Elizabeth Thacker

I travelled to Nepal because I wanted to experience a whole new culture and healthcare system so I could compare it to what I’m used to back home. I had the opportunity to do my elective placement abroad, so I thought, “Why not?”

The hospital was similar to NHS hospitals in some ways but different in others. It was a little chaotic at times.

There were so many patients waiting to be seen and only a handful of physios available to see them — inpatient and outpatient clinics were both held on the same day.

I was approaching the end of my degree, so there wasn’t much for me to learn as such.

But because local physios were more theoretical and had a real depth of knowledge, they helped me understand some of the more unusual cases I’d never seen back in the UK.

In the paediatric school, I helped with some of the children’s exercises, spending time in both the physiotherapy and occupational therapy rooms. It was really insightful as I hadn’t done a paediatric placement before.

In Nepal, the patients came in with a diagnosis straight away and had multiple scans and X-rays that they took with them.

The outpatient department used a lot of equipment like TENS, ultrasound, spinal retraction devices, and ultraviolet radiation machines.

Multiple patients were seen at the same time, and people would often walk in to observe sessions. There was very little privacy.

In the evenings, we often went out for dinner, drinks, and occasionally karaoke. We went to a fair few Buddhist and Hindu temples, too.

When we wanted a quiet night in, we would watch films, play cards and chat. We spent weekends travelling in Nepal.

One weekend, we went to Naragkot to watch the sunrise, Chitwan to go on elephant safari, Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park to go hiking…

Our list of things to do seemed to get longer the more time we spent in Nepal!

The biggest benefit of undertaking a placement like this was getting to travel and experience a different country, culture and people.

If you come on a placement, you’ll meet people from all over the world in the Work the World house and have so many amazing experiences together.

I was nervous at first, but once I arrived in Nepal, all my worries drifted away. You’ll get so much support from the team and feel very safe throughout.

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