First impressions

I would like to comment on a patient that I saw today for an initial assessment. I am on my musculo placement, and my new patient is known to the staff on placement, and she had to cancel her appointment yesterday. I was going through the subjective questioning, which took quite a while because she had significant issues with pain. Eventually I asked about her SHx, and she became very defensive and thought that I was invading her privacy. She became very loud at this time too, because most of the other students heard what she was saying.

I explained to her that I needed to find out what her ADLs were like at home, to get an understanding of her physical demands and how these might impact on her pain. She understood and slowly warmed to me during the session. By the end of the treatment I was able to diagnose SIJ instability, and gave her a STM to her Lx region (which I think was all she really wanted in the first place). She seemed very happy with this and was happy to book in for further treatment next week.

I was worried that she would want another physio for her treatment when she became defensive, but in the end this patient was very co-operative. Its important not to judge patients too quickly, otherwise they will get to you, and as a result your treatment will be impaired.