What Do You Need in a Physical Therapist?

It's been about 6 months since I started writing these blogs about pediatric physical therapy. I've been writing about issues I see out there in the trenches. I have a pretty healthy interest in how many of you go to my website and read these blogs. But the interaction is so one sided. I'm a very talkative and social person so I'm going to ask you to leave me some comments below or on the website. What do you think you need in a PT?

Years ago I worked for a hospital in town and we had a patient survey that rated satisfaction with our services. We all wore buttons that said something like... Ask me if I'm a 5. 5 was the best rating and we were trying to get patients to give us all 5s. I learned a few things from that survey. The most glaring was that patients did not care about how smart I was, they cared if I was nice and responded nicely to them in their time of need.

That has always stuck with me. Lately health care workers have been under a lot of stress due to the pandemic. I have a lot of respect for my compadres that work in hospitals and on the front lines, be they therapists or nurses or doctors or technicians. I've read many of their accounts of a "day in the life" and I'm not sure I could rate a 5 in these circumstances.

I consider myself lucky because I am not in the hospital system. I am blessed to be invited into your home. Being respectful in your home is an utmost priority to me and one way I show that is to wear a mask and remove my shoes. Its the little things but I think that's what pushes a solid 4 to a 5. I assure you that I spend a significant amount of my day thinking about my treatment sessions and connecting with other practitioners to bounce ideas around. I tell all my parents to contact me any time with questions and to send videos when they have successes. I always try to respond promptly - which is easy because my husband says I'm attached to my phone.

Being in your home gives me insight into your life, so I try to let you into mine. I hope you don't mind some easy chatting about the Astros or my kids. I want you to feel comfortable asking me questions and I've learned a little small talk helps break the ice. I want to meet grandma and grandpa if they want to come over and observe. They are an integral part of your child's life and they can often be helpful if your child is resisting therapy.

Lastly, I want you to feel that I am competent and confident in the work I do but not superior or the final word on anything. I'm here to advise you and to hopefully explain concepts clearly but I want you to know there are many ways to skin a cat. I'll try them all in an effort to help your child.

So now if you'd be so kind as to leave a comment about what you want in a provider so I can continue to grow and meet the needs of the families that I work with.