Value 1 – You At The Center

“You at the center”
In today’s blog we explore the first of our four values, “You at the center”. It’s no accident that we chose to have this as the first value of the organization. It is also the foundation to us achieving our mission of “getting you better quicker”. We believe that as the patient, you are “hiring” us to join your rehabilitation team. You are not here for us, rather we are here for you. We recognize that you have a choice about where you receive your care and we feel honored that you have chosen us.

The key of relationship
Just as you are the center of the team, our relationship with you is the center of your rehabilitation. This relationship between patient and therapist provides the bridge to recovery. If that relationship is not present even the best therapist will struggle to help you. It’s so important to build that relationship from the first appointment. Being professional, being kind, being punctual and being a good listener are all attributes I foster in myself and my staff. After all, it is through this relationship that we are able to facilitate your recovery.
By listening closely to the history of your pain we formulate a working hypothesis for the source of your symptoms and then the clinical exam helps us to confirm it. A clear diagnosis helps us to have a specific, individualized treatment plan.
This relationship will allow you to trust our expertise and our skills. It may enable you to try something new – in order to get a different outcome. You’ll have the courage to try that deep squat exercise, do that difficult balance exercise or even try something like dry needling. Sometimes, the interventions we use in physical therapy, whether exercises or hands on treatment cause a mild degree of discomfort or pain. As the person who will experience that discomfort, you have to be able to trust that your therapist can strike the balance between “hurt but not harm”.

Goals of your treatment
We also want to know what your goals are. I often find patients are surprised by this question and I get responses like, “to get rid of the pain.” And while that is a given, the key is for the therapist to understand the “why”. Why did you chose to start physical therapy now- is there an event or trip coming up that you aren’t sure if you could do? Are there activities or hobbies that you can’t do without pain or ones you’ve had to give up completely – are you motivated to return to these activities?

Patient satisfaction

The report card we keep of how good we are doing at keeping “you at the center” is found in our patient satisfaction portion of the Focus on Therapeutic Outcomes (FOTO) questionnaire. Our goal is to have 100% satisfaction when it comes to your experience of your time with Alliance PT. The most important measure to us is whether you would tell a friend or family member that you were very satisfied with your experience at Alliance PT.

Outcomes over Profit
The final component of keeping “you at the center” is that we value you over our profit. We want to get you better in as few visits as possible. In the current health care model in this country, where we get paid to do more treatment and more visits, we are making a very conscious choice to focus on outcomes over profit.

Accountability
Occasionally, despite our noble values and best efforts we might fall short. If ever we do, you have my guarantee that we want to hear your feedback so that we can improve. My belief though is that as long as we can keep “you at the center” of all we do here at Alliance PT, then we will achieve our mission of getting you better quicker.

Phil Chamberlain, MSPT, Cert DN