Koala research

A few of my friends were unfortunate enough to fail the research exam but was granted a supplementary exam. I sit in front of a computer all day doing research for my self directed placement so I thought it would be fun if I created some research questions for them. I wanted to show them that research does not have to be boring and/or a drag. The following case study that I created was inspired by my housemate, Becks, and her visiting friends. KP and I jokingly refer to Becks as "The Koala" because of her excessive napping ability and other Koala-like attributes. Now we're not talking about just napping once a day but numerous naps and all throughout the house. We've even numbered her "napping stations". Koalas are known to sleep 18-20 hours a day and that sounds about right for Becks. They also only travel within a 3km radius. Becks hasn't ventured much on her own before she got her "koala mobile". What else? Oh they only eat these leaves from this one type of tree. When Becks cooks, there's not much variation.

You know how people say that you choose friends who are similar to yourself?? Well it's definitely true with Becks. I once thought that Becks was one of a kind but her friends are exactly like her. The napping and love of mangoes...WOW...

With that all cleared up, I hope you all enjoy my research case study scenario:

The Koala wanted to prove to her disbelieving housemates that numerous naps throughout the day do indeed improve memory. Originally she randomly recruited people from her PT class but the excessive naps prevented them from sleeping during the night and caused insomnia to a few of her poor classmates. She had no choice but to turn to her Koala friends. As they all have Koala-like characteristics, the ethics committee denied her proposal to prevent all naps in one group. The committee thought stopping all naps was inhuman. It was parallel to disallowing others from drinking water. It’s crucial to their survival.

After many “test runs” on herself, the Koala eventually decided to limit the number of naps throughout the day to 3, 5, or 7. The study was conducted in the confines of the Saffron Liger Residence as there are already tried and trued Koala napping stations. Each of the subjects was randomly assigned one of nine designated stations and also to one of the three napping groups. The subjects arrived early in the morning to study a list of 50 words. They were given 30 mins to memorize the list of words and then were free to nap, if desired. The study lasted a week and after each week, a different memory test was given to the sleepy Koala subjects. The results were inconclusive as the study was abruptly terminated for safety reason. Subjects from one of the groups (3 naps per day) became irritable and incomprehensible.

HAHA...I must admit it's one of my best work. Can you imagine if I was granted the ability to write the exams for people?? HAHA...good times...

Worksafe WA

After getting back from Broome, I immediately started my Self Directed Placement. The school provided us with a list of potential projects for us to choose from or we could look for our own projects. I really wanted to do an Ergonomic placement so I organized with Worksafe WA to do a placement. I was told that no one has ever done a placement at Worksafe WA, or even an Ergonomic placement. There's so little of us who possess the passion in Ergonomics and yet there are so many opportunities.

I love where I'm working right now because it's so different from what I am use to and this is what I would have done if I didn't decide to do Physiotherapy. The place has a definite relaxed and fun atmosphere. There are no set hours and people are always joking around. It feels like I'm actually in the work force because I'm working in the City business district and amongst business people. I get all dressed up everyday for work. It's a nice change from from dressing like a school slob or wearing the same Physio student uniform. It's amazing how much more confident you feel when you're dressed in nice attire.

At Worksafe WA, I'm creating a database of standarised Ergonomic tools. Surprisingly they don't use many Ergonomic tools when they go out to the a work assessment. I, personally, believe that it should be done so that everything is standarised and objective. It's different, I suppose, when the assessments are not so much for legal purposes.

My supervisor somewhat shares my beliefs and hence is trying to push for more objective measures. That's probably why they like me there and have even unofficially stated that there is a position available for me when I graduate, if I want. It feels good to have people recruit you before graduation. It provides quite a bit of security, not that I really need it with Physiotherapy. It would have been nice if this occurred a few years ago when I was still in Kinesiology but I wasn't sure what I wanted at the time and this opportunity would never arise in Canada.

I went out and did a few workplace injury assessments today with one of the inspectors. That's was pretty interesting and a completely different view from Physiotherapy. We went to a hospital where I did a Physio prac during the summer and people treat you so differently in this job. People are somewhat intimidated by our position. It's very different from Physio. It's very interesting to hear how the hospital safey coordinator explain the health institute in laymans terms. Most inspectors are not physios so they don't have any clue about the health institute.

Galvans Gorge

Here are some pics from my Broome trip. These are pics of one of the Gorges that we went to, the Galvan's Gorge. This was probably my favourite Gorge because we were able to swim right up to the falls and sit right under it. These pics really don't do it justice. It was absolutely breath-taking.

