Work Problem

People say we have work problems.  

 

• Customer confidence down, rightly so, there are safety concerns.  
• A virus that easily spreads, some say the virus is left in the air after a sneeze or loud talk for up to a half-hour.  
• Folks seeking a better functional lifestyle are limited, with Stay at home mandates restricting access.  

All this happening while most of the world manages staffing furloughs, productivity, and efficiencies in their own industries and businesses.  For our industry and our business, we will never lose focus to continue our work towards exceeding the standards of care, always shooting for industry best delivery for optimal outcomes.

What hasn't changed is our reason for optimism.  

 

Over 65 million baby boomers, many will need help managing diminished function.  Low back pain will still affect 8 out of 10 of society, while high school, collegiate, and weekend athletes across the country will still need help, guidance, surgery, and advice. 

 

During a recent zoom conversation with a prominent local Orthopedic Surgeon, he reported a backlog of his cases of 65 surgeries.  This week, they returned to the surgery rooms. Postoperative pent up demands will create unique forces in the Physical Therapy organizations, the most agile clinics will have the most success.

 

Just recently, our clinics expanded hours and brought back 3 teammates from furlough. Adding to our capabilities of the past are several new programs, more efficient use of technologies, and new job responsibilities that we are still working on daily to fine-tune.

 

While the airline industry, small retail companies, and restaurants deal with even larger and more consequential decisions and changes, gratitude fills us with unyielding optimism of our future.  We have all worked hard to be here, in a position to prove how agility can fuel our next phase of growth.

 

All this as a testimony of our team, that although we may have a work problem, we have no problem working at all.

Access

Three things happen when access to Physical Therapy services becomes restricted.

• A customer in need suffers in pain, staying safe at home
  
• A customer in need finds somewhere else to go
• A customer in need will be inconvenienced and still come to you, despite the restrictions
  

Going into the economic "yellow phase" next week will help us as Physical Therapists increase our ramp up our access to the customers that need us most, giving us better capabilities to get great outcomes.  Staff hours will expand, and our clinics will start to feel like the "New Normal". 

The good news is the patients who have been inconvenienced will no longer be, as staff schedules, hours, and accessibility all gradually increase.

The better news is the potential patients who chose to stay home safe will now cautiously seek services. It's up to us to provide the agility to expand our accessibility, which in turn improves our capabilities to deliver great outcomes.

At PTW, our New Normal is:

• Social/Physical in house distancing of 6 feet at the check-in desk and use of equipment.
• Treatment tables are a minimum of 4 feet from each other, with therapy staff choosing to use one side or the other, safe distancing from other providers.
• Sanitizing each treatment table between therapy sessions
  
• All staff working in-person operations wearing masks, and trained with updated safety requirements.
• Return of previous hours available in many clinics, with the expansion of Physical Therapists schedules.
• And more measures to come!
  

Staying agile will determine our abilities to adjust to expectations, something we fully expect to exceed.

Linchpin

Yesterday I heard a story from a Physical Therapist in North Carolina.  I did not ask for permission to share her story, so let us call her Lauren.

Lauren was working on an injured client, in the clinic, when a walk-in patient came to the desk, with a prescription, fresh from the doctor's office. Lauren had to stop working with her patient for a moment to attend to the walk-in.

Asking a few questions and realizing her schedule was committed, Laura had started to schedule the patient for an initial evaluation for the next day. At that same time, she wondered if the assessment could get done now through the phone.  

She called a fellow PT at home, who agreed to do the evaluation by Telehealth, now as the patient was in the clinic!  This permitted Lauren to complete her hands-on care and full session with the customer in the clinic while, at the same time, the telehealth evaluation was being performed.  

Why is this story unique? Lauren heard much of the client's story of pain, and decided to walk over behind the client, looked into the screen to join the conversation to offer any help today.  After some discussion, Laura and the PT agreed on a plan for Lauren to apply electrical stimulation and manuals. 

As a PT, PTA, you are a leader.  Self-leadership, leading a clinical floor, leading a staff, you simply lead.  A classic definition of leadership is using resources (physical and human resources) effectively to provide solutions.  Lauren simply led!  No one told her.  Aligned with the mission of the organization, she did not need to ask.  She just did, providing solutions in ways no one else has, without a how-to manual. 

In a book called Linchpin, Godin describes Laura to a tee.

He writes, "a linchpin to be an individual who can walk into chaos and create order, someone who can invent, connect, create, and make things happen, to be a person that the company would not function without. This person sees the problem clearly and does not panic. Instead, they develop innovative solutions and create their own path. A linchpin never follows a map; they create it."  Lauren found opportunity where the job descriptions left off. 

It is a time of incredible opportunity, with folks carving out their careers in a time when the rules have been reset because the playing field has been flattened.  New rules, new tools, require new solutions.  

Are you being your best Linchpin, creating a new map for yourself in the new sets of rules we live in?