Physiotherapy
We might get started with the first information session for the Physiotherapy Program. Thank you all for coming out so early on a Sunday morning. You’re in fact the smart ones because the later sessions get very, very full. In fact, we end up turning people away at the later sessions so this is certainly the one to come to.
This information session is to advise you on the Bachelor of Health Sciences and Master of Physiotherapy Practice, double degree, which is a new program being offered for the first time in 2009. My name is Dr. Megan Davidson; I’m the head of School of Physiotherapy.
I guess the first thing to establish, for people who are interested in becoming a physiotherapist is what kind of work do physiotherapists do? And I guess these pictures show you the most widely known role of physios which is working with high profile athletes. You can see Emma Snowsill there who won a gold medal at Beijing recently. One of our members of staff, Mark Alexander, is the physiotherapist to the Australian Triathlon Team. You can see Alex Kountouris there working with a member of the Australian Cricket Team. Alex has also been a member of our staff.
So, there are some very high profile roles for Physiotherapy in the world of elite sports. Likewise in elite Paralympic sports there are a lot of physiotherapists going to Beijing with the Paralympics teams. But in fact the bulk of physiotherapy work is not so high profile. It doesn’t involve jetting around the world. It involves working with people with a range of physical problems. And the name “physiotherapist” actually comes from “physical” and in some parts of the world the profession is called “physical therapy” rather than physiotherapy.
So physiotherapists work with people from small children through to elderly people, people who have all sorts of health conditions requiring rehabilitation. A lot of Physiotherapy work is in rehabilitation because obviously this is where the schools of the physiotherapist are most needed. In assisting people who’ve had injuries, other physical injuries such as motor vehicle accidents or neurological injuries such as stroke or cardiovascular events, heart attacks and the like.
So physiotherapists are mainly involved in assisting people who’ve had orthopaedic, neurological or cardiovascular events to regain optimum movement and function. So these pictures really just show you physiotherapists at work.
A little known role of physiotherapists is in the area of Women’s Health. There are Women’s Health Physiotherapists. There are Paediatric Physiotherapists who work mainly with children. There are Cardio Respiratory Physiotherapists who work with people in the intensive care units of hospitals, who work with people with chronic respiratory diseases. And an emerging area of practice is Animal Physiotherapy although this is not something we cover in the entry level programs but it is something that is a growing field, and animal physiotherapists work largely with horses and dogs I guess are common clients of the animal physiotherapists. There is actually a Master of Physiotherapy/Animal Physiotherapy that you can do in Queensland but that’s after you’ve got your basic degree.
So if you’re interested in becoming a physiotherapist, let me tell you about the various pathways there are for you for getting into a Physiotherapy Program which you probably already know is quite difficult to get a place in the Physiotherapy Program. And that’s because of a very large number of people who want to do these programs but a limited number of places available. And that’s one of the reasons that we’ve designed this new double degree sequence is to offer people much more flexible entry and exit pathways.
So in 2009, people who are offered a place in the physiotherapy stream, the Bachelor of Health Sciences and Master of Physiotherapy Practice will come into a common first year in 2009. And that means that they will do the same set of units in their first year as other students in all of the other disciplines across the faculty.
At the end of first year, people will have the opportunity to apply to transfer between programs. Now, it’s very hard to be sure about what it is you want to do. Maybe you know you want to do something in health but you’re not quite sure what. The common first year gives you a year to have a look at the different health professions and decide if what you’re enrolled in is the thing that is really right for you. And if you decide you like to look at something better, you can apply at the end of the common first year to transfer to another program. And if you’re successful, then you go into the second year of that program because you’ve already done first year.
So in the past, people used to do this; enrol in something and then by the end of first year they think, “Oh, I don’t think I really want to do this. I think I’d rather transfer to that other course.” And they would apply for a transfer and be accepted but they’d have to start again at the beginning of first year. So this means that students can change their mind. They can transfer but they don’t lose a year. They go into the second year.
Now, obviously, the ability to transfer depends on the number of places that are available and how well the person who wants to transfer has done, because it will be selection on an academic merit basis.
