Eric Robertson – Page 19

February 5, 2008

The weather hates the APTA

Last year at this time I was anxiously watching the forecast as I waited for my flight to CSM in Boston which was eventually canceled. My flight, not CSM. Although, the annual Combined Sections Meeting took place with quite a few PT’s left at home (including me) due to a heavy winter ice storm in the northeast.

This year, Nashville is in trouble with a tornado warning. Severe storms have caused much havoc in Tennessee today already. Yikes! I hope everyone is safe in Nashville, but I have to wonder why the weather gods have become upset with the APTA.

ERIC

February 4, 2008

Go Big Blue!

Somehow I managed to travel through 3 airports and not find out about the game on my way back from San Antonio last night. So, at 1am, my recording of the Super Bowl ended and I was happy.

Very Happy!

February 1, 2008

Health care costs a bunch!

The Agency for Health Care Quality and Research estimated
spending for the 10 most expensive health conditions as follows: (2005 data)

$76 billion – heart
conditions
$72 billion – trauma
disorders
$70
billion – cancer
$56 billion – mental
disorders, including depression
$54 billion – asthma and
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
$42 billion – high blood
pressure
$34 billion – type 2
diabetes
$34 billion – osteoarthritis
and other joint diseases
$32 billion – back problems
$32 billion – normal
childbirth

Interesting List! You can find more tables and interactive data about health care costs at the agency’s website. How many of these things can physical therapists help with? I find it interesting that a natural event has made the list.

What I really wonder, however, is how much "back problems" could be reduced by proper management of this condition including direct patient access to physical therapists as opposed to primary care physicians.

ERIC

January 29, 2008

Evolution of a profession?

The proposed changes for specialty certification in orthopaedics were sent out this week. The basic premise is a move towards a requirement for completing a Residency in order to obtain board certification. This is a model proven in the medical field, and described well here at the EIM blog.

But, John writes:

"Therefore, none of this will lead to immediate changes in compensation,
nor does having a DPT or residency training itself make you immediately
deserving of a high salary. However, standardizing our training around
a medical model with legitimate post graduate residency training that
is so common you wouldn’t seriously consider practicing as a physical
therapist without it (and no consumer would want to see a non board
certified PT), will go a long ways in improving our brand,
differentiating physical therapists as experts in managing patients
with musculoskeletal conditions. PT compensation will adjust
upwards once we lay claim to our brand…"

I agree, but in the short-term there is a real incentive problem. Is specialty certification so valuable to the individual that they are willing to lay out even more cash than they already have in obtaining a DPT in a profession with a real ceiling on income? The result of the extra training is a very, very well educated Physical Therapist, but one who probably has quite a bit more outstanding student debt with NO increased ability to repay. The answer to my question is, "not unless the process of residency training is so ubiquitous (among other specialty certifications as well) that no other way is an option."

Until that time happens, employers will need to step up and support new graduates in their residency training. The incentive for graduates is to seek out these employers.

In a sense, I stand against ANY alternative Continuing Education-based option for board certification. I know that’s the plan here, and I get that professional evolution must be a deliberate process, but until the "CEU" actually correlates with learning or evidence-based practice, we must be on guard against questionable continuing education providers.

In the mean time, I will keep promoting Residency training and hope employers and students have some sense of altruism for the evolution of the physical therapist.

ERIC

January 26, 2008

New PT Blogs!

I’ve often opined about the lack of Physical Therapist presence in the blogosphere. Earlier this month I issued this challenge and a call for PT’s to become bloggers.

I’m happy to report that a few took up the challenge and we now have more than 3 PT-penned weblogs! No small feat, as committing to a solid blog is a significant undertaking. You need to be brave enough to write what others might see, tech-savvy enough to design a nice page, and dedicated enough to post regularly.

Now, before I offer an introduction to your PT-penned blogs, I must issue another call to action. You see, blogs need readers. More than that, they need subscribers. Thousands of people read the Evidence in Motion blog, but surprising few have subscribed to these other PT related blogs. My call to action then becomes a call for you to go visit these blogs, subscribe to the feed (or e-mail subscription if you must) and support your hard-working, brave colleagues!

