The NBA and NHL playoffs are upon us. This is the time when teams are looking for consistency, team work, and results. It is the time when your big money players need to shine, and your situational players need to step up at crunch time.
Non-evidence-based care (NEBC) is a big-name player in the starting line-up of health care. It gets a lot of minutes of game time. It makes a lot of money as a player, making it a significant draw on the team's salary cap. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
With that in mind, let's send non-evidence-based care to the sidelines, once and for all. Here's how we might do it.
The physical therapy profession has been bedazzled by plenty of bright and shiny objects over the years. These shiny new objects have included degree escalation, alphabet soup certifications, and continuing education ranging from dry needling to visceral manipulation amongst many others.
All that has done is pull the profession further and further away from our unique value proposition. None of this has aided in defining the role of the profession for prospective consumers.
But, we can simplify all this with some simple branding.
You see, physical therapy is, first and foremost, a movement profession. Movement and function define what we do, long before degrees and certifications.
As I was walking out the door of my office one day last week, it caught my attention - the date on my diploma. There it was, the date it all started - May 28, 1988. It hit me with resounding clarity. I laughed and shook my head as I closed the door. Time sure does go by fast.
It's hard to comprehend that I have been a physiotherapist for 25 years today. That's a quarter of a decade. No wonder there are days when I feel tired.
I was once told that a person goes through, on average, five career changes in their lives. I have yet to hit the first one. With all jokes aside, it has been a long journey filled with great experiences, amazing patients, inspiring clinicians, and more challenges than I care to imagine.
After some reflection on the past 25 years, here are 25 thoughts - in no particular order - of some things I have learned along the way.
Words are powerful. Language is everything. And if you are going to map out a vision statement, it better use the right words and the right language. Otherwise, the meaning and intent can change rapidly and may in fact be counter to your original goals.
Which brings me to Vision 2020 and the seemingly incessant debate over the importance of entry-level degree relative to the development of the profession and its brand - and all of the variants on that theme.
I am convinced more than ever that the professional brand is, without doubt, far more important than the degree that you have attained to be a part of that professional brand. But what became readily apparent to me today during one of these debates is that the mechanisms underlying it lie not in skill or experience or degree. The problem begins with Vision 2020 itself.
The vision has gone awry. We're all starting to feel the effects of 10 words that truly make a difference - in intent, and in action.
They took me to the brink again. And once again, they left Leaf Nation hanging, uttering the phrase "maybe next season" one more time.
"They" would be the Toronto Maple Leafs, of course, who were officially eliminated from the NHL playoffs by the Boston Bruins in overtime of game 7. That wouldn't be a big deal, except that they had a two goal lead with 1:22 to play. But in fine Leafs fashion, they gave up two quick goals and went to overtime. The rest, as they say, is history.
As a Toronto newspaper so eloquently noted the next day, "The Choke's On Us". I just call them the Chicago Cubs of the NHL. 'Nuff said on that one.
There is never a lack of rhubarb upon which to report. So with that in mind, I bring you stories from the fringe - in Episode 067.
The phrase "cash-based practice" has become a hot topic and trendy phrase lately. Many physical therapists have headed in this direction. My clinical practice has been cash-based since 2004.
There is a strange perception in health care that third party payment (via insurance) and cash-based practices are inherently different. Perhaps it is because of the perceived "skin in the game" that the patient has when they hand you cash (or a credit card) directly upon receipt of services rendered.
What is forgotten is that no matter how you cut it, both are cash-based. Worse yet, both are built upon a foundation of misguided incentives.
Stop for a moment and reflect on this thought: who is the most important person in health care?
Or another thought, if you are a provider: why are any of us in health care?
It is a simple answer - the patient.
When we speak to the patient about their problem, who is the only one to have the history at their fingertips? The patient.
And when we look at the quality of care, who ultimately has to live with the outcome? The patient.
Once and for all, people, this is all about the patient.
Up to 60% of runners will sustain an injury within any given year. Poor running mechanics, in conjunction with poor, ineffective and outdated training methods, can pose a significant injury risk. "RunSmart" was written to address these issues in the running community.
"Running Injuries: Etiology And Recovery- Based Treatment" (co-author Bridget Clark, PT) appears in the third edition and fourth editions of "Clinical Orthopaedic Rehabilitation: A Team Approach" by Charles Giangarra, MD and Robert C. Manske, PT.
Allan Besselink, PT, DPT, Ph.D., Dip.MDT has a unique voice in the world of sports, education, and health care. Read more about Allan here.
Top 5 finalist in three categories: "Best Overall Blog", "Best PT Blog" and "Best Advocacy Blog".
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