dominated profession at home. In the morning I stayed in the department in one of the clinics the one OT holds. I saw a Read more
Today I got the chance to go to some of the surgical wards in the hospital. We saw some patients for chest physio and some for mobilisation and rehab. One gentleman we saw had rib fractures and a neck brace following a road traffic accident. Due to the rib fractures manual techniques are contraindicated so to Read more
So this weekend we had to head down to Columbo, Sri Lanka’s capital, to get our visa’s extended. After a 5 hour journey we finally arrived at the immigration office, a 3 hour wait and our visa’s were sorted and off we headed to Negombo to see if we could go to the beach and Read more
Since we arrived the girls and me have been waiting for a evening to go to Mihintale, a small mountain peak 10km outside of Anuradhapura. This evening finally it was still sunny when placement finished so we rushed back to change and grab a tuktuk there. We climbed the 1840 steps to the top view point and Read more
It is so easy to come to a different country and be critical of the way they do things compared to home but embracing what you can and sharing knowledge can make it so much more fun. My second week has begun in Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital, Sri Lanka, I have experienced more patients with a Read more
To make the most of my time in this beautiful country the girls and me decided to go on a weekend day trip. We left the house at 7am and took a minibus to Dambulla, driving through rural Sri Lanka, with a few spots of rain along the way. We arrived in Dambulla an walked Read more
Today I was given the opportunity to shadow one of the Physiotherapist’s on his ward round. The Wards: All the nurses wear traditional uniform, they look like they are from the 1900s: Black and white stripped dresses, long white pinafores, white hats and long white socks with white shoes. The males wear white trousers and Read more
My second day on outpatients in Anuradhapura teaching hospital, Sri Lanka. Today allowed to assess and treat my own patients, with help here and there for translation: I had 3 orthopaedic cases and 2 chests. I carried out my own assessments and treatments, made treatment plans and gave the patients exercises to complete at home and then Read more
Yesterday evening we had a Sinhalese language lesson, where we learnt some basics including greetings, how to say our age, where we live and basic body parts. The Sinhalese language has a whole other alphabet so our teacher broke down how to say the words in syllables. Sri Lanka only gained independence from Britain in 1948 Read more
So today was my first day on placement. Our program manger walked with us to the hospital and showed us where to sign in each day, we then headed over to the superintendents office. He gave us a presentation about the hospital and expectations. In Sri Lanka healthcare is free and provided by the Government Read more
Today in Sri Lanka is a public holiday for to the full moon. Everyone celebrates by wearing white and going to worship at the temples and places of Budda. Everyone in Sri Lanka is very friendly, coming up and saying hello in the streets and wanting to know where you are from and trying to help Read more
I left my house at 6:45 on Saturday morning and caught a coach to Heathrow airport, after an 11 hour flight I arrived in Colombo. As I walked out of the airport the humidity hit me, even at 5:30 in the morning!I waited in a nearby hotel for 3 other girls to arrive then we set Read more
Hello, My name is Maisy Provan I am a third year Physiotherapy student studying at Cardiff University. This is the beginning of my diary / blog of my time away in Sri Lanka completing a placement as part of my Physiotherapy degree. This is also the first time I will have ever attempted or even written a blog Read more
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