Did you ever think we would reach a point in the United States in which state and local officials would take it upon themselves to determine which jobs were essential and which were not? Yet here we are. Physical therapists have been caught in the crossfire. In some states their services are considered nonessential except for extreme circumstances. Other states have allowed them to continue seeing patients. This creates a social distancing dilemma.
The whole point of social distancing is to keep people apart so as to prevent the coronavirus from continuing to spread. Physical therapy jobs are such that keeping patient and therapist apart is nearly impossible Physical therapists have to maintain close contact with patients in order to exercise their limbs, provide qualified advice, etc.
Expecting therapists to stay 6 feet away from their patients is just not practical in very many cases. So if you have a therapist whose job is considered essential, he or she has no choice but to violate the six-foot rule throughout the workday.
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No Easy Answers
Physical therapist these days are reaching the conclusion that there is no easy answer to their dilemma. So, like many other medical professionals, they do what they can to protect themselves and their patients. They wear masks and wash their hands regularly. They keep their distance whenever possible and maintain the utmost care when it is not.
Then there is the question of opting not to see patients whose therapy is not critical. But there’s really no good way to determine that. Will a patient recovering from a serious car accident suffer irreparable harm by having to discontinue physical therapy for eight weeks? It is hard to say.
Health Jobs Nationwide reminds us that private practice owners have the added dilemma of figuring out how to keep the lights on when only essential patients are coming in. They have bills to pay like anyone else. It must be awfully tempting to classify treatments as essential in order to keep the revenue coming in. But then again, does the practice owner want to take the risk of spreading coronavirus in order to pay the bills?
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Glad When It’s over
It is probably a safe bet that physical therapists cannot wait for all of this to be over. And no, they are not alone. Workers all across the healthcare spectrum find themselves between a rock and a hard place. They want to be there to offer patients the care they so desperately need but they know there’s always a risk.
Similar conditions exist whenever there is an Ebola outbreak in Africa. Compassionate doctors, nurses, and therapists rush in to help in whatever way they can. They also know that treating patients exposes them to the virus. They know that they could carry the virus home at the end of the day.
Physical therapists don’t usually get the same accolades as front-line doctors and nurses, but the care they provide is no less important. Physical therapy is vital to the recovery of so many different patients across a broad spectrum of society. Physical therapists treat accident victims, people recovering from surgery, cancer patients, and the list goes on and on.
It’s funny how we tend to not realize the importance of something until it’s no longer available. It’s probably not a stretch to say that there are a fair number of patients who just want to get back to their physical therapy. Along with the therapists, they are waiting this one out. We can only hope that PT jobs around the country will be protected until life is back to normal.
