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Physical Therapy Ethics Paper

794 Words4 Pages

No matter what profession you pursue, there is a high probability of encountering actions of your co-workers that you may not agree with. This holds true for the profession of physical therapy. I am a 3rd year physical therapy student working at a physical therapy clinic and witnessed that they focus more of their labor force on one group of patients over the other despite the similar injuries. This paper will give you my moral, legal and ethical perspective as well as what I would do in the scenario. From a moral point of view, every patient that comes through the door of the clinic should be treated the same regardless of their socioeconomic status. As practicing healthcare professionals, we have an obligation to treat our patients to the …show more content…

Although there are no obvious rules that are being broken, the physical therapist is performing a form of negligence. Handing off the less affluent patient to either the PTA or I is acceptable only if the physical therapist in charge of their care is constantly checking in with the them and making changes to their treatment plan accordingly. Having little to no communication or receiving the progress of the patient solely from the PTA or I is unacceptable for a physical therapist as they are not actively involved in the care of the patient. Another factor that comes into play is whether or not the PTA or I are experienced enough to handle the patient that we have been assigned to work with. The patient might present with a complex history of low back pain or excruciating pain to the point where we don’t have the knowledge to take on treating the …show more content…

The code of ethics for physical therapists help define the ethical responsibility that is required by all physical therapists. The physical therapist is breaking several principles listed in the code of ethics. Principle 1 states that all “physical therapists shall respect the inherit dignity and rights of all individuals.” In other words, the physical therapist should respect and treat each patient equally regardless of their socioeconomic status. I witnessed the less affluent patients being treated by either a PTA or I with only a couple of visits while a senior physical therapist tends to treat the affluent patients, receiving more attention and visits. Justice, one of the universal ethical principles, ties in well with this ethical argument since it means to treat patients equally and to be fair. Principle 2A states that “physical therapists shall adhere to the core values of the profession and act in the best interest of the patient over the interest of the physical therapist.” The physical therapist is acting in their own interest as they are only looking at ways to make profit and not caring about the quality of care they are providing for their patients. Principle 8 states that “physical therapists shall be responsible of healthcare resources and shall avoid overutilization or underutilization of physical therapy.” As mentioned before, the

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For this particular case study, the PT should have utilized the services of a PTA or another PT to render the intervention while the primary PT was away. A perusal of the policy set forth by the APTA clearly states that “the physical therapist assistant is the only individual permitted to assist a physical therapist in selected interventions under the direction and supervision of a physical therapist”.2 Furthermore, the existing Louisiana PT Practice Act recognizes the PT and PTA as the only individuals authorized by law to engage in the practice of physical therapy.1 Hence, the PT cannot delegate any intervention to individuals not recognized by law to practice the profession. Doing so is a clear violation of the law and subject to disciplinary action from the board of

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Principle #3 states, “physical therapists shall be accountable for making sound professional judgments.” This relates directly to this scenario because Kim has a responsibility to all the other patients in the facility to make sure they receive the care that they need. Treating Mrs. Johnson would be a waste of physical therapy resources and would be considered unprofessional. Principle #4 states, “physical therapists shall demonstrate integrity in their relationships with patients/clients, families, colleagues, students, research participants, other health care providers, employers, payers, and the public.” This directly relates because I believe Kim would be failing to maintain her integrity as a physical therapist and in general a health professional if she provides treatment to Mrs. Johnson that is not medically necessary, and does so at the expense of others in her facility who actually require physical therapy treatment.

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Due to the stresses to maintain or increase productivity, some therapists may utilize physical therapy aides at times to help facilitate treatments. The therapist may then go ahead and bill for the total amount of time the patient was in the clinic whether receiving treatment from the physical therapist or the physical therapy aide (Cohen, 2014). By doing this, the physical therapist is violating part of the Medicare part B guidelines. The Medicare guidelines state that each patient receives skilled care through the qualified therapist and will not pay for the services provided by the aide (Cohen, 2014)(Jannenga, 2014). A PT may risk violating this guideline in order to not only increase his or her productivity, but also bring in more revenue for the

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A physical therapist is a professional that specializes in preventing injury and promoting proper body mechanics. However, their scope of practice includes other responsibilities such as: clinical evaluation & diagnosis Immediate and emergency care treatment & rehabilitation, professional responsibility. This holistic approach is what attracted me to this field of study, as my impact

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