Key features
What you study:
Year 1: Knowledge of anatomy, physiology, and pathology and professional skills will be integrated with key physiotherapy assessment and treatment skills leading up to you undertaking the first clinical placement at the end of year one.
Year 2: This year furthers physiotherapy assessment and treatment skills with a wider array of people including neurology, musculoskeletal and respiratory conditions, across a wider range of healthcare settings. You will explore the interrelationships between physical, psychological, and social aspects of rehabilitation and how these can be managed to optimise recovery. Two further clinical placements are undertaken to reinforce these skills and link theory to practice. Evaluation of personal, professional and academic development is promoted within this year and its relationship with deliverance of high quality healthcare.
Year 3: Acute management of acutely ill patients is developed further, alongside exploration of human performance and the promotion of physical fitness and activity. You are then challenged to apply this knowledge to more complex difficult patient presentations. The use of research to support and underpin practice is developed further encouraging development of clinical reasoning skills. A further two clinical placements are undertaken, one of which you organise yourself.
Year 4: The emphasis in year 4 is on evaluation and the research skills necessary for qualified physiotherapists in conjunction with understanding key issues relating to policy and interdisciplinary team working. Advance practice is explored aiming to further develop physiotherapy skills and underpin their use with scientific evidence. Two final clinical placements allow development and refinement of professional skills.
How you learn:
There are a wide variety of different teaching methods across the BSc programme. Owing to the skills required by a physiotherapist and the diversity of patients we see, we commonly adopt a problem-based learning approach whereby students learn about a subject in the context of complex, multifaceted, and realistic problems. Working in groups, students identify what they already know, what they need to know, and how and where to access new information that may lead to resolution of the problem. Teaching staff then explore these issues further and relate them to real-life scenarios, and where appropriate, these sessions are followed up by skill-based practical sessions to develop and consolidate an appropriate skill-base. There is a strong emphasis on inter- professional education and health improvement threaded throughout the programme; therefore teaching is delivered in small groups, and some modules are shared with other healthcare professional groups so to broaden your appreciation of their role in patient management. There are also additional learning opportunities within the course such as CPD modules, working with volunteer patients, running the elderly and traumatic brain injury exercise classes and volunteering in the physio clinic. The volunteer patients and our simulation dummies are utilised across the 4 years which allow students to practice their skills in preparation for the clinical environment. Seven clinical placements spread throughout the 4 years of study allow students to come into the university to learn new theory and practical skills which they can then apply on placement.
How you are assessed:
We use a variety of methods for assessment so there should be something to suit everyone. Practical examinations allow us to assess your ability to perform assessment and treatment skills. We also have written assessments, short answer exams and online multiple choice examinations. In addition a there are oral presentations and poster presentations. There are also formative assessments in each year of study which allow students to get feedback on their performance within a module and can help guide their approach to study. We also encourage peer review within certain modules so that you not only gain feedback from the lecturers but also from your peers. Following assessments students are given either written or audio feedback which highlights areas which were done well, but also areas which need to be developed so that students can take this feedback forward to aid performance in future assessments. This support through our personal tutoring system aims to maximise each students potential during the course. Clinical placements are also assessed at all levels and graded in year 4. You are assessed by both your clinical educator and by a lecturer from the university who comes and visits you during the placement.