The ever-growing world of health sciences is often misunderstood. A lot of people look at us as the bottom of the food chain when it comes to the medical industry and hospital life. We decided to take to our students and ask them what their course/ job truly does entails and some of the silliest misconceptions they’ve ever heard.
Nursing – ‘So you didn’t make the cut to get into medicine?’
The largest course represented by FHS – our work is much more than just washing patients and cleaning up bodily fluids. Many aspects of care are experienced day to day with the exposure we have to every single type of patient imaginable. We deal with gentle, grateful patients whilst also coming across patients like that one great aunt no one wants to sit next to at Christmas dinner and still having to smile and offer the best, evidence-based patient care we know how to.
The syllabus is incredibly vast, and encompasses everything from pharmacology to anatomy, from physiology to first aid, from end of life care to paediatrics and maternity. We consider ethical and legal issues and how to problem solve on the go. We also have to unfortunate position of when literally anything comes crumbling down, the immediate reaction is ‘tell the nurse’. Besides the general nursing course, there are separate courses for mental health nursing and elderly care nursing.
Physiotherapy … ‘tal-massages’.
Contrary to popular belief, massage [or its proper terminology, soft tissue manipulation] is a minor tool in the physiotherapist’s very large tool kit. Besides exercise therapy, physios also branch into the world of neuro rehabilitation, pre and post surgical rehab, and have a large role in respiratory conditions along many other branches of medicine.
Sports is a major, yet not sole, aspect to physiotherapy. Whilst there is nothing quite like an injured athlete’s motivation to return to sport and therefore comply with our home regimes (which makes our hearts very happy), there are all sorts of patients we face each and every day.
Ranging from the very rewarding outcome of watching a patient be able to walk again after suffering a stroke or helping an amputee gain control of their prosthetic, the world of physiotherapy is ever expanding as well as our tools. Although our hands are our main method of healing, our world is also expanding into electrotherapy, stroke robotics, and many more aspects of digital health!
Applied Food and Nutritional Sciences… ‘Can you help me on my detox diet please?’
It’s not about learning how to master the perfect plate of risotto and we certainly aren’t walking encyclopedias who can tell you exactly how many calories are in that muffin. This undergraduate course is quite comprehensive. It encompasses and equips the students with the knowledge on the diverse aspects in the complex and scientific world of food, and its crucial relation to health. This includes a sophisticated insight in the fields of public health, social policy processes, food safety and manufacturing processes.
From biochemistry to microbiology to human physiology to nutrition and dietetics. It is an important stepping stone leading students to become nationally registered as nutritionists and dietitians, thus contributing to an increased health status and quality of life for the general public.
Occupational Thearpy … ‘M’ghaddejtx ghal-physio u dhalt OT?’
No, we are NOT physiotherapists, nurses, or any other profession people often mistake us for. Occupational therapyis a course that promotes health and wellbeing, both physical and mentally through the use of occupations.
Occupations are activities that we do everyday ranging from getting out of bed, eating and driving. The aim of OT is to make sure a patient reaches self fulfillment and gains their full independence back after a traumatic life event.
Instead of exercises for physical rehab (this is a physio’s job),we use meaningful activities which will then translate to having the necessary skills for everyday life. Our work varies from paediatrics, by which we use play in order to habilitate children with developmental delays, to geriatrics. Although a baby profession, OT’s are showing major potential and are here to change the health care scene in Malta.
Applied Biomedical Sciences: ‘How exactly is that a health science?’
Despite the continuous increase in information and knowledge being shared nowadays thanks to great advances in technology, us biomedical scientists are still labelled as the “quiet ones” who enjoy staying alone all day silently carrying out test after test and staring for endless hours through a microscope. In actual fact, laboratory scientists carry out numerous tests on various specimens which range from a routine PAP smear, to a biopsy taken from a vital organ in an attempt to save that patient’s life, amongst many others.
