MbShea@PWP@English@UMCP

Beginning:
- I am going to begin my paper with a hook by providing patient complaints about their doctors and physical therapists. Patients complain about their therapists frequently, and many times their complaints are focused on the manner in which they are treated as person, not about how they are treated medically. Many times patients do not understand what their therapist is relaying.
- I will also pose the problem how the health care system wants the physicians to see more patients for a shorter amount of time, yet they are still expected to have the same positive outcomes than if they were to see them for longer amounts of time.
- Lastly, I will propose that the key to success and improvements is from a positive relationship between the patient and the therapist. Therefore, I will provide a guide for proper communication that PTs should employ into their appointments with patients to make them feel secure and enhance the relationship between the PT and current and new patients.
Middle:
- This section will include sample dialogue, links to videos, and various scenarios that a PT can practice proper communication.
- I will pose a specific problem where PTs often make the mistake, and then propose the correct manner in which to deal with the complaint based on research and personal experience as a PT who just finished schooling and have had numerous experiences in outpatient and inpatient clinics of all ages.
End:
- This section will express the benefits of having proper communication, and might even post a link to an article/video where proper communication proved to help the healing and treatment process (I will give a summary of the article to introduce it). I will acknowledge that only a few scenarios are incorporated into the patient guide, leaving numerous specific responses out. At the very end, I will post a FAQ that outlines the main points of the complete guide, and suggest the PTs to read over the APTA requirements that many do not pay attention to.
Logos
- Using scientific articles and the APTA website
- Documentation on positive PT-patient bond
Pathos-
- Quotes from upset patients, videos of therapy sessions and their stories behind their injuries
Ethos:
- Using scientific articles from various established PTs and physicians (i.e- Drossman, Roberts, Baker, Ambady)
- Using credible websites and journals (APTA, BSR Physical Therapy, and Physical Therapy)
- My personal logos—ample experiences in outpatient and inpatient clinics, as I just graduated and completed my externships
Structure
- Cover page, introduction, body with four specific scinarios including scripts/videos, conclusion emphasizing benefits of proper communication, limitation, FAQ section
Goal:
- To give PTs a guide on how to properly communicate with their patients with different conditions in different age groups and how to create a posititve relationship between the PT and the patient, as treatment benefits and improvements are correlated to such a relationship.

Well developed plan, S. Glad you will preview the patient communication part of your PT practice.

Your beginning could be a composite of complaints. Have you found specific ones? Otherwise try this opening:

"Dr. Jones comes highly recommended but I never understand how to follow up on the exercises she shows me in PT sessions."

"I am in discomfort during PT, which I understand is necessary. If only my PT would give me handouts at the end, so I could focus on what he says in our sessions."

"Dr. Patel does not really talk to me in my daughter's ACL recovery sessions. He really should talk to me, instead of her."

"I wish I understood when to ice and when to use heat in my shoulder recovery."

These statements are a composite of typical complains in patient-PT communication.....