Well we should all be letting out a collective "OUCH" on this little article, Healthcare missing a key ingredient -- the care .
This lady's complaints however well founded some individual points may or may not be, point out many failings in the Physical Therapy community and practice in general. With all of the discussion on various blogs such as Evidence in Motion and others regarding marketing it seems that many if not most of my own colleagues are missing the single best marketing opportunity they will ever be presented, their own patients. What lies beneath this could be explained by the continuing prevailing mentality of allowing reimbursement to drive practice (When will we finally find the courage to made a stand and quit capitulating?) but it certainly doesn't excuse it.
I'm disappointed that the situation described in this news article will leave this particular patient with the impression that what she experienced is what she should expect. Unfortunately, this patient's therapist obviously doesn't understand her own professional branding, namely direct interaction, education, touch and astute clinical reasoning based on a unique knowledge base of human movement and function. What this poor lady experienced was none of these based on how she related her experience. My sincerest hope is that she will elect to find a Physical Therapist who better exemplifies what our practice is truly about.
Of course none of these things are helped by yet another "Wii-hab"article and somehow I doubt a few lines of Wii bowling would have improved her perceptions of Physical Therapy.
