Donncha Lane works at the National Rehabilitation Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
Professional background: Physiotherapist in Acquired Brain Injury.
"I chose the MSc in Advanced Professional Practice in Neurological Rehabilitation mainly as this type of MSc was not available to me in Ireland. But even if it was, the expertise in the programme from a teaching perspective may not have been comparable.
The delivery of modules in blocks, breadth of subjects covered, quality of support and information from all staff involved in my programme, and ease of getting to Plymouth from Ireland were some of the initial reasons for choosing the University of Plymouth.
My expectations of the course were to build my research skills and knowledge and understand more about the UK health system and innovations that would be transferable to where I currently work.
The modules on my MSc facilitated all of this. My specialist interest is vestibular rehabilitation and in many of my assignments, I focussed on this clinical area.
This helped expand my knowledge in the area and gave me the time to reflect on various cases and situations. As part of one of the modules on the course, I had to develop a new service plan.
Recently I have received funding for this service plan which would not have been possible without having the time and support to undertake this comprehensive assignment.
This MSc has invigorated me and has me thinking about various plans for the future – and most definitely staying on the physiotherapy track.
And whilst this sounds clichéd, the MSc has given me time to reflect on our profession and understand further the great and innovative services we can offer in varying clinical and non-clinical scenarios.
I do not see my links with the University of Plymouth dissipating and am keen to explore single modules that I haven’t completed as part of my current MSc but would like to pursue."