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January 22, 2008

Screening For Referral

As I read over my coursework for PT school concerning screening for referral, I realize where my massage training was weakest. I don't blame the school, they did a relatively good job with us.

In Professional Development my teacher, who I believe was probably very good, was whisked away from us during the third week of our training and shuttled off to another campus. After that point, my Professional Development course seemed less relevant.

For example, my biggest weakness concerned charting. There is no way a massage therapist can be considered a professional if they do not have a strong and consistent way of communicating with other health care professionals. If I had it to do over again, I would insist that my education included how to take SOAP notes. I would also strongly recommend having a class that would teach us how to communicate with other health care professionals, from doctors, to nurses, to physical therapists. Role playing scenarios where we converse with clients about referrals, to dialogging with doctors offices without being intimidated would have been helpful.

Another example: We were given an assignment to create a business plan, but it was never explained clearly what it entailed nor how to go about developing one. My feeling was, "How are we supposed to see into the future and project cost and revenue concerning something we have no experience with?" Solution: Have the students envision the perfect massage room. Write down the contents including decorative items, paint color, etc. Then send them on a shopping expedition so they have an idea what their dream actually costs them in dollars. Throw in office supplies, a computer and printer and suddenly reality will hit them that not all their equipment needs to be bought the first year. That is also a good time to mention how equipment costs can be prorated on their taxes.

If that sounds like a mind-boggling amount of information to a new therapist, wait until they get out into a real world scenario and watch their minds boggle at the nuts and bolts of set-up fees when no money is coming in. I'm not saying scare new therapists away, I'm saying prepare them for reality in order to prevent the exorbitant attrition rate of massage therapists after their first 5 years following school.

tags: massage massagetherapy wellness massage therapy bodywork health massage practice building

Posted by linda at January 22, 2008 12:33 PM