Physical Therapy – Dilemma in Acute Care

 

Mary Posts:

DEAR ERI COMMUNITY: As a physical therapy assistant in an acute care facility, I am constantly working with patients to increase their ambulation and improve gait patterns. Recently, on a PT’s initial evaluation the physical therapist only transferred the pt bed to chair (2 feet) and did not ambulate the patient any significant distance. The PT set an ambulation goal of 100-150 feet with or without an assistive device in 7 days. As I worked with the patient the following day without any assistive device, I observed the pt had increased difficulty ambulating after 10 feet due to LE weakness resulting in foot drag. Needless to say, the pt has increased difficulty ambulating back to the chair and was very unsafe transferring stand to sit. What should I do the next time? Should I start with a walker?

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Post Course discussion with Steven Sadowsky

Treating the Acute Care ICU Patient

 

[caption id="attachment_584" align="alignleft" width="113" caption="Steven Sadowsky"]Steven Sadowsky -Education Resources Faculty[/caption]

Steven Sadowsky is happy to answer any questions you may have, and discuss treatment and practical applications in the ICU and Acute Care setting.  Sometimes there is not enough time through the course of the weekend and this is the ideal opportunity for course participants to share their experiences using the new techniques learned, and discuss any clinical challenges, solutions and suggestions. We welcome all therapists to offer their own therapy tips and join this community. 

Please do not hesitate to post your questions, thoughts and suggestions as a comment to this blog.

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Therapies in The School Conference 2012 – Questions for the Speakers

We are building a community for school therapists attending the conference this year. A place for everyone to connect prior to, during and after the conference. We are hoping that building this community will serve you well, a place for you to share your ideas, challenges, solutions and to learn therapy tips from others. We would also like to be able offer a post course discussion for therapists, building on this new community.

For our first post we are inviting participants of this years conference to post, within our blog, any specific issues or topics that you would like to see discussed at the conference. We will present these ideas to our speakers prior to the start of the conference, in the hope that they will address them for you. Please post your question here as a comment to this blog, specifying to which speaker you would like it presented.

We do hope you are looking forward to the conference and look forward to meeting you there. For those unable to attend this year please stay tuned for therapy tips learned, and for those thinking of attending, please get in touch soon as this popular conference is getting close to being full.

Mandy

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Measuring Therapy Productivity in Acute Care

Judy Posts:

DEAR ERI COMMUNITY: Has anyone found a good way to measure productivity in acute care? It can vary so much from day to day for the evaluating therapists depending on what types of patients were admitted and how many times that you have to go back to a patient before you can see them due to tests, etc. Also, I feel like sometimes the PT is consulted only so that the physician can decide where the best place is to send the patient the next day such as SNF, acute rehab, or home. My background is acute rehab and I am having trouble feeling like I am doing my best in acute care. I work in different facilities now as a floater.Thanks

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NDT Recertification

 

As all of you who are NDT certified know, NDT certification is now valid for 3 years, from the date of acceptance into the program. Re-certification is a new process that requires 20 hours of continuing education in the three year time period. The 20 hours must include a minimum of 8 hours of NDT training. The other 12 hours can be any CE course in your area (pediatric vs. adult). 

BUT DO YOU KNOW??  

The 8 hour NDT training can come from: 

  • ANY NDTA sponsored education including conferences, seminars and certificate courses.  NOT JUST ADVANCED COURSES!! 
  • ANY Non-NDTA sponsored NDT courses taught by an active NDTA Instructor (see our links below)
  • Hours must be obtained in area of certification (adult or pediatrics)

Here are some possibilities of continuing education courses that would meet the requirements: 

NDT Treatment of the Baby and Child – Suzanne Davis

Pediatric NDT Treatment Intensive – Barbara Hodge

Intensive Handling and Problem Solving for function: an NDT Approach – Linda Kliebhan

Three Day Intensive on Treating the Child with Hypotonia – Barbara Hypes

NDT  and MFR for Children with Neurological Disabilities – Barbara Hodge

Assessment and Treatment of Children with Oral Motor, Feeding/Swallowing and Respiratory Function Challenges: Children with Neuromotor Involvement – Rona Alexander

Integrating NDT, SI and Motor Learning Perspectives in Pediatrics – Lezlie Adler

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