When does teamwork strengthen patient care—and when can it unintentionally limit it?
In this episode of Acute Conversations, hosts Dr. Leo Arguelles and Dr. Daniel Young welcome Haley Bento, PT, DPT, CCS; Harley Kvenvold, occupational therapist; Dr. Kathryn Brito, PT, DPT, CCS; and Brian Hull, PT, DPT, MBA, BCHE, to revisit PT and OT co-treatment in acute care. Building on a previous listener-favorite episode and their newly published clinical perspective, the panel examines why routine co-treatment remains common and how clinicians can move toward more intentional, patient-specific decision-making.
The conversation explores how co-treatment can affect therapy intensity, access to care and professional identity—particularly when occupational therapy is reduced to an extra set of hands rather than recognized for its distinct expertise. The guests also address the real-world factors that shape practice, including clinician confidence, limited support staff, productivity pressures, discharge demands and hospital culture.
Listeners will hear practical strategies for distinguishing a true need for two skilled disciplines from a need for brief physical assistance, strengthening ICU competency and mentorship, documenting clinical reasoning, and reassessing the need for co-treatment during every session.
The goal is not to eliminate co-treatment or shame clinicians who use it. It is to create a meaningful shift toward thoughtful collaboration that protects each profession’s unique value and better serves patients.
IG: @utahcardioptresidency; @utahacuteptresidency
Brian Hull PT, DPT, MBA, BCHE
www.linkedin.com/in/BrianHulldptmba
www.linkedin.com/in/harley-kvenvold-4309211a9
Kathryn Brito PT, DPT, CCS
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kathryn-brito-pt-dpt-ccs-69135993/
5:53 Katie “ Putting out this article was important to start those conversations, and I think so far we’ve been pretty successful with that because there really was nothing in the literature talking about co-treatment between OT and PT in the acute care setting.”
15:22 Harley “ I think the main issue is the kind of diluting what an occupational therapist can do for a patient, particularly in an acute setting.”
17:53 Haley “ There are plenty of times where I need help. That does not mean I need an occupational therapist. They’re not my helper, right? So really trying to differentiate I need help versus I need an occupational therapist- and their specific skills in this scenario.”
22:28 Brian “ The one thing that, that we do is we ask people to try to limit co-treats or co-evals to about eight per month, so a couple per week…and really think through when is it actually beneficial for the patient to have only one treatment for that day that combines the expertise, that does not risk it of being, of homogenizing The expertise of PT and OT that can somehow preserve it both.”
43:27 Katie “ The point of this perspective piece and this episode is to start a conversation and allow people to reflect and really critically think through why they’re doing things in order to benefit the patient or optimize what we’re doing for the patient. I don’t want people to listen to this episode and walk away from this thinking, “Oh, I’m not a good acute care therapist because I do X, Y, and Z.” That’s not the point… don’t come down on yourself, but take away from this paper and this episode an opportunity to reflect on your practice and try to make small s- to even take small steps of asking and having those conversations with your colleagues.”
Haley, what’s the best thing about living in Salt Lake City?
Ooh, the best thing about living in Salt Lake is the mountain access. People in other parts of the country like to say that they’re close to the mountains, but I can literally run or bike from my house and be on some world-class trails. So that’s the best part is the trail access.
Harley, name a movie that you could quote endlessly.
You know you’re an acute care therapist when…
Katie- “Fridays are your least favorite day of the week- … ’cause it’s discharge day.”
Brian- “ I’d say when you’re familiar with cortisol, and plenty of it, nonstop.”
https://journals.lww.com/jacpt/fulltext/2026/04000/a_clinical_perspective_on_the_value_of_reducing.1.aspx
Leo Arguelles (pronounced LEE-O R-GWELL-IS)
🐦 Twitter: @LeoArguellesPT
Nicole Neveau, PT, DPT, NCS
🔗 LinkedIn: Nicole Neveau
Danny Young, PT, DPT, PhD
🌐 Bluesky: @dlyoungdptphd.bsky.social
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#AcuteCare #PhysicalTherapy #HealthcareLeadership
Interested in being a future guest?
APTA Acute Care “Optimizing Recovery, Elevating Care”
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