As an aside, you will notice that all these blogs are written by men, leaving Rachael Lowe’s Physiospot Blogs as still the only one hosted by a woman (although we should point out Selena Horner’s posts on EIM) in this largely female profession. Ladies: Join in!

Check em out!

Physical Therapist Rover

A student-penned blog written by Johnny May. This blog is a well-written glimpse inside the profession from a student’s perspective. But you may find Johnny is more than a student, he’s an entertainer as well.

Evidence Based Rehab

Written by Jason Harris, who should be complimented for his use of the new BPR3 blogging standard when presenting posts on peer-reviewed research.

The Physical Therapy Etcetera Blog

Mark Schwall wants to tell you about Zotero, among other physical therapy related news and topics, etc.

So there you have it. If anyone needs any blogging advice, I’m always available. Contact info can be found near my bio.

ERIC

January 25, 2008

8

8 = The number of gate keepers that I had to go through to before I finally spoke to a doctor for a re-fill on my asthma medicine today. A glimpse into why our health care costs are so high?

Speaking of numbers and costs, this bit of information has really disturbed me: A health care credit score! Now that’s asking for trouble.

ERIC

January 21, 2008

Take a Nap!

I’ve always been a proponent of napping. So much so that I’ve inadvertently hard-wired my body to really, really crave a nap mid-afternoon. I’ve considered moving to Spain so that my napping could be supported by their mid-afternoon siesta.

In the back of my mind, I’ve always felt a little guilty about it and wondered if I was just being lazy. Well, here is my answer:

"Even a 90-minute nap can significantly improve our ability to master
new motor skills and strengthen our memories of what we learn,
researchers at the University of Haifa in Israel reported last month in
Nature Neuroscience. "Napping is as effective as a night’s sleep," said
psychologist Sara Mednick at the University of California in San Diego."

Take that, nap doubters! This is from an interesting WSJ article about sleep science. I wonder how naps could affect motor learning in the scope of physical therapy practice. Perhaps something of importance in pediatric therapy, as most adults become poor nappers.

Most, but not me!
ERIC
Photo by iammikeb

January 18, 2008

PT Journal 2.0!

Congratulations to PT Journal for finally getting an RSS feed on their website!!! Content syndication, podcasts, iTunes subscribe-ability, debates, wow! These simple, yet totally useful add-ons to the website have really elevated the quality of the journal’s website and now allows readers to have a richer experience during their visits and learn about new evidence in a timely, "push" format.

For those not in the know…the secret is the little RSS icon in the image above. What’s RSS? Find out here.

Now, on to JOSPT….

ERIC

January 16, 2008

How long is the wait?

Health Affairs published a report about wait times in the Emergency Departments across the country. They increased. For acute myocardial infarction patients, the wait increased 150% from 1997-2004. Not good!

One of the reasons cited was that more patients are seeking care for non-emergency conditions at the ED. Perhaps they don’t have a primary care physician or insurance.

This problem can be seen as an opportunity for physical therapy to help ease the medical system’s burden. More and more physical therapists are finding a home in emergency departments and it makes some sense. As more patients with knee and ankle pain come in that could be triaged to physical therapists, the wait times for those heart attack patients might decide to fall.

The Wall Street Journal checks in on this as well.

ERIC

January 15, 2008

Kendall Scholarship Winners

Congrats to the latest round of winners of the Florence P Kendall Doctoral Scholarships, which are awarded by the Foundation for Physical Therapy.

The scholarship recipients are Eric Allen, PT, MPT, University of
Iowa; Stacey DeJong, PT, MPT, Washington University in St. Louis; Adam
Goode, PT, DPT, Duke University; Christine Malecka, PT, MPT, DPT,
University of Delaware; Amee Seitz, PT, DPT, Virginia Commonwealth
University, and William Thompson, PT, DPT, University of Delaware.

Good Job, everyone!

ERIC