PT Pintcast - Physical Therapy

All you need to know about #Cancerrehab!!

We have Amy Compston, Dan Steventon, Chris Barnes, and Scott Kramer all physical therapists working, leading, and educating in the world of oncology physical therapy.

The hidden themes for this episode:

* Read the room and the patient* Know how treatment impacts function* Have the foresight and leadership to speak up, reach out and make an impact

In this field, Amy believes physical therapists should be an advocate for their patients and not setting limits on treatment. To be a successful leader, you should take even the smallest of opportunities and keep refining your skills.

Dan created a Youtube channel called The Kids Cancer PT to provide education and encouragement to those affected by childhood cancer. Top tools treating the pediatric oncology population include having a thorough chart review and a strong research base.

As a PhD candidate, Chris is working on the precision exercise prescription study which is a model to incorporate PT into the oncology team and improve the long term outcomes after lung cancer. Chris discusses how the oncology population is affected in relation to DEI. 

Scott describes his role and adaptability when working with hematological and bone marrow transplant patients. He encourages body weight resistance to treatment when appropriate.

PARTING SHOT

“Every person you come across in your clinic, forging that bond. Getting to know those people so that we can help make physical therapy not just a point in the cancer continuum but a cornerstone and enveloped in the whole entire patient experience.”Amy Compston

“If you are experiencing that or ever struggle with that burnout as a PT, as a provider, really dive into it. Sometimes you need to dive in harder than you thought you were going because that is your way out.”Scott Kramer

“If a kid with cancer invites you into their world, brighten that world.”Dan Steventon

“As PTs, we are rigid. We fight for what we want to do. To mature as a profession, we need to meet people for where they are.”  Chris Barnes

How To Deliver High-Quality Info On Social Media As A PT

Dance Background

Danny dedicated his early career to professional dancing, competing internationally, and became the 5th top international professional ballroom dancer in the world.

From teaching ballroom dancing at the age of 15, Danny found PT as a way to help people with movement and build a relationship and connection with others. 

Clinical Practice

Before COVID, he opened his practice Project Physical Therapy. He is currently treating 60/40 in person and telehealth but shifted to 100% telehealth in the beginning of the pandemic to treat his patients and reach a larger population. 

Danny creates social media content crossing both dancing and physical therapy to spread fun, engaging, and applicable insight to his audience. Follow him now on Instagram at @OfficalDannyShapiro. 

When it comes to money and insurance in physical therapy, he emphasizes that PT’s should connect with their patients to consistently provide high quality of care despite the time length of treatment. If the care given makes a difference to a patient, the money will follow. 

Danny’s drink for show - the boozie tea mixed with earl grey tea, oat milk, disaronno liqueur. 

Thank you for watching and listening! Look out for our TOP 12 of 2020! 

QUOTES

“If you’re a PT and listening to this, don’t shy away from digital therapy. There is so much you can do that does not require your hands.” - DANNY 

“Not only be real with your audience… but also be real with your patients. The way I am on social media is 100 fold the way I am with my patients.” - DANNY  

Academy of Orthopaedic Physical Therapy Parting Shot

“If you are a healthcare provider, please work on being yourself. Work on being the real self to your patients… Your patients crave your support so give it to them.” - DANNY

Colin Carr is CEO of CARR which is the nation’s leading provider of healthcare real estate for healthcare professionals. 

Colin started out in traditional and commercial real estate deals and found himself working with healthcare providers on their negotiations. Discovering what they knew and how he could help, he shifted to predominantly working with this population representing the doctor. 

The biggest misunderstanding in commercial real estate is healthcare providers believing they will save money if they do not hire an agent but they are the buyer or tenant that does not pay commission. Landlords and sellers pay commission. 

There is a term ‘posture’ in real estate meaning as the buyer, you are serious about getting the best terms possible. Posture is creating options for yourself by hiring an agent that will represent your interests. This does not include working by yourself or under the landlord or listing agent.

Colin recommends health care providers to find a commercial real estate agent who understands the healthcare industry and has no conflicts of interest. The #1 transaction doctors get taken advantage of are lease renewal negotiations. 

Let healthcare real estate agents help you in your next negotiation. Check out CARR. 

