Client rebooking/compliance with treatment plan

[bikelet]

Awkward topic I know...Does anyone have advice or suggestions for improving client rebooking to better enable seeing the whole treatment episode through? I understand that client education is very important- are there any strategies or guidelines that people follow? For example, how do you deal with needing to see a person again when they may not have experienced a significant difference in 1 treatment? Or how to do you persuade them to continue with the treatment plan when they have made significant gains but are not quite 100%?

Similar Threads:

• SIJ pain treatment plan??
• SI-joint/ and this client
• CF patient treatment and compliance
• treatment plan for sciatica
• therapist/client safety

[Fyzzio]

...Or how to do you persuade them to continue with the treatment plan when they have made significant gains but are not quite 100%?

Have a closer look at your question - you might be able to answer it yourself. :-)
We (although I mainly speak for Physios) do not treat to achieve 100%, but to achieve a goal (or several). So, whether you continue treatment or ask the client to come back only depends on whether they have achieved their goals. For numerous clients it is quite acceptable not to achieve 100%. Their goal might be e.g. to be able to manage thier pain better vs. being pain free; or being able to stand up from a chair without arms independently vs. achieving quads score of 5/5. And of course, those goals need to be revisited from time to time, as they might change in the process of intervention. Along those lines, we must not forget, however, that it is the client's right to discontinue their treatment whenever they wish to do so.
So, it's the goal setting that is of major importance here. The client will set the goal for the treatment - there might be short term goals and long term goals. We are there to help the clients to achieve them.

Food for thoughts, I hope.
Rgeards,
Fyzzio

[Crystal R. Westergard]

I agree with what has been said. I also find I learn alot when the patient returns. This helps me give better physio to our whole community.
So I might say to a patient " I'm pretty sure you are going to find a big difference from this treatment, but I'd like to see you come back at least once more. That way, If I'm right, and you are doing super, I know that this is a treatment to do on others. But if there are problems with it, I know NOT to do the treatment this way in the future. I only learn how to be the best physio if I know my treatments worked out." If you absolutely don't need any treatment after today, you can always call with one day notice and tell the receptionist you are fine, cancelling next weeks appointment, at no cost to you."
People in our city realize that if their physio never gets to find out how her patients are doing after the fact, she's not going to be the community resource she could be.
Best wishes,
CRW

[bikelet]

Thanks for both of the replies Fyzzio and Crystal. That makes sense about client goals- I think I often assume that they will have the same goals as me without talking enough about it. I think the biggest thing I am learning at the moment it about communicating around client goals and a long term plan. I find when I do this well, people are really enthusiatic about returning for treatment, and almost can't wait because they want to get things right. I think at other times where we haven't quite identified specific goals, it is easier for clients to get sidetracked or go off on tangents to try other therapies etc and there is not as much trust there.