NZ reg: more than 10 years in private practice

[Tracy Canada]

Hi there,
When you say that you did reflective statements for the NZ health and waitangi ones - can I ask you for more detail. I am a Canadian Trained grad and I've reflected from my experiences in Canada that are the same to those in NZ. Do you think I am on the right track?
Kind regards,
Tracy

[physiomitch]

Hi Tracy

Sorry about the delay in reply, getting back into the swing of things. Just one more document and I can start sorting into the correct order and send off...can't wait, except the Physio I need to get the work validation form from is in Brazil!!

Anyway, reflective statements I did was basically reading through the documents such as the Waitangi accord and reflecting on it as to how I understand it and what it's main points are. The same was done with the documents on NZ health management and articles I found on the web regarding the health structure of NZ, and where Physio fits in. So generally find documents, some mentioned in this thread earlier, read and reflect on what you read.

Not sure whether it would help, but I can let you know what I did to get things going, to try and keep some form of sanity.

The big queation on most people's minds is 'where do I start?', it certainly was on mine...so this is how I got started and it took off from there. Apart from getting all your necessary paperwork from uni and work colleagues, which I collected gradually, this was my format...

1. Read carefully all the info in the NZ Physio Council PDF files on their website regarding portfolio

2. Go through each competency and write a short statement on each (not essay form). I wrote the heading eg Competency 1, then under that Competency 1.1, then under that a short answer. For competencies 1 to 4 and 10, I wrote short answers under the headings 'General', 'Musculo-skeletal', 'Cardio-resp' and 'Neurological'.

3. I did this until I completed all of the competencie. Then I went back to each one and under each listed the evidence I would need for each one. This was by no means the finished article as the cross-referencing would have to be done at the end once all evidence was gathered.

4. Once I had all the necessary evidence written down I then made a seperate list of all the evidence I needed next to each competency and started to tick off what I had and gathered what I didn't.

5. Once all evidence was ticked off I put it all together, wrote the correct page numbers on the cross-references in the competencies, edited the notes to ensure it was not too drawn out, checked spelling, etc, then put it all together. I printed my CV/CPD portfolio and case studies on coloured paper, numbering each page together with a 'heading' to make it easier to locate. I seperated all sections of evidence with 'dog ear' pages for easy finding. All cross references were shown on the front page as an index to the whole thing.

Then I had my millionth glass of red wine and passed out...ha ha! Worth putting headers and page numbers on all pages to identify your work. I have also been advised to collect all work validation forms and send with the portfolio, even though the validation forms ask that they be sent directly to the council, they may get lost and have to be re-done. I am using mine as colleague references anyway so will open them and number the pages, easily done in microsoft word.

Hope this helps

[nic.yeomans]

Hi,

I just wanted to say thank you for all the advice I have gained off this post it's been really helpful. I am new to the forum but have been trying to do my portflio for a few months now! hoping to finish it by at least March.

Nic

[chrisphysio]

I'd like some advice please. I'm just starting the process but have been qualified for 13 years.

I managed to get a portfolio from a physio who was 7 years qualified (he got his NZ registration from it) and for competency 1 he listed items from his university course booklet (proving he had done enough anatomy, physiology, child development etc) by just listing the page from the prospectus (e.g) child development page 31, year 2 term 1.

Am I allowed to do the same (qualified 1995 from the UK) or will this not be accepted because it's over 10 years old?

Surely the NZ board will have some descrepancies for those of us that are more experienced (i.e. - you think they'd want a good number of experienced physios over there to help with the more junior ones. Otherwise isn't NZ full of foreign physios that are recently qualified - just cause it's easier to complete the portfolio.

Please advise and has anyone contacted the NZ reg board directly about this?

thanks
Chris

P.S I was on a chest course at the weekend and a 1 year grad I met had gone and returned from NZ after getting her registration. She said there were 3 of them that qualified together so they split the portfolio in 3 saving time and all went over. None had done a rotation on ITU or neuro!! - used their student placements.

[Fyzzio]

Hi,
just some comments.

None had done a rotation on ITU or neuro!! - used their student placements.

Of course. The deal is that your education has to be similar to the NZ one, and if it differs (e.g. only 3 years in GB, compared to 4 in NZ), then you have to prove work experience for one year plus to make up for that gap. It does not matter in which area you have the work experience, as your undergraduate training otherwise satisfies the board. That's how they explained it to me.

Am I allowed to do the same (qualified 1995 from the UK) or will this not be accepted because it's over 10 years old?

I haven't got the application package here any more, but I'm sure, you can. It's a good starting point anyway. However,... if that's the only evidence you've got, they might say, that you haven't updated skills over the last 13 years. Just not a good look, I think.

the NZ board will have some descrepancies

... sorry, as far as I know, they have to go by the rules as set under the HPCAA. They are a qualifications authority, not an immigration service.

Good luck,
Fyzzzio

[physiomitch]

Hi Chris

I have just about completed my registration package, but after a year of getting it all together and from reading some of the new threads, I get the feeling I wrote too much in my competencies under each subcompetency. Like you I have worked for more than 10 years, qualifying in 1992, and thus cannot use the curriculum as a reference, but still need it for their prrof of study.

