Dizzy with Success
The vast variety of things PTs can do never ceases to amaze me. I'm even more amazed when this old dog masters a few new tricks. Back in April, I traveled back to the States and took a course on vestibular rehab in Philadelphia. I liked it... a lot. I came back here and proposed that our falls clinic start running twice-monthly vestibular clinics as well. I trained the nurses, who do the initial screenings, on what to look for in taking a falls history. They have started identifying cases with possible vestibular involvement. The vestibular clinic is up and running!
At a business meeting, I discovered one of the upper managers was complaining of the room "spinning" whenever she turned her head. All heads looked at me and said, "Dean should be able to fix you up!" She wound up being my very first real patient. No pressure there... hah!
She presented with a classic benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV). With sweat dripping down my neck and my staff physio (my rock) assisting, we correctly diagnosed and treated her, completely eliminating her symptoms. The second patient was a retired ENT specialist. Talk about a tough audience for the first day! He was successful as well!
We are now connecting with the audiology department at the local hospital, where they can do extensive vestibular testing but not the rehab; and with the Care of the Elderly specialists to join services and provide a truly comprehensive falls prevention service. This can address cardiac insufficiency and postural drops, vestibular dysfunction, musculoskeletal dysfunction and neuro impairments.
I'm creating the very thing that I've been talking about in this forum; a service where I am autonomous among professionals but also where we are interdependent on the input from each other. It's a bloody good feeling when you figure out your ideal and then make it happen.