Physiotherapy BSc (Hons)

Course content

Year 1

In year 1, your study will primarily be university-based, building a foundation of knowledge of anatomy and physiology, as well as learning the foundation skills necessary to undertake the assessment of a person, considering their function, activity and participation level. In simulated activities including, for example, assessment of functional movement, strength or lung function, you’ll start to develop a range of essential interpersonal and professional skills. These include maintaining dignity and confidentiality, developing effective observational and communication skills, learning to appreciate cultural and ethical issues, as well as health and safety, such as infection control procedures.

Our Essentials for Allied Health Professionals programme brings together students on other health courses to work together, so you can begin to appreciate the concept of multidisciplinary healthcare teams and the role of each of the professionals you will engage with – nurses, doctors, clinical physiologists, diagnostic and therapeutic radiographers, for example.

Year 2

In Year 2, you will advance your knowledge, practical and research skills through your studies and on practice placement, encouraging a holistic patient assessment that identifies risk factors, such as age, smoking status, obesity, and considers the influence of psychological, social and health behaviour. You look at more complex health issues, such as breathing pattern disorder, spinal cord injury and muscular dystrophy, and management of patients across different care pathways and settings, for example, rehabilitation, long-term management, acute and end-of-life care. You’ll appreciate the importance of considering the person at the centre of patient assessment, adopting a problem solving and evidence-based approach. You will also learn how to manage the assessment and management of patients with the help of our specialist clinicians.

Year 3

In the final year, the focus is on integrating your knowledge, analytical and practice skills to select, justify and implement appropriate health promotion and management, exercise and rehabilitation strategies for a variety of service users. You will complete your final practice placement, working with greater autonomy and competency. You will also undertake a comprehensive research project. Students are able to choose their topic of research; examples of past research include experiences of students on placement, accuracy and reliability of worn technology, effect of saddle height on cycling injury, experiences of applicants to physiotherapy degree programmes and many more! Many, such as one group of students who worked with Crisis at Christmas to interview the homeless about their experiences of physiotherapy, get the opportunity to publish their work in international journals and present at major conferences, including Physio UK and the World Confederation for Physiotherapy.

Placement

The variety and volume of placement opportunities we offer is what students tell us they like most about our course – practice placements are undertaken in a variety of health and social care environments, including acute NHS hospital trusts, community-based services, charitable organisations, elite sport and private practice.

The supervised, hands-on experience you get with service users on placement is the best way to consolidate your learning. You will gain experience of working as part of a team, demonstrating professional behaviour and 'putting learnt knowledge and skills into practice.

On placement, you are supervised by experienced clinicians and practice educators. You receive support from your visiting academic tutor who will visit you regularly.

Below is a list of hospitals that offer practice placements:*

• Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust
• Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
• King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• Kingston Hospital NHS Trust
• St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• University College Hospitals NHS Trust

*This list is subject to change and should be used as a guide of where students may be able to go.

Facilities

City St George’s, University of London Tooting campus  is co- located with one of the largest teaching hospitals in the UK. This is also where Channel 4 television series 24 hours in A&E is filmed. We offer a unique opportunity to study and work alongside the full range of clinical professionals and their patients. Based in the thriving multi-cultural hub of Tooting in South West London, our location has the added advantage of being just a short tube ride from Central London and all that the city lifestyle has to offer.

We enjoy close links with the Physiotherapy Department: staff contribute to the teaching and learning on our programme and also employ some of our graduates.

We also have a range of specialist health and academic facilities to support your learning, listed below.

Physiotherapy skills laboratory

The physio lab represents a realistic clinical environment featuring hospital beds, simulated stairs, mannequins, treatment plinths, walking aids and a treadmill. It provides a safe environment in which you can familiarise yourself with different techniques including assessment of lung function, gait and strength. The lab is staffed by dedicated lab technicians with a huge amount of knowledge and expertise.

Anatomy suite

The anatomy suite is where present and future healthcare professionals and scientists in the hospital and University learn or expand on their anatomy knowledge directly from the human body, through access to high quality anatomy resources. These include platinated (preserved) specimens, osteological materials, anatomical models and digital/imaging resources such as Anatomage tables and Complete Anatomy.

Pathology museum

Our on-site museum houses a collection of over 2,000 pathological specimens, including a number of original specimens donated by Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie in 1843. This space is used for small group tutorials by students across all of our courses as an educational tool to help you understand the mechanisms of disease.

Library and learning technology

Our modern health sciences library offers a wide range of books, e-books, academic journals and other resources to support you. You will also have access to online resources, such as the Canvas virtual learning environment

and our Hunter discovery service to help you find the information you need. The library is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and comprises silent, quiet and group learning areas, as well as four group discussion rooms.

IT facilities

We have five computer suites housing 260 workstations. Three of these suites are accessible 24 hours a day. It’s easy to find a free space with our handy real-time computer locator. We also have 75 self-service laptops available. Free Wi-Fi covers the whole campus, including all accommodation. You can use these resources to access your course materials, discussion boards and feedback through Canvas.

Download course specification:

• Physiotherapy

We share our site with one of the UK’s largest teaching hospitals giving you the chance to learn in a busy healthcare environment. Most of our teaching staff hold clinical roles or have previously worked as a healthcare professional, so you will learn from academics with real on-the-job experience.

Studying at our Tooting site, we’ll get to know you and help you reach your potential. You’ll be part of interactive group sessions, and our academics are always on hand if you need extra support.

How our experts teach depends on the course content, but we recognise that our students have different learning styles. On this course, you can expect a diverse range of:

• Practice placements
• Clinical skills sessions
• Computer-based sessions
• Guest lectures
• Group work
• Lab-based sessions
• Lectures
• Online learning
• Patient interaction
• Practical workshops
• Seminars
• Simulation
• Tutorials

Expertise

The majority of our team are highly experienced chartered physiotherapists and physio educators. We’ll also introduce you to staff with experience working as midwives, health visitors, speech therapists and occupational therapists. Surrounded by experts, you’ll hear the most up-to-date thinking in the field and learn from others’ experiences working in healthcare.

When we can, we also invite patients to share their stories with you directly. For example, you might hear from someone living with lung disease about their day-to-day experiences, both during periods of illness and in their everyday lives.

Placements

In your second and third year, you’ll spend 30 weeks on placement in and around London. This will give you experience working with a range of different people presenting with a variety of problems.

As well as acute hospitals and major trauma centres, such as St George’s Hospital, you might be placed within sports clubs, schools, charitable organisations, community health providers and general hospitals.

Assessment methods

The way we assess your learning will change depending on the module but we use a variety of assessment methods so every student has a chance to show their knowledge and strengths. You can expect a mixture of:

• A clinical portfolio
• Case reviews
• Clinical practice assessments
• Essays
• Exams
• Oral presentations
• Poster presentations
• Reports
• Research projects

To prepare you for the practical challenges you’ll face, we design assessments that reflect real-world scenarios, such as case reviews and research projects. In your final year, we ask you to produce a problem-based report on an aspect of interdisciplinary practice, a group research project, and a poster related to holistic patient management and physiotherapy practice.

Your assessments will be formative and summative. This means some won’t count towards your final grade and you’ll have the chance to improve based on our feedback.