How can you relate this to better patient care; and your personal health?

[Michael McMurray]

[August Winter]

The comment about ‘shared positivity’ made me think about a comment from one of the fellows at UIC. He said something corny to the effect of “often times the body has a natural ability to heal itself, we’re just here to help facilitate that in whatever way possible.” He would go out of his way to engage with even the most withdrawn patients because he thought it would have a positive effect on their care. I think for most patients this is not something that is hard for us to do, but maybe we should make a concerted effort to tell a funny story, or jokingly complain about an underachieving sports team, or whatever it might be, just to add some positivity to their day.

The other relevant aspects to patient care would be in goal setting. Going along with being able to provide patients with good information on prognosis, I think I could improve on setting up patient expectations for goal achievement as well. Sometimes patients have unrealistic goals and it can be hard to temper those expectations without sounding negative. The more I create smaller goals with patients the more frequently satisfied everyone seems to be.

As someone who can get caught up in negative self-talk, this article is interesting because I’ve never heard of the idea of “micro-moments of positivity” but have definitely noticed this sort of concept in my life. I think I need a big note taped to my desk in our office to remind my self about some of these activities, particularly resilience and accepting yourself. Sometimes it can be hard to keep these things in mind after a disappointing evaluation/treatment session/mentoring session.

[Erik Lineberry]

I have been treating a difficult and overwhelmingly negative patient over the last 2 weeks and have had a hard time flipping the conversation from her disability to her ability. Just yesterday we had a long conversation about short term (1-2 visit) goals instead of her long term goals of driving and ambulating without an assistive device. I hope this makes a difference is her demeanor over the course of our future visits.

[Justin Bittner]

I think one thing this article points out that I have tried to utilizing the last couple weeks is to celebrate the small victories with patients. This is more important, obviously, with certain patients. So, along with making goals, we should be empowering patients and praising them on their successes. For example, instead of saying “great, you’ve met your goal of being able to go up your steps”; follow that up with “I can tell you have really been working hard at home”, “I’m so happy you have been making noticeable gains every week”, “can you believe you couldn’t even put weight on that foot 3 weeks ago?” etc.

[August Winter]

This has become a bigger part of my discussions with patients recently. Some patients deal with their symptoms all the time, and it can be hard for them to recognize the little differences that become more obvious to us between their PT visits. I think highlighting that difference in perception can help patients understand that our praise is genuine versus something manufactured.

[Michael McMurray]

Even before reading this article and learning its contents, I have found myself incorporating Barbara Fredrickson’s theory of “micro-moments of positivity,” within session goals and discussing the small gains made in therapy. I think asking patients about what we have discussed during their previous therapy sessions went or how family members who may have been mentioned are doing is important in building a connection. For me, I know I struggle sometimes with choosing to accept myself, flaws and all, particularly when feeling a patient did not have the desired results in a treatment session or evaluation that I was aiming for. So coincidentally, I have been trying to practice this positive mindset more in my professional career. I think this theory goes hand in hand with having practiced resilience. I try to focus on the smaller gains made with patients. I also think self-reflection (meditation) is important in how a physical therapist could have done something different or better; but, it is also important to remember to celebrate with patients on the gains they make.

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