Julio Goris Wolcott Spring 2013 MWF 9:30 am 10:20 am Literature Review My research of the field of physical therapy

y in pediatrics has been somewhat brief and only started recently, however I have uncovered that these sources I have gathered can be broken down further into different sub-categories. In addition, in the process of searching for suitable articles to use, I saw that one thing seems to be missing from this conversation as a whole. Parent-clinician relationship The article by Broggi and Sabatelli was about the study of collaborative and distant typology and how parents preferred the collaborative typology method. The collaborative method is the parent and clinician (physical therapist in this instance) working together on a plan of treatment for the patient, whereas the distant typology is a plan of action where the parents have little to no say on the plan of action. Motor skills The rest of the articles are all about motor skills. The study done by the Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital had to do with the RT (reaction time) of children with ADHD, and how they had a faster RT while sitting on a therapy ball, as supposed to sitting in a normal chair. Kenyon and Blackinton worked on a case report on how theory can be molded with clinical

practice to create a more innovative and effective way to approach the condition the patient has, and in this case, to help a little boy be able to go up the slide of his schools playground. Lee and Galloway studied infants and gave them scores based on a test of their motor performance. And Michelle A. Lobo and other physical therapists collaborated on an article stating the physical therapy cannot be only about motor skills anymore, but that it should touch on perceptual-motor behaviors. Conclusion After sifting through these articles, it is that the gist of pediatric physical therapy is about correcting and treating impairments in the very young in order to prevent these injuries or impediments from hindering them as they grow older. However, as I alluded to in the beginning of this review, I believe there is a gap in the way the parents of the patient and the physical therapists communicate. In the process of searching for articles that were suitable and closely related to this subject, I noticed that there were too few of these articles discussing the communication levels between the parents of the patients and the therapists who are in charge of administering the treatment plans and regiments. I actually decided to broaden the scope, and I saw that this actually encompasses all medical and healthcare fields, so I decided to want to look into general patient and clinician communication and if it is really enough. Because of the curiosity that this particular gap has invoked in me, Ive came up with a little proposal that may help with this issue.

Project Proposal Throughout my research on the subject of pediatric physical therapy, one issue that has come to my attention is the amount of and the level of communication between the physical therapist and the parent(s) of the patient. To try and fill this gap of information, I have proposed a survey that will be in the form of a short questionnaire on paper, with the first half designed to be answered by the parent(s) of the patient and the second half to be answered by the physical therapist that tended to their child. Both halves will have essentially the same kind of questions; however it will be worded differently on each side. My goal, or better yet what I want to come from this project, is to interpret the data that has been collected and identify how this gap can be addressed, or maybe even find out that this gap may not exist. The one thing that I will not do in terms of this project is actually be there in order to administer the questionnaire. This is dueto the inability to be there in-person becauseof severe time constraints, and the other being that I may not be allowed to be there and pass them out, as some businesses may consider it solicitation and/or loitering. An example of the proposed questionnaire is on the accompanying page.

Communication between Clinicians and the Their Patients This is a questionnaire being done for an undergraduate course at a university in Florida, and it is completely anonymous. The completion of this is optional and is greatly appreciated.

Questions for Patients 1. How much communication did the clinicans have with you concerning the treatment recommended for your child?

2. Were you comfortable with the amount of communication between both parties?

3. What type of communication medium (in-person communication, e-mail phone) was mainly used? 4. How much control do you feel you had when it came time for the treatments?

5. Were you given different forms of communication to keep an open line of contact?

Questions for Clinicians 1. Do you believe you had enough backing from the patients? In other words, did you feel they were comfortable with giving you the green light to go start the certain therapy?

2. Do you feel enough communication was maintained during the time span of the treatments?

3. Do you feel you provided an open line of communication? 4. What kind of approach do you take in terms of communicating with the patients?

5. Have you ever felt as if you wouldve done something differently when it comes to communicating with past patients?