ซ่อมแซม: PTSUT welcomes friends from German

Kitchana Kaewkaen

Master degree Physical Therapy Student, Khonkaen University, Thailand

and President of PTSUT 2010. E-mai : Ultranawin@gmail.com

Physical Therapy Student Union of Thailand (PTSUT) is a group of undergraduate PT students in Thailand. The aims are to create uniformity among students of 16 PT schools in Thailand and help each other solving professional problems as students. PTSUT works with PT student networks in each university. In addition PTSUT collaborates with other student associations like National Council of Thai Medical Students (NCTMS), Dental Student Union of Thailand (DSUT), Pharmacy Student Union of Thailand (PSUT), Nursing Student Union of Thailand and Thailand Public Health and Health Science Student Association. Internationally, PTSUT collaborates with Asia Physical Therapy Student Association (APTSA).

After APTSA collaborated with World Wide Physical Therapy Student Network (WWPTSN), PTSUT was connected with friends from Germany. "Mr. Ralf Kraft and Mr. Cornelius Boettcher" came to see how the System of Physical Therapy education is working in Thailand... That's good news for PTSUT to welcome friends from other countries. So the two Germans visited Mahidol University and KhonKaen University.

When they arrived in Thailand, PTSUT send the international relations department to welcome them and to be a host for visiting at Faculty of Physical Therapy, Mahidol University. After their arrival, Mr. Ralf Kraft and Mr. Cornelius Bottcher went to observe how Physical Therapists work in PT Clinic and exchanged information about clinical practice for Physical Therapy Students in Germany. Then, there was a discussion held about the difference between these two countries.

After finishing the activities at Mahidol University, our German guests went to visit the Physical Therapy Department, Faculty of Associated Medical Science, KhonKaen University. On the first day, they went to have some clinical practice with PT students at the clinic. They had a discussion about how different some techniques are and shared experiences together, "I teach you and you teach me". And then Mr. Ralf Kraft did a presentation about Physical Therapy in Germany and some extra curricular activities of their PT students. Many PT students attended that class and asked many questions. The representative from Thailand, Mr.Kitchana Kaewkaen who was a president of PTSUT 2010, presented about all the activities of Physical Therapy Student Union of Thailand (PTSUT) and Asia Physical Therapy Student Association (APTSA). After the presentation, we had a discussion about the European Network for academic Physical Therapy Student (ENAPT) which Mr. Ralf Kraft was a co-founder of. This is a first step of relationship between PTSUT, APTSA and ENAPT.

The second day in KhonKaen, Mr. Ralf Kraft and Mr. Cornelius Bottcher went to visit Physical Therapists working in Srinagarind hospital and observed the 3rd year Physical Therapy students do a clinical practice there. First, they went to the internal medicine ward to observe the Cardio-pulmonary Physical Therapist work, and then they went to the rehabilitation ward. Germany has more modern technology than Thailand so Physical Therapists in Germany use a lot of devices and new technology to improve the quality of a patient's life. But in Thailand, most treatment is done manually.

On the last day in KhonKaen, Mr. Ralf Kraft and Mr. Cornelious Bottcher went to a lecture with 2nd year Physical Therapy students for electrotherapy, 3rd year Physical Therapy students for Aging and 4th year Physical Therapy student for a presentation about PT in community. And then they went to the PT research room and The Back, Neck and Other Joint Pains Research group room. Master and Ph.D PT students there presented some innovation which was developed by PT KKU researcher and let them try it.

In conclusion, for this visit, we learned a lot about the differences and similarities between Physical therapy in Thailand and Germany. We shared a lot of experience and exchanged the activities among PTSUT, APTSA and ENAPT. The most important thing was that we hope to help develop better Physical Therapy by moving forward together.