After reading some more threads I feel that all you need to do is list the copmpetencies/subcompetencies, and under each one give a reference to either courses, CV, case studies, or whatever will prove that you are competent in that area. The guides given by the NZ Physio council gives a list of things you can use to prove this often related to initial studies in physiology, anatomy etc., which is why those under 10 yrs exp can give reference to their curriculum. For us maybe the best way to do this is to write case studies or refer to courses done. I was in contact with a Physio who got her registration and she said she just wrote tons of case studies and obviously this was OK for her (also > 10 yrs exp). Personally I have written about 4 case studies under each title of neuro, cardio and MSK, some for electro therapy, some for manual therapy (some can be used for both), some for nutrition/holistic approach, etc. I will use these particularly for competency 1-4.

I used cases I have treated and some I have observed. I will list these under case studies in my evidence.

I have also recently done a cardio-resp course and have done some hours of observation and hands on in an ITU at a local hospital to keep updated. As someone else said, they are not expecting us to be specialists in any field just to be up to date on the techniques and approaches. I will use this as a reference for any cardio related competencies as well as case studies I did from patients I treated and observed being treated on my hospital rounds.

In hindsight I think I have written too much but I am not going to re-do it, but keep it simple and just refer what you have done, will do or are doing in relation to each competency.

As for more experienced Physios, they definately need them. If you read these forums and read between the lines, if you come from the UK and have studied here you have a great chance of getting in, however you still have to have all the necessary paperwork signed where necessary and give evidence, but it should not be so difficult to get evidence. Just takes a bit of time. Stay positive and work through it step by step.

[chrisphysio]

OK thanks for getting back. I'll just keep it simple like you say and may throw in the odd reference etc that is over 10 years old. At least it shows I've been working continuously which may help .

Chris

[chrisphysio]

Hi there,

I have a question relating to competency 8.3 and just wondered how you tackled this one for those over 10 years experience.

I'd love to use the literature review at university but did this in 1995 hence it is over 10 years old. i've been working as a clinician since qualifying and haven't got into any heavy research along the lines of what they're asking.

I've been on some conferences and have at least 2 good cases studies done relating my treatment to research articles.

Please can anyone give feedback who's been in a similar position

thanks
Chris

[physiomitch]

Hi Chris

I had my application returned with requests for more detailed syllabus and transcripts from my UNi, which they cannot provide...so I will be giving covering letters from them and the head of the Physio school at the time to back it up. They also asked me to do my competencies with reference to the NZ competencies, so I guess mine did not relate closely enough to the NZ comps. I have since sent an email to them and got a return email giving me a long schpeel about what is needed, a lot of what is already said, however they did say the the competencies should be done in such a way as to write the 10 headings down and show competency for each one. So again it sounds as if we need to give some form of evidence as to our competencies for all 10 but for 1 to 4 and 10.5 (that is what they said, not 10.1, 10.2, 10.3 or 10.4) we need to show autonomous practice in the 3 fields of Physio, nmly Cardio, Neuro and MSK. So what I did was under each of these write 3 headings, General ( a short description of how I feel I was compitent), Cardiopulmonary, Neurologica and Musculo-skeletal. Under each of these I described what I have done, am doing and will be doing with evidence given such as courses, case studies, work validations, etc.

I will, however also be sending in my large draft of the competencies which covers ALL the 10 comps plus all the sub-comps, just in case...

In answer to your question, in the shorter version, I just spoke about reading research, journals, internet articles, how they affected my practice. I also did a small project of my own using some of my patient records, just to show I understand the layout and formulation and I got a colleague to critique it. This I will use as evidence. As for the specific 8.3, I just wrote something about how I read research papers, etc and personally I teach Physios so I used that as a part of research evidence.

Keep looking at the FAQ pdf file they supply, esp when it concerns research, and also use the indicators given in the comp list to get an idea as to what to write.

Hope that helps

Pete

[Fyzzio]

Hi,
re competency 8: you could also state the format/ tool which you usually use to critque articles, any presentation that you have done, which includes a reference list, a certified list of journal clubs which you have attended or presented at and references which state that you regulary participate in literature reviews.

In NZ, we have to prove CPD via a logbook in a three year cycle. One of the categories is self-directed learning. All the above are accepted under this category and I guess the same counts for the competencies for foreign applicants.

Just a warning: the topic of a recent Physioboard newsletter was "Ethics". Apparently, any document containing patient information/ any clinical details (even if anonymous), that is published without patient consent, risks breach of ethical conduct. So, I would recommend to stay away from actual case presentations, unless you have consent to share them.

Cheers,
Physio

[chrisphysio]

OK thanks for the info and espec about the 'thics' part.

I was actually going to get some letters from my patients talking about what physio they had and the benefit of it.

I'll have to use case studies because I don't have the regular 4 monthly junior rotation appraisals but I will bear in mind what you say.

thanks
Chris