NZ/AUS REGISTRATION FEEDBACK FOR OT+ PT'S!

Thanks to the OT/PT's for sharing this recent registration feedback :)

OT FEEDBACK - NEW ZEALAND

I think the main reason for resubmission for me was around understanding the culture and the values and beliefs of the Maori clients. Therefore I would recommend reading articles surrounding this information in regards to healthcare on top of the cultural course. There was also questions around, how you would support the community and their whanau and what different resources might you need when working with Maori clients. I tried to make it more personal to show my understanding and link my practice and OT values to the values of Maori culture and healthcare.

The only thing I would say is to make sure they have an actual example of how they themselves performed the competency - I had some of mine returned to amend as I wrote about how the competency is important but not actually evidencing how I, myself completed it

- write your examples on a separate document (word, notepad, etc) and not on the application form itself as it did not save for me as a work in progress the first time and I had to redo the work.

- read through and choose what questions you think you will answer. It helps you have a think about examples and not to overlap too much as some questions are similar.

-personally I chose to start with the cultural competency questions (section 2). These questions are a bit different to the others. It also meant I had the Cultural Competency course finished first and could add bits of it here and there to the other sections later.

-be sure to give actual examples for each example. So many times I had to go back and rewrite ones that I talked about why it was important but didn’t give an actual example of what I did.

-power through it - this obviously depends on the kind of person you are but I spent week and weeks doing bits of it and becoming frustrated how long it was taking me. Ended up doing the majority on 2 flights because I confined and powered through it!

-lastly, have a reference ready and prepared for some reading!

OT FEEDBACK - AUSTRALIA

AHPRA are very particular with certifying documents so read the AHPRA certification guidelines carefully for who can certify you can do this outside of Australia and the wording as otherwise you will be asked to re-do this which delays your application

PHYSIO FEEDBACK - AUSTRALIA EXAM

I prepared for 2 months before this exam and I feel like this was enough time. I had 2 years post-grad experience in acute inpatient settings (neuro and respiratory) so these sections I obviously found much easier. Then for the MSK, I revised basic anatomy and conditions, and this was enough. Physiotherapy has such a huge spectrum of specialities and conditions that you will never be able to revise it all, there will always be questions you can’t answer but these will be outweighed by the ones that you can! Joining a WhatsApp group can be helpful for practise questions and resources but try not to get weighed down on how much other people are doing and the topics some might choose to revise. There were a lot of ethics questions (almost a whole paper!) which it’s sometimes difficult to choose between 2 possible answers but my advice would be read the question over and over because most of the time the answer they are looking for is hinted at in the question! Complete as many practise questions as you can find and read through the practice paper you get sent several times to get a feel for exam structure - some of the questions are deliberately worded to be challenging! Overall, the exam was easier than I anticipated it being, revise the basics and bring in your clinical knowledge and you can absolutely pass

So personally I found the exam quite difficult to revise for as there is quite a wide range of topics that you have to cover. Also there was a few questions which threw me off guard such as questions relating to vestibular rehab.

Alot of the questions relate to what you have learned in practise so having experience in a hospital setting with rotations is definitely useful.

I also found it beneficial to look up Australian outcome measures as they differ slightly to the ones we use in the UK. There is also a AAPTA Facebook group where you can find past papers but they can be tricky to find.

I'm not sure if I have anything useful to say about the exam other than to do the practice paper! It's quite hard to prepare for and I think it helped that I have been doing a little bit of each area recently.

I found the exam questions really varied in difficulty. Some questions focused on evidence-based practice for certain conditions whilst others simply asked you to select the most appropriate outcome measure. Having graduated 14 months ago and only worked in MSK, I was slightly apprehensive about the clinical practice questions for Neurology and Cardiorespiratory but most of the answers came down to what is within your scope of practice and what is the safest management method for the patient.

I started revising 3 months before the exam, doing one to two hours’ worth of revision most days, in hindsight this was maybe a little excessive but better to start too early than late. My main advice would be to start with the practice paper, this gives you a real feel as to the type of questions you can expect, and you also get a little insight as to the reasoning behind certain answers once the practice paper is completed.

I structured my revision based on the assessment content highlighted in the written information booklet, using Physiopedia to briefly review each topic and then CPD style courses on Physioplus and the Clinical Skills Development services (ward based/cardiorespiratory courses). I did review some of the books recommended in the information booklet but I found the courses more transferrable and easier to digest.

If I was to do the exam again, I would spend less time learning the pathophysiology of all the conditions listed but make sure to be aware of the basic principles, common outcome measures and clinical guidelines.

I got my results about 3 weeks after the exam, and on reflection I was unnecessarily worried. In summary, trust your professional and clinical judgement whilst remembering patient safety. Worst case scenario you will be able to narrow down the answers to have a logical or educated guess.'