I had a great meeting today at the Willow Cafe with Andrew, a new hire at Physio Room Oak. We chatted about the usual physio topics of injuries, treatment techniques, and new research, but then we delved into some of the things they rarely talk about in school –  how to create value and how to be efficient. As with most aspects of our lives it is incredibly important to re-visit and reflect on the efficiency of our systems and the value we are offering our clients.
How can we easily create value within a session?
The obvious first goal should be to get your clients better, quicker then expected but what else can we do to aid in this process?
 
1. Show them you are listening. Review what you heard them say and write out their goals (Goal setting & treatment adherence).
2. Discuss what and why you are doing things. Don’t go overboard but keep your clients in the loop. Make sure you tell them to ask you questions at any point.
3.  Review what you found and how you plan to change it. This can be a simple explanation but it reassures the client that you have a plan for your time together.
4. Treat and then re-test. Did your treatment have an affect on the meaningful task? Try not to do three different treatments and then re-test. You will not know what worked and what did not.  It is important to remember that our treatments affect muscle tone and the bodies nervous system – these systems can change rapidly.
5. Review what their home plan is. Type it out and email it to them with the videos and/or pictures of their home movements.
How can we be more time efficient? 
Sometimes 30 minutes or an hour can go by very quickly but if we do the right things we can stay on time…most of the time.
 
1. Have a system that you can review and change over time (the importance of systems). Your subjective and objective assessments should be systematic. If you don’t have one, create one. It is a great way to learn and the only way to improve upon a system is having one in the first place.
2. Ensure that the same system is adaptable so that you can tailor it to the person in-front of you.
3. Don’t over-test. From the subjective exam you should have a pretty good idea what tissue is injured and to what extent. Lots of testing takes time but can sometimes irritate the tissue and make treating it that much more difficult.
4. Keep things simple. A few good hands on treatments, clear and concise education, and 1-3 movements to work on or change.
More could be added to these lists but by looking at them from a slightly different vantage point I hope to offer some new insight. I hope they help!
Dave
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