Hey guys,
I'm on neuro at the moment. We had a lady 2 wks post stroke who was c/o calf pain. She'd rolled her ankle a few months pre stroke so was also c/o ankle pain. There was a palpable 'knot' mid calf so we raised the issue of DVT with our supervisor. Doctors didn't really think much of it, basically told us we were wasting everyones time by requesting U/S. Anyway, the short story is that it WAS a DVT... so basically what I am trying to say is that as PT students we've been taught all the signs and symptoms of DVT so are in the best position to identify possible cases.
Cheers
EZ
2 comments:
Hey Erin,
I have come across similar situations in both of my previous placements (spinal and medical wards) whereby us, as physio's-in-training, often are the first to pick-up on more serious conditions that require urgent medical attention. I think this is because we spend a very large amount of time with our patients (as we have limited numbers of them) and we are forced to take extremely detailed examinations of our patients. So, I agree with you that we may sometimes be in the best position to identify other problmes with our patients, simply because our knowledge is fresh and we have the time to listen and interpret our patients problems more closely than other busier helath professionals. I think what we need to focus on now is having the confidence to highlight these findings to our superiors!!!
Kate.
Erin and Kate,
Thats awesome that you picked up the DVT erin, good work!
I have also found that a couple of times on my orthopaedic placement- I suggested on one occasion that one of my patients may have had another fracture in their arm (we were treating one in their leg) so the doctors had to come in and do their assessment etc. Anyway the patient got sent away for an x-ray (which came back negative) and the physio and I felt a little bit silly. Though in the end we agreed that despite feeling a bit embarrassed, it is a lot better to say the wrong thing when you suspect something than to let it go & run the possibility of something worse happening to this patient.
I also think that we as student physios need to continually work on our assessment skills so we can pick up these kinds of things as soon as they come up.
Good work Erin
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