On a musculoskeletal outpatients placement, one of my patients was a lady who presented with chronic lower back pain, pain around her buttock, hip and thigh, and at times, pain down her leg. The patient's main problem according to her was her buttock, hip and thigh pain. I initially hypothesised that this was referred pain from the lumbar spine, as her history suggested so.
I continued assessing and treating her lumbar spine, and I could start to notice that she was unsatisfied with my choice of treatment, as her primary complaint was the pain on her buttock, hip and thigh. It was at that point when I decided to educate and explain to her why I was focusing around the lumbar spine, and I could sense that she was more satisfied.
I LEARN'T THAT A PATIENT WILL BE MORE SATISFIED AND MORE COMPLIANT WITH PHYSIOTHERAPY TREATMENT IF HE/SHE UNDERSTOOD THE REASON BEHIND THE THERAPIST'S TREATMENT TECHNIQUE. I THINK THAT NOT ALL PATIENTS WOULD UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF SYMPTOMS SUCH AS REFFERED PAIN, THEREFORE EDUCATION IS AN IMPORTANT ASPECT OF PHYSIOTHERAPY. IN THE FUTURE, BEFORE TREATING A PATIENT, I WILL EXPLAIN WHY I'M DOING A PARTICULAR TREATMENT, TO ENSURE THE PATIENT UNDERSTANDS, THUS, MAKING HIM/HER MORE SATISFIED.
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2 comments:
I think this highlights very well how patients don't always see where we are coming from. BEFORE we treat our patients, it is important to inform them of our diagnosis and our approach to treatment/management. We should always give them an opportunity to ask questions / clarify what we are saying before we begin treatment. These are key aspects of informed consent. I think we often do this but patients still don't always understand what or why we are treating the way we are. This is not always easy to get around but there may be times we are suspicious that the patient is not truly understanding what we are saying and in that case we may need to consider asking the patient to tell US, in their words, what they understand is the problem and our treatment approach. Communication is so important in our field and it is our responsibility that the patient is informed prior to consenting to treatment.
I feel that education can sometimes make up the bulk of our treatment session. It is so important that patients are well informed because a misunderstanding can lead to a bigger problem. And the other thing to highlight is that don't always assume all patients have common sense and we assume that they know things so we just don't educate them. I've had my share of experience where I assumed and I did not give them the
education they needed and that made it look really unprofessional at the end. Since that I've always informed patient even if it is the most obvious things.
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