Why do my patients don't respond well to my treatments ? ...Maybe it's an education problem !!
Imagine this situation, a patient came for a physiotherapy session after a physician referral for a hip replacement surgery. The patient is a 76 years old female with overweight status. She asks the physiotherapist if she will be able to walk alone after 1 month of rehabilitation. He jumps to conclusions, and he tells her that she could do that based on her improvement and response to the protocol. After 1 month the patient tries to walk alone with no assistance, and she fell on her knees resulting in some micro-fractures on her femur, and delaying her functional progress for more than 3 months!!! This scenario could have been prevented if the physiotherapist educated the woman on the safe ways to walk until the muscle strength and the walking gait comes to its normal state. Patient education is one of the most important aspects of patient management, because it’s the breakthrough towards an understanding of the health problem by the patient and the gain of trust...
