How do you educate patients when they ask if they need diagnostic testing for low back pain? Do you cite research?
Answer
That is a difficult problem when the patient comes in with a preconceived notion that imaging is directly correlated to driving their course of care. We can try to educate them, and realistically, we will be able to reach some people and enhance their understanding of our course of action; in other people, we probably cannot. I think that the physician plays a key role in the notion as well. What kind of conversation did they have with the physician? Think of the message that you are sending the patient. Is it consistent with what the patient is seeing? The other thing is that patients are becoming more and more savvy. They are looking up information on the internet. I think that you can give them even more information. Have sites for them to check out on the internet for their own education so that they can get facts from an independent source, rather than just you. That would be the direction that I would go.
Charles R. Hazle Jr, PT, PhD
Charles Hazle, PT, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the physical therapy program at the University of Kentucky. He served as an adjunct faculty member while still a full-time clinician from 1996 to 2003 before receiving a full-time faculty appointment in 2003. He has co-authored the text “Imaging in Rehabilitation” (McGraw-Hill, 2008). He has on three occasions presented imaging educational sessions at APTA national meetings. He also serves as section co-editor for “Diagnostics Corner” in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy, which features case reports demonstrating the integration of imaging and decision-making. In addition to his instructional duties with the University of Kentucky, he has also taught integrated imaging and screening at other universities, including graduate programs abroad. He is also co-author of a new imaging text for the health professions due in 2014, also on McGraw-Hill.
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