Hi All,
I am on a neuro inpatients placement. What I have sometimes struggled with during this prac is working with a senior OT.
After speaking to the senior PT I discovered that I was right in feeling the vibe that the head OT sometimes does not approve of the way in which PT progresses patients. This OT is lovely and great at her job, very committed to the patients. However, sometimes it is hard to rationalise certain decisions that are made by the PT team.
For example, taking away a lateral support she had fitted and replacing it with a lumbar role and a towel under affected side. This decision was made as the patient had good sitting balance, activation of trunk muscles. The patient could realign himself although does fatigue.
To explain this as a decision that would help the patient if left for about 30mins was very difficult!!!! Instead of thinking in terms of getting the pt to active muscles they could control she wanted the support there for constant good alignment.
She was... well angry really... as the patient did sit with the head more to the affected side, therefore she confirmed as not ready for the progression due to poor BALANCE and alignment...
Any pointers of how to speak to other members of the health care team in such situations? I did ask my supervisor and she was happy about our decision to remove the extra support...
Thanks :-)
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1 comment:
hey hun, thats an unfortunate situation. Its always hard when not everyone in the team has the same views on how quickly to progress the patient but I think you were definatley right in doing what you thought was best for the pt. I guess being students its a little intimidating telling other staff members what to do but I guess if you think its the best for the pt you just have to be confident in your decision and stick to it!
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