I’m always learning something new. I called the cardiologist after an evaluation to report some severe orthostatic hypotension and the nurse and I got to talking. She was going back through the patient’s history and looking for why this may be happening. I had just finished assessing the patient in their home and they wereContinue reading “Open Heart, Open Mind… Learning About Amio-Loading”
Author Archives: DoctorBthePT
Blood Pressure Basics
Are you taking the blood pressure and heart rate of EVERY patient you see for a new evaluation? How about for every visit? A recent survey of over 1800 Outpatient PTs showed that although 51% of PTs reported that over half their caseload had risk factors for hypertension and cardiovascular disease, only 14% of themContinue reading “Blood Pressure Basics”
ABGs (Part II)
So, now that you’ve read all the basics about ABGs in the first post, here is a little more about interpreting lab values and how to determine compensated conditions. This is where it gets fun! First off, let’s take a look at what NORMAL lab values probably look like: pH: 7.35-7.45 Partial pressure of oxygenContinue reading “ABGs (Part II)”
COVID Brain
Research is piling in regarding the neurological effects of COVID-19 and the depth of the research is giving us some really concrete information to help guide treatment, screening, and monitoring strategies. The anecdotal evidence is continuing to build quickly so I’ve significantly updated this post to reflect some of the more recent changes and findings.Continue reading “COVID Brain”
According to the Scientific Community, It’s Time for Change
If you couldn’t tell, I’ve been hinting at this for a while. In several posts over the past few months, there has been discussion amongst the medical community that has created controversy regarding the mode of transmission of COVID-19. Many providers of all disciplines have been very concerned about their contraction rates and that ofContinue reading “According to the Scientific Community, It’s Time for Change”
ABGs (Part 1)
This is the first post in a two-part series about understanding and interpreting arterial blood gases! If you want the rest of the post, you’ll have to check back next week! I’m getting real science-y again! So, just a heads up: my undergraduate degree was in chemistry. Kind of by accident, I took a lotContinue reading “ABGs (Part 1)”
Aerosol Generating Procedures
The long awaited clarification on aerosol generating procedures for physical therapists and physical therapist assistants has finally dropped! The APTA just released its professional guidelines for what portions of physical therapist and physical therapist assistant care equates to an aerosol generating procedures, therefore requiring increased PPE for procedure performance to ensure clinician safety. On AprilContinue reading “Aerosol Generating Procedures”
The Duet Device
Have you seen an Acapella Duet before? This is another one of those things I wish I could hand out to maybe half of my patients. A Duet device is a special kind of Positive Expiratory Pressure (PEP) that provides resistive oscillatory pressure to exhalation which promotes increased lung volumes due to re-inflation of collapsedContinue reading “The Duet Device”
FEV1
I spent some really great times as an educator in a heart and lung transplant program at a large hospital system. Specifically, I was a therapy educator. I taught PTs, PTAs, OTs, COTAs, and SLPs what they needed to know to safely provide rehab to patient after heart and lung transplants. I saw so manyContinue reading “FEV1”
Remote Interventions for Pain Amid COVID-19
I am the first to admit that I find treating patients with chronic pain to be SO HARD. Thanks to a few helpful tips from friends and some continuing education, I can just barely touch my toe to the water. But, like many, I have been wondering how COVID-19 and lockdowns and masks and allContinue reading “Remote Interventions for Pain Amid COVID-19”
