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Toni Talks about PT Today

Patients are Getting Sicker
by Toni Patt
I've noticed something over the last several months. The patients I've been treating are sicker and more involved than they were even two years ago. I'm not sure when this started or why. But it's been happening and gradually getting worse. The patients Read More...
269 views     0 comments »     
Computers Are a Part of PT
by Toni Patt
My computer was down for a few days. Three calls to the manufacturer later and I'm back up and running. Being computer-less was an eye-opening experience. It made me realize how much I've come to depend on mine. I had to stop and think about how to do Read More...
163 views     0 comments »     
What Are We Trying to Accomplish?
by Toni Patt
I've started working in an inpatient rehab unit this week. The case load is primarily neurologic or polytrauma patients. The unit is based in a large teaching hospital so the admitting diagnoses are always interesting and varied. I've been there a week Read More...
184 views     0 comments »     
We Should Always Be Professional
by Toni Patt
This week my assignment is a smaller hospital in the suburbs of Houston. I've been there before on weekends and some holidays. I was looking forward to being there. Now I'm looking forward to leaving. The lack of professionalism I've experienced there Read More...
219 views     1 comments »     
Don’t Tell Me to Ignore the Practice Act
by Toni Patt
I heard something today I just couldn't believe. I was talking to the department manager about who is responsible for putting patients back to bed. My point was in order for physical therapy to be physical therapy, a skilled intervention must be involved. Read More...
495 views     3 comments »     
Functional Matters
by Toni Patt
We have a new lunch table topic at work. Another therapist and I had seen the same patient a week apart. She performed the initial evaluation. I performed a re-evaluation a few days later. Our objective values were about the same. She put the patient Read More...
267 views     2 comments »     
Resolving to Work as a Team
by Toni Patt
The beginning of a new year is a time for change. It's a time to make resolutions and strive to be better. Even though I'm not much of a resolutions person, I'm making one this year. My resolution is to search nursing texts to find where it is written Read More...
287 views     2 comments »     
Patient Abandonment
by Toni Patt
The hot topic at lunch this week was the definition of patient abandonment. We all agreed that it involved leaving a patient who needs therapy without it. What we can't agree on is at what point does the abandonment occur? Taken to an extreme it could Read More...
1124 views     2 comments »     
Are We Ready for Direct Access?
by Toni Patt
This semester I'm taking a class addressing differential diagnoses. Its purpose is to prepare me to screen patients for medical problems prior to initiating therapy. Each chapter covers a different system and reviews the signs and symptoms of medical Read More...
457 views     5 comments »     
Gait Belts Are a Part of Physical Therapy
by Toni Patt
I heard something I couldn't believe at our last monthly staff meeting. The department director questioned the use of gait belts. He said there was no written policy for our department stating gait belts must be used. He went on to say that some in the Read More...
1672 views     12 comments »     
Shoes are Important
by Toni Patt
As PTs we know shoes are an important part of gait. Unsafe shoes cause falls. Good shoes prevent falls. So when I work on fall prevention with patients, one of the things I look for is the footwear. Eliminating unsafe footwear for high-risk fallers seems Read More...
434 views     1 comments »     
You Must Like Where You Work
by Toni Patt
Last week an OT scolded me. She found out I have McKenzie credentials and couldn't believe I was working in a hospital. She told me I had to be in an OP setting treating spine patients. She even asked me why I was working in a hospital. Shouldn't I be Read More...
277 views     2 comments »     
Goals Must Be Based on Assessment
by Toni Patt
Yesterday I got a real shock when I looked at one of my patient's charts. An OT had evaluated her and used my PT evaluation to write her transfers goals. On the surface this may not sound too bad. I don't understand how she could write goals on something Read More...
563 views     3 comments »     
Therapy Isn’t a Cure All
by Toni Patt
Recently one of our student bloggers wrote about PT being more than a massage. While massage has a place in the healing, physical therapy is so much more. I want to add to this discussion of what physical therapy is not. It is not the intervention of Read More...
329 views     1 comments »     
Therapists Should Determine Frequency
by Toni Patt
Last week I had a situation at work that caused some controversy. A patient's wife was insisting her husband be seen twice daily. There were no orders for this. Nothing supporting this was present in the chart. However she was adamant her husband be seen Read More...
314 views     1 comments »     
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