Hi all,
Throughout my four weeks in neuro OP I was treating a pt (~50 yo male) who had a R LACI approx 12 months ago. For the first few treatments there was the general chit chat that we have with most pt we see and he seemed like a really nice guy… after I’d seen him a few times he started with some offhand comments like “I’m really glad you’re my physio, your hands are so soft…” or “ you’re very nice to look at” and things like that, which I just kinda let go with a thankyou and didn’t think much more about it. Those sorts of comments kept coming over the next few sessions and I’d find that he’d stare at me while I was treating him, and I’d really have to try hard to make him concentrate on what he was doing instead of what I was doing and it started to creep me out.
He never said or did anything that was really inappropriate but it was just a feeling that I got about him and made me very conscious of how I was with him during treatments. I never felt unsafe or anything around him, and because the gym was open with no curtains or anything it was fine, but I guess because physio is very hands on and there is a lot of close contact that we have with patients sometimes, we just have to be careful about some patients like this who are a bit “friendlier” than most. Especially when we’re treating pts of the opposite sex we have to be very careful that they don’t get the wrong idea, and that there’s always someone else around that can see what’s going on if needed. I hope no one else has had a pt like mine!
Tara
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Hey Tara,
I agree with you that we do need to be careful and that with some physiotherapy techniques you get very close with your patients and enter their personal space. This comes along with the profession and I think as we enter into clinical situation we will learn more on how to deal and approach these sorts of situations. When we work with each other in class we become very comfortable with each other. It was interesting Deb and I were on a our Neuro placement together and we had a GB patient who was 2 x max assist for transfers and sitting balance was 1 x mod Assist and SB from the front. We were testing his sitting balance I was standing infront and Deb behind and we were asking him to look up and sit nice and tall. We had to always ask him to look up because he would look at the ground. Later after the session or clinical tutor mentioned for us to perhaps sit down in front of him so he could look straight up without starring right at our chest. The thought did not even cross my mind as to why he was always looking down, I was more worried about guarding his movement and being in an optimal position incase he ever lost balance when reaching out of his BOS. It was a very valid point our supervisor brought up and from then on I learned to be a lot more conscious about my positioning and the comfort of my patient.
Have a good week at placement!
dani
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