A Lengthy Home Eval

At the beginning of the day one of the nurses came in for therapy. She had hurt her back when helping a patient and was getting help via Worker’s Compensation. Athina had her lay out on a table in one of the evaluation rooms and massaged her back trying to get out all of the tightness. Then Athina used electrical stimulation to relieve pain, a modality she says she doesn't use often but can be effective in situations like that. Athina prescribed a couple exercises for her to do every day to increase the range of motion in her back. This was a long seven hour day, that consisted of a couple visits and then a long home evaluation for our tall football player, Josh. It was arranged for his mom to come pick him up from the facility and take him to his home. Athina, the OT, and I would follow behind in a seperate car. I was surprised that they allowed me to go with them, as it was outside of the facility, but I’m grateful I had that experience. Home evaluations are meant to review the safety of the home in relation to the patient. For Josh the stairs were still them the most challenging part between him and discharge. He had so many steps leading up to his house in both the front and through the garage. It took both Athina and the OT to get him into the house. Another large staircase was in the way of Josh getting to his room downstairs, and there was no way that was going to happen. We ended up being there longer than we expected, which Athina said sometimes happens. Athina and the OT came to the conclusion that they'd prefer Josh receive at least another week of therapy before discharge, due to his safety being a concern. Athina talked to the insurance on the phone for at least half an hour trying to buy him more time. Coming for a therapist, her opinion definitely matters, but the insurance was only willing to compromise to a point. Josh was given two more days, which in not that much time to get stronger, but it is better than nothing. This gave me an idea of what working with some people's insurance is like. Sometimes they will provide more benefits, and sometimes they will cut them off after a certain amount of time. Due to the amount of time spent at the home eval and dealing with insurance, it wasn't my favorite shadowing day; however, I am optimistic that many more wonderful days will occur with educational experiences.