Registration Exam

Last weekend I finally wrote the written component of the Canadian Registration exam. It was 4 hours of multiple choice after multiple choice. For some reason I expected a lot more people but there were only about 50 people writing it.

It was pretty fun to observe how serious the proctors were taking this exam. After you signed in, you had to sit in the pre-assigned desk number and you weren't allowed to use your own pencil. Only the pencil that was already on the desk was to be used. The guy in front of me had a hobbly desk and he asked if he could stick some paper under one of the corner legs. At first the woman was like, "yeah sure" but then 2 seconds later literally yelled "NO, I don't know what kind of paper you're using. Sit down, I will fix it for you later". Then someone brought a box of kleenex and of course they made an announcement that we are not allowed to have anything on the desk, including kleenex not even one sheet. haha, I found it really funny but you can tell this made some people more nervous than they already were. There were people there that were writing it for the 5th time. That is absolutely absurd.

The exam went well. Throughout the exam I felt really good about it, even with the ones that I was unsure of. Because it was all clinical based you can basically use logic to answer the questions. There were quite a few ambiguous questions, ones where there aren't a real correct answer. Every question was easily eliminated down to 2 choices and most you can say were both correct. It was really a matter of physio preference. So if I did fail the exam it would be because I didn't choose the preferred method of doing things and not because it was the wrong answer. I also found out that not every question was weighed the same. Some are worth more than other questions and they will not tell you which ones they are. Is that fair?? I'm undecided with that one. I don't understand why it matters.

During the exam all I thought about was how big those damn bubble holes were. They are definitely different than the ones at UW. My friends agreed that they were unnormally large. The next day my neck was so sore from holding my head static for 4 hours. Wow I must be getting old or just not use to doing multiple choice questions anymore. In Australia all the questions were short answer/essay and I would usually lie my head on the side and start writing. Yeah I know, I'm lazy...

So 6 weeks is the waiting period for the results...Until then I can't start working as a physio. Here's hoping that everything goes well!!! At least it's done and even if I fail it wouldn't be as bad as if I failed a course in Australia. If I had to choose from failing this or a class in Australia, this would be the choice hands down.

Grumpy, Cranky, and going to whine about it...

I'm so sick of studying for this exam. My back is sore from being so inactive and from sitting/laying down all day long. I've spent the entire weekend in the house, barely even stepping outside to get some fresh air. I feel so lethargic. Yes, I know, stop the damn complaining...at least I'm getting the opportunity to even write this exam now...

I wish it was tomorrow so that I can get it down and over with. It doesn't even feel like I've done much studying for this, definitely not anything active anyways. Usually when crunch time comes I'm quite good at concentrating and doing my thing. Not this time...It's probably more that I don't know what to expect or what to study for especially I was taught by a different system. That's my major concern...At least things are relatively fresh in my mind, could be better but it could also be worst.

It's going to be one of those things that doesn't really reflect how much you know because it's suppose to be all clinical and not really theoretical. So in that sense, I think I'll be alright but then again it is 4 long hours of multiple choice after multiple choice questions. There are a few sample questions and some of them were on things that we were introduced to but never really got into detail. It was like, I have no idea what you're suppose to do for some rare skin condition or barely even know what the heck the question is talking about. The answers for some were just tricky. It could have easily been another choice because that's also correct too but whatever...MCQ are always like that eh...It makes me feel like I'm back at UW again...

I guess I'm just cranky and grumpy that I'm so inactive, mostly because of this foot problem that has developed into a major problem. I've had this heel pain for about 2 months now, mostly during games when I bound onto first base. Usually it's not a problem because I run on the balls of my feet but when my foot plants on first it kills and stays with me for the rest of the game. I played in this tournament 2 weekends ago and it flared it up bad. So bad that I couldn't even touch weight bear on my heel by the end of that Sunday and definitely not for the next few days. It's been a week and a half and it still hurts to weight bear on it but at least I can fully weight bear and no real visible limp anymore. If I had to make a differential diagnosis, it would be either a bad case of plantar fasciitis or stress fracture. I had an xray done on it before this flare up and it came back negative so it's not a stress fracture. At least not one that has shown up on the xrays yet (there's usually a delay from when a stress fracture occurs and when it can be seen on the xrays). My bet's on the first option because the pain is right where the attachment of the plantar fascia is....I hate when the only true solution is rest...

Confrontation

It's Friday afternoon and my one and only colleague, the Physio, decided to take the day off so that he could have an extra long weekend. Damn it's nice being a Physio at this place because he only comes in for a few hours a day but yet gets paid for everything us PTAs do. It must be sweet.

I've kind of lost track because that's not even the story I was going to write about. It's been a long day and I had one more exercise class to teach before heading home. Just prior to the class, this guy comes and introduces himself as the nephew of one of the residents. His guy immediately in my face, literally. He was one of those close talkers who clearly crosses the personal space boundary.

This guy starts telling me about her aunt, who is one of the seniors who lives at the resident home. He wants to know if she has been attending my classes and of course, she wasn't. Then he goes on to ask why not and why I haven't done anything about it. She should be getting one on one treatment on top of these classes and it is our responsibility to get her down here. Buddy, if I were to go up to all of my no-shows' room and personally drag them down I would not have the time to even run the classes. The layout of the home is messed up. It is spread out into 5 towers and each one has their own set of elevators, which means that we have to go back onto the first floor and walk to the next set of elevators before getting onto a different tower. It's very time consuming.

This is only the third week we have started this program. It's taken us a while to assess everyone and get people use to the idea that there are different exercise groups for specific impairments. You have to go to the assigned group. Heck it's taken us so long to get all the referrals and consent forms that I haven't gotten paid since the end of July. Going up to personally drag residents down is the least of my problems especially since weight bearing on my heel at the moment is still hurting.

The guy continues and says that he's very disappointed and makes it sound like we're slacking and don't care about these residents. At this point I'm trying not to lose my cool and explain to him that there are 250 people in this home not just his aunt. Seriously some people is so narrow minded and think that they should have priority over everyone else. I understand that he wants what's best for his aunt but maybe he can try to bring her down.