PHTY3250 Physiotherapy Specialities: Cardiothoracics (Lectures)

Cardiothoracic physiotherapy is about helping people who have heart and lung conditions, patients in hospital after surgery, and those who are critically unwell in intensive care. Historically, cardiothoracics has been an unappealing field, a lesser-known cousin of the more famous sports or musculoskeletal physiotherapy. As such, students don’t typically envisage a career as a cardiothoracic physiotherapist, clearing phlegm from a patient’s lungs. This is Dr Allison Mandrusiak’s challenge – to infuse a ‘breath of fresh air’ into learning about the lungs, and put a pulse into the heart of this course. Allison’s fresh approach brings learning to life and clears away the baggage of negative pre-conceptions.

Dr Mandrusiak is a lecturer in Physiotherapy in the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences. She has breathed fresh life into an historically unpopular area of physiotherapy, and proven that clearing phlegm can be surprisingly fun! Her fresh approach has secured her a number of teaching awards, including UQ, national, and an international (Universitas 21) Teaching Excellence Award., as well as Senior Fellowship with HEA.

Allison designs clear, organised learning experiences. Her fun style helps students enjoy the journey as they learn the otherwise heavy content in this field

This is a compulsory course for all 3rd year physiotherapy students, and includes lectures, tutorials, hands-on practicals and simulation sessions.

Don’t miss the immersive simulation sessions in the Simulation Ward where the student ‘becomes’ the physiotherapist to practice their skills with simulated patients (actors and mannequins) in a safe environment before they start working with ‘real’ patients. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1ijbJCUsUo