On the list of people a patient gets to see during a hospital stay, a physiotherapist is often seen a bit later.
When the surgeons and other clinicians have completed their mahi with a patient, it’s about that time a physio comes on the scene to help get a patient mobile and provide a host of helpful techniques to aid with recovery.
These days, physiotherapists like Clinton Good, based in our Emergency Department (ED), are using their skills at a much earlier stage in a patient’s journey through the hospital.
“We are starting to get involved right from the time a patient’s first admitted to the ED,” says Clinton. “For example, a lot of patients present with quite bad lower back pain – and in the past, that’s treated with analgesics – sometimes quite potent drugs.”
Clinton says if physios can get involved by using their specialised skills with such patients soon after triage, that can speed up a patient’s recovery and it means they don’t become dependent on drugs like opiates.
Clinton’s been a physiotherapist for 21 years and now has the title of Advanced Practitioner Physiotherapist.
“I really like the ED environment,” says Clinton. “It can get extremely busy and sometimes be challenging, but I love the great professionals I get to work with, and I reckon this is where I will be for a while.”
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