Physical Therapists' Have a Friend in Florida!

Protect the Profession You Love!

Physical Therapy Awareness Campaign Fundraiser

with Special Guest

Florida State Senator Mike Bennett (R-Bradenton)

On May 18th from 4:30 to 6pm bring your…

• Physical Therapy staff,
• Physical Therapist Assistants,
• Family members,
• Patients
• Other persons interested in increasing consumer access to physical therapists.

Support your Profession

Be a physical therapy advocate and help Senator Bennett, who sits on the Senate Health Regulation Committee, position the physical therapy bill, S2146, for the 2011 legislative session.

We can’t do it alone: we need him and he needs you. This fundraiser is for Senator Bennett’s 2012 congressional campaign for District 13.

Patient-centered

Physical therapy is humanistic. We may be best represented by our patients’
testimonials at our meeting – what better way to promote our brand image than to have our patients do it themselves. Patients may want to donate to the fundraiser to support access to physical therapists.

Universal

We are promoting awareness of and access to physical therapists. Please consider attending even if you would prefer not to donate to the Senator’s campaign. Physical therapy advocates use these fundraisers to voice their legislative priorities and YOU enable this to happen.

Unified

Your presence is needed! Your experience can help Senator Bennett understand
the important contribution physical therapists make in their patients’ lives.

Light appetizers, soft drinks, snacks and water will be served.

When

Tuesday May 18th, 2010

4:30-6pm

Where

Medical Arts Rehabilitation, Inc.

506 4th Street West in Palmetto, Florida 34221

Find us on the web at MedicalArtsRehab.com or call 941.729.1800.

RSVP if you are interested so we know how many to plan for!

If you can’t attend please consider a donation:

• $150 suggested for physical therapy corporations
  
  
• $100 suggested for individual physical therapists
  
  
• $50 suggested for physical therapist assistants
  
  
• other amount (please fill in) __________________________

Questions/Donations: Please call Tim Richardson, PT at 941.729.1800 or e-mail at TimRichPT@MedicalArtsRehab.com

What Should a PT Manager Do?

Meet Juanita - she's my patient.

Juanita fell two weeks ago and fractured her left proximal humerus.

Juanita has also been diagnosed with early Alzheimer's disease and neck pain subsequent to the fall.

Even though she makes every effort to cooperate Juanita can't can't change this fact: she is a complex patient.

For those who use Electronic Medical Records (EMR) this next question is familiar territory: which template do I use?

I have a choice of at least four templates in Juanita's case:

We could choose templates that divide the patient up by anatomical part, functional segment or risk reduction strategy:

1. Shoulder pain template
2. Cervical pain template
3. Falls prevention template
4. Dementia screening template

This blog post stems from a conversation I had with a PT clinical manager last week. This PT manager uses twelve (12) templates in his clinic - one for each body part.

I took the position that one (1) template would better fit the current 'best practice' model.

We discussed the 'best' template and agreed that while one might be too few, twelve might be too many. How many templates should physical therapists use for typical, high-volume conditions?

My rationale for one template is Wainner's Regional Interdependence model - where dysfunctional motion at some body segment, like the hip, is liable to show up as symptoms in another body segment, like the knee.

One argument against multiple templates based on anatomical body part is that these templates trap PTs into thinking along the lines of the pathophysiological 'Medical Model' that has failed so many chronic pain and movement dysfunction patients we see in physical therapy.

If you are told by your clinical manager that you, as the PT, need to fill out the 'elbow' template then could miss important findings in the cervical and thoracic spine, the shoulder and maybe even the wrist.

You may be disinclined to screen for dementia, depression or Fear Avoidance Beliefs.

What should a PT manager do?

One, two, four, or twelve templates?

Which is the best number?