PARTING SHOT 

46:22 “Hire professionals that are better than you in every possible area.” - COLIN

What Makes A Great PT School Applicant?

Skye Donovan, Lori Bordenave and Chris Petrosino are physical therapists and have extensive experience in the PT admissions process as program chairs of three different PT programs across the country - Marymount University, A.T. Still University and Sacred Heart University. 

The panel agrees a great PT applicant is someone who is strong academically, has grit, can persevere, is passionate, caring, compassionate and ready to change gears. 

Applicants are highly encouraged to do their research when selecting a school. Each school has their own pre-requisites, separate applications aside from PTCAS, and interviews for admissions. 

When it comes to the interview process whether it is an individual, group or video interview, the guests discuss that they look for strong communication skills and professionalism in the potential PT student. Listen to the stories these three share about their worst PT interview experiences (start 25:20). 

The behavior guide of PTs and PTAs are the APTA Core Values. To understand how to behave and treat in this profession, these core values can guide how to come off on an application or personal statement. 

QUOTES

15:11 One of the ways that you know you have everything on that application that is pertinent is to find somebody who knows you, loves you, and wants you to go to PT school.” - LORI 

PARTING SHOT

1:04:32 “Everybody has a story. Know your story. Tell your story. I think that will make you genuine and really get you further by telling that story.” - LORI

1:05:02 “Optimize your talents. You have a lot of talents to bring to the table.” - CHRIS 

1:05:51 “Don’t let fear paralyze you. Don’t be afraid of showing your true self. Try not to let fear overcome your ability to shine.” - SKYE 

hool Applicant?

Caitlin McGee, Elliot Smithson, and Matthew Hwu are physical therapists who work at 1HP, a company improving gaming performance and prolonging gaming careers for the esport athlete. 

Caitlin was on the show with us previously talking about esports but with an evolving field, she continues to define esports as any competitive scene of a video game. 

The panel discusses the physical skills required for the esport athlete - fast reaction time, fast processing, strong upper extremity strength, posture, and endurance. Matthew discusses APM (actions per minute) which is the amount of finger movement performed while gaming.

One difference between esports PT and sports PT is the lack of infrastructure and lack of expectation eport athletes are expected to be engaging outside of the game time. 

Elliot dives into the concept of game sense which describes the esport athlete to not only be proficient in gaming performance but also to have quick decision making skills continually over time. 

Check out APTA’s recent article In Esports, Gaming and Gamers Join the Big Leagues for more information about PT’s treating in this field. 

PARTING SHOT

1:13:45 “Don’t just get yourself pigeon holed into learning the traditional models of whatever it is you’re studying. If you’re not seeking out information from sources that don’t necessarily just fit into your traditional structure, you’re missing out on so much information.” - CAITLIN 

1:14:19 “Show that you care. Listen and care for the people you work with.” - MATTHEW 

1:14:49 “Don’t be afraid to break out of that 9-5 outpatient ortho model. Really explore what you’re into. Really explore what you can offer as a PT.” - ELLIOT

Be an Expert PT through Leadership and Communication

Alan Lee, Chris Peterson, Trevor Russell, and Mike Billings are all physical therapists, educators, experts, and advocates of telehealth in physical therapy and healthcare. 

Alan describes early telemedicine was used mainly with cardiopulmonary conditions as the technology was not readily available. Telehealth has drastically increased due to COVID and the improvement in technology. 

Chris finds telehealth as highly valuable in physical therapy as other businesses shift to an online platform. He sees telehealth being utilized in a hybrid model in the future with PTs/PTAs understanding what patient is fit for telehealth. 

Trevor notes there is a substantial amount of research available but the evidence is not continuously translated into practice. He recommends focusing on what is similar between treating in person and using technology then converting those similarities using technology to meet treatment objectives. 

In the future, Mike believes telehealth is here to stay but is leveling off compared to the start of COVID. Some other predictions were modifying the title telehealth to digital health, change in reimbursement rate, creating hybrid models, implementing interstate compacts, and adding telehealth in physical therapy programs.  

For more information on telehealth in practice, look to the American Physical Therapy Association and the American Telemedicine Association. 