The fact remains that our field is continuously developing and changing, and we often work together to make life-saving diagnostic decisions. We mostly work hand in hand with consultants, who are able to give the appropriate treatment to patients based off of what we have seen and concluded in the laboratory. As much as we work behind the scenes, you can think of us as the Steven Spielbergs of modern day health care.
Podiatry: ‘Do you all have foot fetishes?’
Pathology? Paediatry? Podology? Who knows. The notoriously misunderstood profession that is commonly perceived as weird foot people who’s hobbies solely [hehe] include looking at feet. Podiatry is much more than debriding the so called ‘hard skin’ off you great gran’s feet. Yes, it does deal with dermatological issues that are mild and moderate in your average patient, but often these presentations are really precursors to a much more serious health burden.
Tissue viability and wound care are crucial areas for preventing amputations and maintaining good skin integrity – lacunae where Podiatry is heavily involved in. Other crucial areas in Podiatry include Biomechanics, Paediatrics, Rheumatology, Geriatrics and Sports. The use of orthotics therapy is widely used to preserve and maintain good biomechanical function of the human body. Podiatry at the UoM also involves its members in conducting research to a high-level. Thereby always challenging and pushing current clinical practices throughout Malta and Gozo.
Midwifery: ‘Just a bunch of girls delivering babies’
We’re not just there to deliver your baby and never see you again. Midwives and their patients form a relationship from the beginning of their pregnancy up until the postnatal period. Shockingly, in the 21st century, this course is also open for boys!! When we’re not helping new life into the world in the delivery suite, we also identify possible complications in the antenatal period and work/ educate to minimize their effect. Midwives also guide expecting parents with general parental skills.
During birth the midwife has a leading role and contrary to popular belief the doctor is only involved in case of emergency.
The midwives contribution does not stop here but even postnatal midwives are responsible for home visits post discharge, aiding mothers to adopt proper feeding patterns and ultimately midwives are also responsible for newborns who require specialised attention in the neonatal pediatric intensive care unit. Midwives are not simply advocates of motherhood but advocates of womanhood.
Radiography: ‘Dawk tal x-trays’
A lot of people do not know what the Radiographer’s job actually entails, and this is not surprising since it has only recently become recognised as a specific health care Profession (Locally; only a couple of decades). Radiography is the art and science of using radiation to acquire a radiograph of the patient’s anatomy, of good diagnostic quality and with the least possible radiation dose. For this to be achieved Radiographers need to have extensive knowledge of the 3D anatomy and its relation to body positioning. A slight difference in positioning could result in a false or mis-diagnosis. Planar x-ray is only one of the several imaging modalities that we as radiographer’s use, these include MRI, CT, PET, ultra sound, Interventional Radiography, Theatre Radiography, Fluoroscopy, Theranostics, Mammography, Angiography and Cathlab. Radiography is and will remain one of the main gold standard medical tests for most diagnoses.
However, with great power comes great responsibility, therefore the need to constantly study and keep up to date with the technology is compulsory with the job description. To conclude, the discovery of these x-ray modalities changed the face of medicine completely. Where,to obtain a clinical diagnosis, physicians used to cut patients open, it is now replaced by a 2 minute, harmless procedure that can be done at a push of a button (and four long years at university!)
Speech-Language Pathologists: ‘dawk li jaħdmu ma’ min ma jħossx is-‘s’ u ir-‘r’’
This is quite a common misconception about speech therapists whose scope of practice is much broader than many think. SLPs not only work to prevent, assess, diagnose and treat speech and language disorders but also social communication, cognitive-communication (such as paying attention) and swallowing disorders in both children and adults.
Most are often surprised to hear that speech therapists also work on swallowing and feeding, even with children and pre-term babies who have undeveloped pre-feeding skills. Parents often see that SLPs are simply playing during sessions but such play is included not only to make it interesting for the child and engage his attention but also to work on social skills such as turn-taking, vocabulary development and basic concepts.
