Question

Juan Ruiz is a physical therapy assistant working in a skilled nursing facility. He loves his work and enjoys helping patients regain strength and range of motion through exercise. The amount of rehabilitation that patients may receive is limited by their insurance companies and Medicare. Juan is concerned that patients who could be regaining the full use of their limbs are not being given an adequate number of sessions. One of Juan's patients, on learning that he has only one more session with Juan, asks him if he has received "enough therapy." Juan believes that this person would benefit from at least five more sessions. 1. How should Juan respond? 2. What can he do to help the patient progress toward his full potential? 3. What can Juan do to help increase the funding allocated for rehabilitation services?

Answer 1

1. Juan should respond with the true reply for the patient's question and inform him that his insurance would cover only one more session for him and that he can no more take other sessions required for him to gain complete range of motion for his limbs. He should inform the patient that he needs five more session of the physical therapy to get normal range of motion for himself.

2. He can help the patient progress towards his full potential by giving him education on how to perform the exercises at home and also involving the patient's family members in the teaching. He should advice the patient and his family members to do the regular exercises at home and to complete the sessions by himself and to follow the steps which Juan will be teaching them.

3. Juan can send an application explaining the issues to the authorities of his hospital and can ask for the discounts on the patient's therapies to make the amount affordable by all of the people. If the authorities will not be able to work on it, he can take their help and send an application to the health ministry itself and ask them to increase the coverage of the therapy that the patient's are getting till they get full treatment for themselves.