# 104 Medical Screening For Physical Therapy

#104 Brochure

Course Summary:

The instructional focus is on developing advanced clinical reasoning skills related to determining a client’s appropriateness for physical therapy. Medical screening procedures that are useful to physical therapists to identify non-musculoskeletal pathology will be reviewed. In addition, laboratory and diagnostic procedures commonly used in the medical diagnosis of non-musculoskeletal disease will be reviewed. The course format will include lecture, lab, and case studies; and a post-course (online) multiple choice examination. The clinician will learn the skills and techniques used in a physical examination with the intent to screen for diseases that fall outside the scope of physical therapy practice. The clinician will be able to identify the need for referral to another health care practitioner based on the existence of “red flags” that fall outside the scope of physical therapy practice. (Intermediate level)

Objectives

Upon completion of this course, the participant will be able to:

1. Identify at least 2 screening examination procedures per system to identify pathologies that fall outside the scope of the PT.
2. Given a cluster of signs & symptoms, evaluate the examination findings and identify when to make appropriate referrals to other healthcare providers.
3. Apply evaluation results and make appropriate recommendations for further medical testing and diagnostics within the scope of physical therapy practice.
4. Identify at least 5 medical “red flags” which would contraindicate physical therapy intervention and/or require a medical referral across a variety of patient scenarios.
5. Appraise data gained from a history and diagnostic tests/procedures, and weigh the data in the context of the results of the physical therapy examination to develop a realistic differential diagnosis with the scope of physical therapy practice.
6. Apply relevant research to the field of physical therapy primary care.
7. Apply the skills of differential diagnosis across all age groups and in consideration of individual differences amongst patients.
8. Discuss the signs, symptoms, and examination findings that differentiate common musculoskeletal, neuromuscular, cardiopulmonary, gastrointestinal, and other disease states that a physical therapist may encounter.
9. Participants will learn the referred pain patterns originating from visceral organs.
10. Describe medical “red flags” that may require urgent medical consultation or emergency attention.

Audience

Physical Therapists

Customer Service
Customer Service

# 104 Medical Screening For Physical Therapy

Objectives

Audience

Customer Service