In second and third year, students are in their discipline streams and there’s another jumping point here. Sometimes we get students who get to second year and even into third year and think, “I really don’t think this program is for me. I think I’d like to go and do something else as a graduate entry.” So they can finish at the end of third year and leave with a Bachelor of Health Sciences. Now, this is not a degree that allows people to practice in the discipline, they cannot register, they cannot practice. What it means they can go and seek entry into a graduate entry program in another discipline.
Previously, if people left the program any time short of the full four years, they left with pretty much nothing. This way people can change their minds and still leave with completed stream of a bachelor’s degree.
We also have a graduate entry point ourselves here so that people who have done a three-year relevant degree in something else can apply to enter the Physiotherapy Masters program at the beginning of the third year of the sequence. And then at the end of fourth year is when people get the qualifying part of the degree which is the Master of Physiotherapy Practice or whichever discipline they’ve enrolled in at La Trobe. And that is the degree that allows them to register and practice as a physiotherapist.
This is a new model. I hope it doesn’t look too complex to you. We have tried to design a model that gives the greatest flexibility. It still allows people to gain their professional qualification in four years rather than going to a graduate entry only program. But it gives this extra flexibility of where you can enter and exit the system. There will also be an Honours Program that will sit on top of the fourth year and probably run into a fifth year.
So at La Trobe we are the largest trainer of health professions in Victoria. These are all of the different health professional groups that are represented here at La Trobe today, and I’d encourage you to go and have a look across the various health professions to see what avenue of healthcare you would like to most be involved in.
The ones in purple are the professions here that are in this double degree model program. So you can transfer at the end of first year or rather you can apply for a transfer between any of these purple professions – Occupational Therapy, Health Information Management, Speech Therapy, Physiotherapy, Podiatry, Prosthetics and Orthotics, and Orthoptics, otherwise known as Clinical Vision Sciences.
But you can also – you can see up here there’s also a generic Bachelor of Health Sciences. Now that’s a three-year degree. And those students will also be taking the common first year. So you can also enrol in that Bachelor of Health Sciences and apply for transfers at the end of first year.
So that’s a very nice option to put down. If you’re not sure about what your enter might be, you can apply for the Bachelor of Health Sciences and then at the end of the common first year apply for a transfer to another discipline. And if you’re not successful in a transfer, it’s still a terrific degree to have. And you then have the option of applying for a graduate entry pathway into one of the disciplines.
Here are the subjects that students in the common first year will be undertaking. So these are the students from across the faculty in the double degree sequence. In the first semester, students will be studying human biosciences, that means anatomy and physiology. Interprofessional practice which means learning to work with people from all of the disciplines across the healthcare team. And learning what all of the different health professions bring to their role of healthcare.
Perspectives of health and well being are a background both historically and epidemiologically about health and healthcare. And individual determents of health and well being explore the individual characteristics that impact on wellness and how we behave when we’re not well.
In the second semester, there’s more physiology and anatomy as you’d expect. There’s more interprofessional practice. There’s a unit about the social determinants of health and well being because obviously health is very much imbedded in a social context. And there’s also the option of doing an elective unit which means you choose something that you would like to do from anywhere in the University. So that’s the common first year.
In the new programs we’re using something called “inquiry-based learning” as our learning approach. This means that students engage in small groups, in a range of interesting and engaging learning activities that use authentic scenarios and clinical cases. So the knowledge that students are acquiring is very contextualized right from the beginning.
Common first year students will begin to develop a range of skills that we know are important to future employers. And these include the ability to work as a member of an interprofessional team. The ability to undertake critical inquiry and research, a knowledge of evidence based practice. And importantly, communication and information technology skills.
As I’ve already mentioned, at the end of the common first year, students can apply to transfer into the second year of another double degree program but that obviously will depend on supply and demand just as entry into the programs at first year. Selection is based on academic merit, so just because people apply doesn’t mean you necessarily get a place. And doesn’t mean you get to transfer. But if people work hard in the common first year and get good grades then obviously they have a good chance.
