Our first internship is now underway and we are beginning to treat classmates weekly. This new responsibility is quite the bonus for those of us who have been waiting patiently to apply our skills. It is interesting to transition into this realm because over the past 2 years, we have been learning adjustments but not with a focus on finding musculoskeletal restrictions. Our internship is based on finding restrictions in movement in our classmates and correcting them with the adjustments we have learned thus far. This takes a lot of dexterity and trust in your palpation skills.
Before adjusting anything, you have to take a SOAP note. This requires asking the patient of their current or ongoing complaints which is written in the subjective area, followed by evaluation of the person's area of complaint with palpation, motion analysis and measurements. The information obtained from the evaluation is written in the objective portion of the document. Prior to manipulative treatment you must find out if the patient's problems are worsening, getting better or staying the same.
When ready, you approach your clinician with a route slip and get it approved. Once approved, you are essentially a doctor for the rest of the class and you are left alone to treat your patient. It is pretty exciting to be at this level in the program.
All for now
Great synopsis Dr. Spangler. It's been great working with you as always. I'm hoping that lots of practice will polish up my rusty SOAPs sooner rather than later. Soon, very soon, we will be helping people live their lives to the max. Rock on!
ReplyDeleteThanks Dr. Pope. It has been a pleasure working with you as well. Looking forward to all this new paperwork getting easier. Thanks for reading.
ReplyDeleteThat is BIG TIME and very cool! Congrats on all your progress.
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