Here's a pic of KP and I slowly getting in. The water was fairly cold at first but surprisingly the water coming from the water fall was warm. If you can get to the falls, you were awarded. Just in case any of you were wondering why KP is wearing clothes in the water, there's a legit explanation for it. Earlier in the day we had already swam in another Gorge and so KP had changed out of her bikini. I, on the otherhand, just decided to wear a bikini all day long. Yes it was that warm up there. We hadn't planned on swimming in any more Gorges but the sight of this one was too irresistible for her, even with a white top and jean shorts on. Come on, how often can you saw that you went swimming with a waterfall??? Sach, however, did not even bite. She opted to stay dry the entire day. We were so tempted to just throw her in.

Success!!! We have reached the falls and even climbed on it. On the far right corner, you can kind of make of Scott. He's getting all excited and ready to jump in.

Tell me you're not impressed with the synchronization here? That's pretty impressive if I do say so myself. Scott and I timed it pretty well together. Props to the photography too, either KP or Sach.

No news is good news!!!!

It's that time of the year again, the stressful anticipation to receive no new email(s). Basically, no news is good news. If you failed an exam (written or practical), the school will inform you through email and state whether or not you are granted an opportunity to do a supplementary exam. Basically you are given a supp exam, unless if you fail 3 or more. I know 3 sounds like a lot to fail but consider that we have about 10 exams to do. I, fortunately, did NOT receive any emails that day but everyone else that I have spoken to have. So far there's been almost 10 people that I know who have to do supp exams.

Every passing semester I increasing believe that the school is trying to filter us out. They actually admitted that they were trying to filter out the first years because they chose to accept so many more applicants. We only have so many lab times available for the upper years so they stated that they were going to have to decrease the number of first years.

This year was suppose to be cruisy compared to last year. Well if you went my the number of people who failed an exam, you wouldn't think so. Back in Waterloo, if you tried and studied you are basically assured a passing mark. It may not be a great mark but you would pass. With this program, it doesn't matter what your average is going into the exams. If you fail ANYTHING, you fail that course. No matter how much you study or how confident you are going into the exams, they have this ability to make you doubt whether or not you've passed. It shouldn't be this difficult. People around me study a lot compared to me and they can't even pass without getting a supp. There's something wrong with that.

Last year when I saw three of my friends fail out and was not even granted supp exams, it really depressed me. At one point I considered if thsi program was really worth the stress and heart aches. Now this semester another of my good friend have failed. He's even a certified Physiotherapist back in his home country and came here to get qualified in Australia. How is it possible for a certified PT not able to pass?? That's messed.

This week has been extremely bittersweet. I'm at a great place in my life right now. Career wise, I'm making connections and doing things on my placement that IS leading to a job offer after graduation. On the other hand, all of my friends are worried about supps and trying to get through this semester. I can't help but feel guilty and selfish. I seriously would rather recieve a supp exam than see anyone fail out completely. People do so much work that they don't deserve this. I don't do anything but end up passing. I know I don't have any right to complain and I'm not but I just feel bad for everyone else. This seems to be a regular occurrence after exams.

Back to civilization

I'm back from a week in sunny, tropical Broome. For those who don't know Australia, Broome is quite a ways north so we decided to fly there when a special arised. It's "winter" here right now in Australia but you would never guess it up in Broome. It was at least 30 degrees everyday and considered to be in the dry season. The creeks were all dried up but apparently during the wet season it can flood the area.

Broome itself is an extremely small town and totally a tourists town. It wouldn't survive without their tourism. The town is known for their pearls so every other store was a pearl shop but ironically most of the pearls sold are not actually from Broome.

There wasn't much to see in Broome but we rented a 4 X 4 and drove into the Kimberleys. When I drove up north last year I thought places were isolated but it doesn't even come close to what it is in the Kimberleys. You seriously have to drive a few hours to get an unpowered campsite and you're driving on an unsealed road the entire time. The drive was long but the company made it go by fast. The laughs never stopped.

We saw all these gorges and one gorge was packed with wild crocodiles, just sunbathing on the beach. We got a couple of metres away from them. I was surprised how many of them there were and how inactive they were. The best had to be when we swam in the gorges. Every gorge we went to we had to hike quite a bit to reach them but damn were they worth it. I've never thought I would get the opportunity to swim in gorges, let alone swim up to the waterfalls. It was absolutely amazing.

Then we went back to Broome and went on camel rides along the beach, while the sunset. That's something that everyone does when they go to Broome. I was also hoping to see the moon rise but apparently you can only see it rise a few days every month. We missed it by about two weeks. Oh well, you can't do it all.

I'll post some pics when I get an opportunity and I have some funny stories. It seemed as if we experienced a little bit of everything, from meeting a 60 year old hitch hiker woman to getting to the ONLY gas station around and being told they only sell diesel. There's something wrong when you start thinking Perth is a big city.