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Assessment as we are well aware is a very crucial aspect in diagnosis of a condition. While treatment can only be designed and directed once the diagnosis both structural and functional are clear.
Currently, clinicians are focused on attending more patients than actually focusing on the quality of treatment being delivered. Symptoms and patient history cannot be held as the only basis for concluding any diagnosis. e.g. conditions like medial meniscus injury, medial compartmental OA, MCL injury may show similar symptoms however if a generalized treatment is to be given to both these patients the prognosis may still vary and treatment not affective.
It is also understood that conducting a detailed assessment for every patient may get challenging for practitioners attending many patients. However, that is no reason to compromise the quality of treatment being provided.
Understanding the current needs of physiotherapists here are a few pointers to help you out with assessment of patients in the right manner and as a result improving efficiency of treatment being given.
1. Use of well designed proformas. Specific to the type of patient and their complains:-
A well designed proforma can work wonders in a busy clinical setup as it ensures that all points regarding the conditions are covered and also helps us get to the differential diagnosis sooner.
Here is a link of concise pro formas on our website for you to refer while designing your own pro formas.
2. Good hands on knowledge and practice of special tests and other techniques for assessment:-
Theoretical knowledge can only help you through your college years, once in clinical practice it is essential to make sure you can perform assessments appropriately on patients in the desired manner. YouTube videos are a great source to revise and review such procedures and develop skills by learning and practicing on fellow practitioners till you get confident. It’s never too late to improve and develop basics.
Here is a link to a YouTube channel physiotutors who share assessment based videos which are very useful:- https://www.youtube.com/user/Physiotutors
3. Stay updated :-
Some of the best physiotherapists of their times seem to still compromise with their treatment as they do not focus on updating their knowledge with latest researches and techniques. There is also much advancement in equipments available to aid and improve assessment while reducing time and improving efficiency. Patients are being treated Virtual Reality devices. Who knew something made for entertainment could become a part of your patient rehabilitation.
One such software and app is Complete Anatomy 20 by 3D4Medical for understanding anatomical structures affected and explaining the same to the patients. Visual explanation helps the patient understand better than bombarding him with medical terminologies that may even scare them.
4. Seek and associate with physiotherapists who are better at it:-
There is no harm in discussing assessments and differential diagnosis with experts in a certain field. A musculoskeletal physiotherapist should not hesitate in consulting another colleague specialized in Podiatry conditions for a case that demands such.
Physiotherapists must have a group of colleagues that they can discuss, share and learn from whenever needed. We have our very own community page on Facebook and Instagram.
5. Develop good patient handling skills:-
“Practice makes a man perfect”, the more patients you start assessing the better you shall get at it. The main idea is to remain calm be a good listener while assessing patients. Assessment of the patient in the beginning and through the treatment should be discussed with the patient in frequent intervals to keep them motivated through the course.
We urge physiotherapists to take some time and master the above mentioned skills so they can inculcate these in their practice. Our main motto for our community remains “quality over quantity”. Hoping this helped, we are happy to hear from you.
Also checkout our previous blogs : https://www.physiosimplified.com/blog
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