Now it’s time to put all the skills and knowledge that you have learned over the last few years into practice.

Whilst this is a very exciting time, it can also be a very daunting time for you as well (I know, I’ve been there). Don’t worry, I am yet to meet an Endeavour student who wasn’t a little nervous before starting clinic.

To assist you in the very exciting transition, here are some tips that I certainly wish I'd known before starting my first day of clinic.

It WILL all make sense

Don’t worry if you feel as though you don’t know anything, because trust me, you always know a lot more than you think! By the third week of clinic, I can guarantee that you will have had multiple light bulb moments as everything that you have learned over the years finally starts to makes sense as you apply them to your real-life patient cases.

Resources

Have some resources (i.e., handouts, recipes, etc.) ready to refer back to for your own learning, or to supply your patients with some information to take home. Don’t worry if you don’t have a suitcase full of resources ready on the first day, as you will have time in clinic to create some resources to add to your never-ending supply. Top tip: Endeavour College has lots of great downloadable handouts available on the Clinic Hub. These will certainly give you a head start – I recommend printing three of each so you always have spares!

Jump in the deep end

Do not hesitate to take your first client within the first three weeks. The supervisors will want to put you in the deep end and trust me when I say this, the sooner you take your first case, the quicker you will become a confident practitioner!

Common treatments

Have a document that you continue to add to that is full of treatment aims, smart goals and dietary recommendations for common presenting complaints. You can copy and paste them into your treatment plan, which will save you valuable time! Trust me, those 15 minutes that you have to formulate your patient’s treatment plan will feel about 2.8 seconds long!

Social media is your best friend!

As a student practitioner, it is a requirement of clinic that you see as many clients as possible because at the end of the day, the more practice that you have in clinic, the more ready you will feel when you head out into the real world. Start an Instagram page NOW and start posting content to build a solid relationship with your followers who may even end up booking in with you in clinic!

We are all in this together!

The relationship in which you develop with your fellow practitioners will end up being one of your most favourite memories of your clinic experience. Every single one of you is in the same boat, which makes all the more sense to support each other. So whether that's by providing a fellow student practitioner with a handout that you have developed on a topic or by picking up on information in your consultation which you may have missed. there are many ways to support one another and have the best clinic experience possible!

Most importantly, enjoy the ride, don’t be too hard on yourself, and don’t feel afraid to reach out to your clinic supervisors if you feel that you need a little more guidance in some areas. They are there to support you just as much as your fellow student practitioners!

We are so lucky to have the opportunity to complete such a large practical component in our degrees. To be able to apply everything I have learned throughout my years at Endeavour into practice is something I will be forever grateful for, as I now feel that I have all the skills I need to treat patients in the big real world, as scary as it is!