The common first year, in its design, has really considered the lifestyle and needs of students. So that at least in first year, students should be able to pursue a range of co-curricular – meaning outside of your formal studies – activities and part time employment. We understand that students often need to work part time to support themselves.
The entry types into the Physiotherapy Program, we split the entry, the places between VCE and tertiary transfer. VCE, students coming straight from Year 12, about 70% of our intake are these students. The other 30% are tertiary transfer students. This just means that these are people who have done at least one full year of a bachelor’s degree. We also have a Special Entry Access Scheme but these places are generally around one or two a year.
Here’s a graph that shows you the demand for physiotherapy places in Victoria. On the left, these are the Bendigo applications for this year’s intake. Here is La Trobe Bundoora. Here is the University of Melbourne and the University of Monash so these are all of the physio programs that are available in Victoria.
The blue, purplish colour are the number of first preferences. The burgundy color is second preferences and the yellow bar is the total preferences. So that you can see in fact that the La Trobe Bundoora program has the highest number of applicants of all of the programs in Victoria. Our La Trobe Bendigo program is a small rural program and I’ll say more of that shortly.
So you can see that the number of first preferences for the La Trobe Bundoora program for this year was 400, yet we only had 100 places. So it’s about a four to one ratio of people who are applying as their first preference and who actually get a place. So the high cut-offs for enters is a reflection of the high demand for places.
There are a couple of notable changes for next year that will impact on ENTER scores. One of these is that we’re reducing the number of places in the program at Bundoora and we’re increasing the number of places in the program at Bendigo. So there will be 80 places in the Bundoora program and there will be 40 places in the Bendigo program.
Now that may have an impact on ENTERs and we can’t predict that but the ENTER scores for this year at Bundoora we re 95.05 and at Bendigo were 93.75. For people who are tertiary transfers, the score is GPA, which is a grade point average. And Bundoora was 6.21 and at Bendigo it was 6. So these high cut-off scores simply reflect the very large numbers of people who are applying for these places.
If you’re interested in the Bendigo program I just have to point out there’s a mistake in our guide because currently in the past our Bendigo students have done years one and two here in Bundoora and years three and four in Bendigo. From next year, our Bendigo students will be doing years one, three and four at Bendigo. The reason they still need to come down to Melbourne to do year two is that we haven’t yet developed the anatomy facilities that we need at Bendigo for all four years to be offered at Bendigo.
If you’ve done an international baccalaureate, VTAC will transform your scores into an ENTER score.
There was also a mistake at VTAC. They completely left out our Bendigo program from the hard copy of the VTAC guide but be assured it is being offered. And in fact, it’s got more places than ever. It is in the online version of the VTAC guide. And the code, if you’re interested, is HZHSPB. You can find that online and on our website as well.
OK, prerequisites. This is what you must have to even be in the running to be considered for a place in the physio program. You need English with a score of at least 25, that’s your raw score. You need at least two of biology, chemistry, Phys Ed, physics or any math, and also at least 25.
That doesn’t mean to say that if you’ve got 25 or better you’ll get a place because obviously the demand means that – in fact the cut-off scores are usually much higher than that. But you need a minimum of that to meet the prerequisites to even get on the list.
Middle band selection, this is a bit of a strange concept. This means when we get down to considering the last places, and there’s a little bit of re-ranking necessary of people to be allocated the last few places in the program. There are a whole range of things that move people up the ranking. In the Equity and Access categories, there are 10. Please refer to the VTAC guide. I’m not going to bore you going through all of those categories here.
We have a La Trobe University Regional Bonus Scheme so that students who are applying for the Bendigo program and who have been to the relevant regional schools for their VCE year will get a bonus. OK, if you’re from Bendigo but you’ve been to a city school you do not get that bonus. And the bonus doesn’t apply to tertiary transfer applicants. So if you’ve already done a year at university, we will look at your grade point average. You don’t get a bonus even though you did you’re VCE maybe at Bendigo.
