1. I feel that I am good with certain aspects like building rapport, performing a skilled examination to offer an accurate PT diagnosis, and explaining the reasoning behind my exercise selection, but could work to make the patient feel more involved and in control sooner in the course of care. Many times, especially floating between multiple clinic locations and sharing a case load, I’ll notice that patients begin to rely on the in-person sessions for the maximal benefit and await specific progressions with advancement of the written home exercise program. When I take the time to explain that anything we do here can be done at home (within reason and depending on equipment) and encourage the patient to stay active they seem to be more involved and take on a level of personal responsibility for their progression of care. Further, I find it very useful to reference the previous documentation from another clinician and ask about the response to any new exercises or differing approach. Patients respond well to this, recognizing that I am staying informed on their progress and working to seamlessly progress their care, even though the appointments may be split between multiple providers.

3. In one recent patient interaction, I had a patient that was very discouraged by their recurrent pain and seemed to be becoming less engaged in their sessions. They felt that the pain was better after sessions, but that they felt a bit helpless when it came back outside of the clinic, and they could not get manual assistance. When I broke down the manual therapies and progressions, showing the patient modifications to achieve similar results at home with positioning and self-myofascial release techniques, they expressed a sense of relief and the patient’s demeanor changed. They developed a sense of empowerment and hope for self-management outside of sessions.

Sometimes when we are very busy as clinicians, it can be hard to hit all of the marks. To make sure the patient is informed and aware of their diagnosis and prognosis, display sincere interest in their situation and their progress, teach them the skills they need to be able to continue progressing and address the symptoms outside of sessions, and eventually empower the patient to self-maintain after discharge is more of an art than a science, but this article does a good job of breaking down the aspects that seem to be important to the patient, and allow me to have markers to address throughout the progression from evaluation to discharge.