Important Lessons

On my cardiopulmonary placement, I had an Indigenous woman, who had been re-admitted multiple times for exacerbations of bronchiectasis. I was allocated this patient, and prior to going to treat this patient for the first time, my Supervisor warned me that she would be difficult, and to not take offence to comments that she may make.
By the end of the placement, this patient was one of the most enjoyable patients that I treated. At first, this patient was quite abrupt, and not interested in Physiotherapy. However, I would not leave until my patient had her treatment, and eventually, she would realise the importance of clearing her secretions, and assist me with this.
A key point I want to make is how important it is, I feel, to persist with patients, and not to give up, especially if you have recieved pre-concieved ideas about how they will behave.
Before I treated this patient every day, I would often just chat, and the patient's compliance with Physio improved dramatically.
With Indigenous Australians, family, and home is extremely important to them, and we would talk about this often, and relate it back to treatment and the importance of self-management.
The key lessons I learnt fron this patient was the importance of persistence, and communication with all patients. The importance of family, and home to all patients. The need to be tolerant and understanding of the differences between cultures to enable effective treatment.