Anyone who reads my blog with regularity knows the last year has been a struggle for me. I lost my beloved job. I was fired for being ethical. I encountered more than my share of unethical and self-serving people. During all of that, I hung on and kept going to work. Every so often I made a difference to someone, which kept me going. For the ...

I've been noticing a disturbing trend lately. More and more facilities are considering the need for supervision as a need for skilled therapy. Back in the day, patients referred to SNFs and outpatient had an obvious need. They had trouble walking. They couldn't transfer. They'd recently undergone total joint replacement. The knowledge and skill of ...

Now that I'm home from CSM, I've had an opportunity to process all of the information. Most of the presentations were excellent. Those that weren't purely theoretical had a common theme. We have to maximize what we do because we're spending less and less time with patients. We have less time to spend because there isn't money to pay for our ...

Reading Jason Marketti's blog last week reminded me of a discussion we're having here in Texas. It's called RC-3 and is an amendment to the Texas Physical Therapy Practice Act. It proposes unlicensed individuals such as athletic trainers and massage therapists be used as PT extenders. These extenders are to provide care as directed by the physical ...

Last week, I wrote about my experiences teaching my first CEU course. I mentioned how much work it was but didn't go into details. It took me nearly four months to finish, including two months of working at least an hour or two every night. Now I'm going back and revising the content. I'm beginning to think that is an ongoing process. In the ...

This morning I had a conversation with an OT who has as much experience or more than I do. I mentioned my frustration with employers desiring low pay over experienced therapists. I don't think my tDPT and geriatric specialization have made me more attractive to employers. If anything, they have made me less attractive. Having them makes me more ...

Jason Marketti made an excellent point last week when he responded to my post. He pointed out that in all but one state, reimbursement is the same for treatments provided by a PT or a PTA. On the surface, that makes sense. Our charges are treatment-based. If I perform gait training, I charge a gait. If Jason performs gait training, he also charges ...

Every so often, I receive an email asking for volunteers to assist with a project or sit on a committee. The majority of them come from the Texas Physical Therapy Association (TPTA). The ones I receive from the APTA usually have requirements that I can't meet. Now you would think this is a perfect opportunity for me. I have opinions I'm not afraid ...

It's been several months since I was elected as a board member to the Southeast District (SED) of the TPTA. Another meeting is coming up this week. I have nothing to report. That isn't particularly surprising since I only have two responsibilities; the spring and fall student socials. Next month will be different. Meanwhile I've had time to ...