No Setting is the Same
I was talking with a friend the other day that is also doing a clinical at an outpatient facility and realized how common our sites were. One big thing that we both realized is that just because you change sites, doesn't mean you change the type of people you see or all the people will be the same.
One of the major things that came up was treating patients with mental and emotional challenges. For some reason, we foolishly assumed that we would not see patients with these challenges just because we were in a different setting. I say "foolishly" because we clearly know that a large amount of the population face these challenges at some point in their lives (depression being perhaps the most common), yet we still assumed we wouldn't see it.
So often we hear that outpatient facilities have more cookie-cutter type practices. However, during the short two weeks that I have been at my site, I realized that you can't be "cookie cutter" no matter the setting because each patient has different needs. Even if you have two middle-aged construction workers with L knee pain, there are so many other components that must be accounted for when you are treating them, especially their mental state and how they perceive pain.
What works for one patient might not work for others and how WE think patients should react to pain is honestly of little importance, because pain is perceived by everyone differently. I think it is so critical for everyone to remember that. Even if a patient has anxiety, is depressed, etc., how they perceive pain is how they perceive it, and though it may be frustrating, we have to find ways to do what is best for them.