We also give a bonus for relevant paid employment. Relevant paid employment means that you’ve done at least six months of full time equivalent work. We don’t assess volunteer experience. By relevant we mean something in the health sector. Most commonly, it will be allied health or physio assistant work.
If you want to apply for this bonus then there’s a supplementary entry form you need to get. You need to submit that to the division of allied health here at La Trobe not to VTAC. So if you want that paid work bonus you need to submit that directly here to us.
If you’re a tertiary transfer applicant that means you’ve done at least one year full time load in at least a bachelor’s degree. We do not look at diploma courses.
If you are missing any of the prerequisites but you believe you’ve completed something equivalent in your university studies then you need to write to us. Providing us with evidence and asking for that prerequisite to be waived. Because we will initially look at your VCE units and if you don’t have the prerequisites, again, you’ll be taken off the list.
So if you believe that you have met the prerequisites but they’re not on your VCE record then you need to write to the selection officer here providing the evidence that you’ve done something equivalent at university.
If you’ve done some university studies but it’s less than a year and it’s less than full load, then we revert back to looking at your ENTER score. If you are a current La Trobe student wishing to be a tertiary transfer applicant, then you can make an internal application. You don’t have to go through VTAC but there is no disadvantage to being one or the other. We keep the cut-off scores equal in all of these categories.
If you don’t succeed in getting a place in the Physiotherapy Program in 2009 but you are successful in getting a place in one of the other programs and you want to apply for a transfer at the end of first year, we will be actually quarantining 10 places for those transfers to occur.
So that is a new avenue that we’re providing for people to get into physio because we know some people are really, really very, very keen. So this is a way that you can still track into physio albeit by first of all enrolling in another – either the double degree programs here at La Trobe or the Bachelor of Health Sciences. And seeing if you can if you can get one of these transfer places at the end of the common first year.
In the four-year Physiotherapy Program there’s a fair amount of time that you will spend actually out in clinical practice, in supervised clinical practice. So I want to tell you a little bit about that part of our program because it is a major part of the program as you might imagine.
The clinical experience is concentrated in third and fourth years and physio students do more than 30 weeks of full time supervised clinical placement. We have a clinical schools arrangement with various health networks at Barwon Health, Bayside Health, Indigo, Eastern Health, Northern Health and we have something called the La Trobe clinical school.
If you like to go and visit level three after this talk, there’s a map there that shows you the location of our clinical partners. But I’ve put them on the map there. But the map is really to show you that if you come to the physio program here at La Trobe at Bundoora, this is where you’ll be spending 30 plus weeks of your third and fourth year.
And you can see that we have our eastern clinical school is out in the eastern suburbs and northern clinical school is in the north. Bayside is central and southeast but only as far as Caulfield and Sandringham. Our Barwoon Clinical school which isn’t on the map is at McKellis Centre in Geelong and Warnumbull. And our La Trobe Clinical School is a variety of private hospitals, rural hospitals and hospitals in Tasmania. And our Bendigo school which I hadn’t shown, they obviously, most of their placements, are up in the Bendigo and rural regions. But we do expect all of our students in Bendigo to come down to Melbourne to do at least one major placement. And we expect our students in Bundoora to go somewhere in the country to do at least one major placement.
If you’re coming into the Physiotherapy Program or indeed many of the health professions that have a clinical focus, there are requirements that you need to meet to actually be permitted to go into a clinical environment. The first of these is that you are able to pass a police check. That’s not to say that if you’ve got a few speeding fines that you’d be excluded, don’t think that. But serious criminal convictions would probably preclude you from undertaking clinical work. You need to undertake a working with children check. And these are government requirements. These are not our rules. And the clinics also require that you had a range of immunizations as much to protect you as to protect patients in the hospitals.
OK, well, thank you all very much for attending. Please go up to level three and have a look at the physio space. Have a look at the other courses that are available at La Trobe in the Faculty of Health Sciences. And good luck with the rest of your studies and with your exams at the end of the year for those of you who have exams coming up. Thank you.
