Communication skills and rapport building are the key to helping Tayah McKinnon relate to her elderly patients.
Tayah is one of five first-year physiotherapists to start work at Mackay HHS this year.
Raised in Mackay, Tayah contemplated a career in dentistry, medicine or midwifery while studying at Holy Spirit College, before finally deciding on physiotherapy at James Cook University in Townsville.
“I always knew I wanted to do something in healthcare as I loved biology and HPE at school,” she said.
“Physio really offered me that chance to interact with patients day-in day-out, to see them grow and get better, as well as build real rapport,” she said.
“It’s also a career that offers good work-life balance.”
Tayah previously did her university placements at Cairns Hospital, the Children’s Hospital in Brisbane, Mt Isa Hospital and at the private clinic Move and Play in Mackay before she started full-time work at Mackay Base Hospital on January 13.
Her first four-month rotation is working on G2 with a variety of elderly patients who are recovering after falls, dealing with respiratory disease, infections, delirium as well as end of life prognosis.
Her youngest patient is 58; the oldest is 96.
Witnessing the care her own grandfather received at the Base Hospital five years ago really helped cement her decision to work as a hospital physio.
“I’m very lucky to be so close to my own grandparents and always really wanted to work in the geriatric setting with older patients,” she said.
“I relate well to them and I’m really enjoying the variety of work and building those relationships.
“It’s been very eye-opening and I appreciate the opportunity to build on my foundations by learning from and asking questions of the other senior physios I’m working with; this helps grow my skills and deliver better therapy to my patients.”
Returning to Mackay and having the support of family and friends at home was important to Tayah when starting her new job, she said. Her local knowledge had also proved beneficial with discharge planning.
Five weeks into the job, Tayah said she greatly appreciated the warm welcome and support of senior colleagues as she builds her confidence in her career and gains experience in acute care.
“Everyone is very happy to help which is amazing and right now I’m really focussed on learning to be the best physio I can be and having confidence in myself is the key to that,” she said.
“My biggest learning so far is to ask questions but also to trust myself; to remember ‘I’m the physio now, not the student anymore’.”
