by Erin Dunham, DPT
"It is more important to know what sort of person has a disease than to know what sort of disease a person has." Hippocrates.
ALTA is in the midst of some changes. As some of you might have seen, we switched to Electronic Medical Records (EMR) in June. We are both excited and apprehensive about this change. As with any change at ALTA, we are optimistic that it will improve the quality of patient care.
We have struggled to find an EMR program that meets our specific needs. As we've experimented with different programs, we've been reminded again and again that ALTA is different. We, as physical therapists, are different - the way we treat, the way our minds work, the way we tackle a problem - it's all different. And, at the risk of sounding boastful, we believe we are better.
Let me give you an example: While looking at one company's evaluation template for the knee, we saw the following options:
Knee range of motion
Strength of muscles around the knee joint
Mobility of the patella (kneecap)
Swelling around the knee
Hmmm... what about the foot? Does the foot work properly to control the knee? What about the hips? Are they strong enough to maintain knee alignment? What about the back? Is the knee pain coming from a pinched nerve in the spine that is referring to the knee? Maybe the internal organs are not moving well, maybe there are adhesions in the shoulder that affect the knee, or maybe a blood vessel is constricted in the pelvis which is impeding blood flow to the knee. Sorting all that out is where big and lasting changes happen. See, we are different!
We treat the whole person, head to toe. We don't fit well into templates and we have struggled with EMR because nothing is quite customizable enough. Each patient is different and each injury is different. At ALTA, we don't work well with templates because following a template often neglects the most important factor in the equation - you.
So, as you see us walking around with our laptops and possibly a furrowed brow, bear with us. We are working on ways to make your experience at our clinic the very best it can be.
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