On neurology placement physiotherapy sessions are structured to include a morning and afternoon session. One of my pts following cerebellar stroke continually lacked motivation to attend PT so I was experiencing great difficulty trying to get him to attend physio once per day let alone twice per day.
One strategy which I found well to work to convince my pt to attend PT was to ask the pt what he felt like doing during the morning and afternoon sessions so he felt more in control of what we were going to do and how long for. This worked really well as I negotiated with the pt to treat his UL impairment in the morning as he was tired following his showering and toileting, and return late in the afternoon following lunch and a couple of hours of rest to take him down to the gym to work on his balance and LL impairments.
Through using negotiation in this situation I felt I was able to treat the patient well and he seemed more motivated to come to PT because he determined what and when we were going to do. In subsequent session I successfully negotiated that we do more everyday, which was a way to progress the pt between treatments.
NEGOTIATION CAN BE SUCCESSFULLY USED TO TREAT DIFFICULT PATIENTS WHO DO NOT WANT TO HAVE PHYSIO TREATMENT. THIS CAN HELP SOLVE ISSUES SUCH AS LACK OF MOTIVATION SUCCESSFULLY. THROUGH NEGOTIATION THE PATIENT FEELS MORE IN CONTROL AND THEREFORE MORE LIKELY TO PARTICIPATE IN PHYSIO. THIS ALLOWS BOTH THE THERAPIST AND PATIENT TO ACHIEVE THE GOALS THAT HAVE BEEN SET OUT FOR THE PHYSIOTHERAPY SESSION.
1 comment:
That is a good way of handling an unmotivated patient. If the patient has the choice of what to focus on, he will be more likely to cooperate, thus both the physio and the patient will have greater satisfaction from the session.
Post a Comment