Patient Centered Care Reflection

My patient Mr A, mentioned in Task 2, is a 20-yr-old male who had a lateral collateral ligament sprain and a mild patellofemoral pain syndrome at his right knee. The patient was an enthusiastic part-time soccer player who longed to become a full-time player. While actively preparing for the upcoming matches, he had a collision with his teammate during a practice session 1/52 ago. I was asked by my clinical educator to give him an initial assessment and some treatments.

During the assessment, I asked him to walking along the corridor because I would like to observe his gait pattern. However, I could see that he was pushing himself to go as fast as he could and he told me that this injury has prevented him from running fast. I addressed

Reflecting on my performance in delivering healthcare to Mr. A, I found out there were both good and bad points which enabled and hindered patient-centered care respectively. First of all, addressing his goal of returning to sports helped me to build rapport with the patient as patient will know that the physiotherapist would be working to solve what he concerned the most. This would also promote patient’s compliance to treatment when there was a specific goal. Using patients’ desire to motivate them is an effective technique to enhance compliance, and thus patient-centered care. What I also did well is customizing time allocation for different treatment parts. Rather than following a standardized routine of treatment, I learnt from past experience and used the time for what the patient wants the most. Moreover, communication also played the role as an enabler when delivering patient-centered care to Mr.

Patient’s emotions can be a 2-sided sword when delivering patient centered care. Addressing their concern and anxiety can enhance patient compliance with treatment, rapport between the therapist the patient, as well as achieving patient’s desired outcomes. In order to address their concern, we need to develop empathy. Instead of giving pure suggestions or evidences, therapist should link up their instructions and education with patient’s real-life situation. For example, giving the prognosis and estimated period of recovery could Mr. A to plan for his upcoming soccer match. Instead of going with standardized speech and instructions, putting patient’s concern as the top priority of treatment goals, and telling him that we will be working on it is also communication technique which builds the bond in the therapist-patient relationship. Moreover, delivery of patient-centered care actually involves not only the patient, the therapist, but also the people surrounding the patient. If I met a patient who was influenced by external factors such as peer pressure, I would choose to seek help from other health care practitioners, to address the patient’s problem from different facets because patient’s health involves both physical and psychological