PARTING SHOT

49:42 “Everyone have patience.” - ALAN 

50:43 “Don’t always assume the original way you learned something is the only way to do something.” - CHRIS 

51:12 “Do not be afraid of this [telehealth]. Embrace the similares but prepare for the differences.” - TREVOR 

51:54 “I do hope care is taken to ensure that telerehab is used  to confront rather than exacerbate any health care on affordability and inequity that we have in the US.” - MIKE

Stephen Burkert is a physical therapist who combines his passion for winter sports and outdoor athletics by treating snow sport athletes. 

Steve started his business Snow Beast Performance out of a CrossFit gym near Burlington, VT. He took his lifestyle to cater to snow athletes and apply their needs to the mountain. 

His model is to screen and prepare all athletes for the snow season. He conducts formal programs to limit potential injuries. Each athlete, either skier or snowboarder, has specific interventions tailored to their sport. 

Common injuries Steve treats are not any different than what is seen in typical PT clinics. He treats mainly overuse injuries from poor repetitive movement but emphasizes PTs treating on the mountain should have a strong knowledge in concussion rehab.

If any PT, PTA or student is interested in this area, Steve recommends gaining the experience in this area to understand the demand to ski or snowboard. Steve also became a ski and snowboard instructor to learn the language of educating this population. 

Steve holds a Snowboard Performance and Injury Support Group on Facebook to further spread insight and knowledge to snow athletes. 

Win a PT Pintcast PT Pintglass!! 

The Northeast Regional Virtual Conference hosted by APTA CT, MA, NH and RI Chapters will be available until January 31. 

PARTING SHOT

35:49 “If you have a passion for something, go after it. It might not be something that seems to make sense but as physical therapists, we’re naturally givers.” - STEPHEN

What Do You Need To Know About Inter-Professional Care?

MeMe Earnest is a neurology resident graduate at the Cincinnati VA Medical Center, director of communications for MoveTogether, and practice lead for the Adaptive Sports SIG of AASPT.

Within her residency, she worked in an interdisciplinary team including PT, OT, SLP, chiropractor, PM&R, and other PT residents.

MeMe mentioned her #1 question from students was what does the day by day look like as a resident? She was performing a different task every day which included treating, teaching, presenting, receiving mentorship, and working a fitness wellness program called Gerofit.

As practice lead on the Adaptive Sports SIG, her job is to communicate on practice guidelines and research for advancing the treatment of adaptive athletes.

QUOTES

14:30 “Adaptive sport and wellness is the perfect solution to that, making sure you have opportunities for individuals with disabilities in your community is huge.”- MEME

PARTING SHOT

25:15 “Meet the people where they are.” – MEME 

How to Dissect Anatomy in Physical Therapy Education

Mike Pascoe is a professor of anatomy at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus teaching gross anatomy to PT, PA, and medical students. He received his PhD in neurophysiology from the University of Boulder.

Mike reminds us that graduate level anatomy courses present a vast amount of information quickly. He recommends study strategies that can include drawing/painting on the body, creative dances, and building paper models and drawings to have an active learning experience. If you are a SPT looking for further anatomy resources, look no further with Mike Pascoe.

With COVID, anatomy courses were completed either remotely or present in the lab but limited to extremities. To perform anatomy on campus, anatomy educators created a guide to explain the importance of donor-based anatomy on student learning.

Mike uses light field photography, student wikis and digital dissection guides to increase the learning outcomes. He conducted a study comparing traditional dissection guides to a custom written digital dissection guide and found better outcomes with a more specific guide.

For the last five years, the University of Colorado has held a student-led Marquette challenge bringing practicing clinicians into the lab to learn and practice anatomy dissection.

Check out Mike Pascoe’s website about all the anatomy resources for the student physical therapist and current clinicians.

QUOTES

“When you leave anatomy class and you are with a patient, every patient is going to be an exam for you, an anatomy exam.” – MIKE

“If you want your anatomy and your learning to be durable, it has to be difficult.” – MIKE

PARTING SHOT

“Make learning fun. When students need to understand the given area of skin inverted by a spinal nerve, that’s when the derma suit comes out.” – MIKE