... and I'm going to do a lot of things.
Stay tuned.
My name is Denver Lancaster. I am a Doctor of Physical Therapy graduated from Regis University working for Gottsche Rehab in Cody, WY.
Showing posts with label physicaltherapist. Show all posts
Showing posts with label physicaltherapist. Show all posts
2/17/13
11/1/12
Branding & Brand Loyalty
How does self image tie to brand loyalty? Can we tie that to PT?
So I've started reading for fun again, finally. I enjoy reading about incentives and decision making. The human capacity to fool itself amazes me. My first brain-toy is this: You Are Not So Smart. It started as a blog written by @davidmcraney. He's a journalist who writes about things that are fun and interesting. I recommend checking out the blog or book!
One chapter in his book stood out as relevant to some of the #SolvePT discussions. Craney pointed out that brand loyalty is created from buying (or buying into) unessential things - iPads or your favorite brand of smart phone. To oversimplify his point, spending a lot on something you don't need forces you to create a narrative in your mind about why you made the best decision for you. A higher cost means a stronger internal justification. It sounds to me like the effect lies somewhere between cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias. Your unconscious interests in justifying your decisions tie directly to your own self image. You are forced, after making the decision, to create a narrative supporting the decision. And ownership reinforces the emotional connection to "stuff."
Can physical therapy be stuff? Should it be? Probably NOT. I feel like the fact that we do not create the same brand loyalty to PT is a testament to our USEFULNESS. Not to say that an iPad can't be useful, but when you need physical therapy you definitely NEED physical therapy. You never really NEED a new tablet. I am probably reaching here, but the idea of entitlement to PT via health insurance, and a client/patient's reluctance to pay for PT out of pocket definitely hurts our cause. You lose the benefit of cognitive dissonance. I am paying for PT, so I must value it!
What's weird to me is the attachment people have to their chiropracters. Does that the kind of brand loyalty Craney describes insinuates an unthinking devaluation of chiropractic care? Craney also points out that for brand loyalty to occur, you must have OPTIONS, or a decision to make. Reducing the # of options reduces buyer's remorse. People LOVE their chiropracters and accupuncturists, and pay out of pocket for other services because they KNOW they have a choice! The public is aware that they can go to a chiropracter first.
Lets see if I can tie this together to make my point. I am NOT saying we need to create a preception that people don't need us so that they have to justify going to see a physical therapist. I'm saying we need to increase AWARENESS that we are a CHOICE, not just a place patients go because the workman's comp physician sent them to us. We need to give patients/clients/the public the opportunity to make [the right] decision about PT to allow self-image-affirmation to take over. I think, too, that building a client/patient a reason to be more comfortable paying out of pocket will strengthen this bond. Is this even possible???
Is anybody having success trying to create a self-paying base of patients/clients?
So I've started reading for fun again, finally. I enjoy reading about incentives and decision making. The human capacity to fool itself amazes me. My first brain-toy is this: You Are Not So Smart. It started as a blog written by @davidmcraney. He's a journalist who writes about things that are fun and interesting. I recommend checking out the blog or book! One chapter in his book stood out as relevant to some of the #SolvePT discussions. Craney pointed out that brand loyalty is created from buying (or buying into) unessential things - iPads or your favorite brand of smart phone. To oversimplify his point, spending a lot on something you don't need forces you to create a narrative in your mind about why you made the best decision for you. A higher cost means a stronger internal justification. It sounds to me like the effect lies somewhere between cognitive dissonance and confirmation bias. Your unconscious interests in justifying your decisions tie directly to your own self image. You are forced, after making the decision, to create a narrative supporting the decision. And ownership reinforces the emotional connection to "stuff."
Can physical therapy be stuff? Should it be? Probably NOT. I feel like the fact that we do not create the same brand loyalty to PT is a testament to our USEFULNESS. Not to say that an iPad can't be useful, but when you need physical therapy you definitely NEED physical therapy. You never really NEED a new tablet. I am probably reaching here, but the idea of entitlement to PT via health insurance, and a client/patient's reluctance to pay for PT out of pocket definitely hurts our cause. You lose the benefit of cognitive dissonance. I am paying for PT, so I must value it!
What's weird to me is the attachment people have to their chiropracters. Does that the kind of brand loyalty Craney describes insinuates an unthinking devaluation of chiropractic care? Craney also points out that for brand loyalty to occur, you must have OPTIONS, or a decision to make. Reducing the # of options reduces buyer's remorse. People LOVE their chiropracters and accupuncturists, and pay out of pocket for other services because they KNOW they have a choice! The public is aware that they can go to a chiropracter first.
Is anybody having success trying to create a self-paying base of patients/clients?
8/31/12
Readings and Musings 8.31.12
Another collection of random things that have caught my attention. In the future, I will try to put out this list of things a little more frequently.
The Best Argument in Favor of Open Access Science is All Of Them @Kevbonham I shouldn't have to explain why this matters. More information here: Open Access Publishing
Develop a Web Presence - tips and ideas for boosting your web presence, from social networking to blogging. I'm still on google. Maybe I should make a switch to boost my street cred. @adachis
Ridgeway & Silvernail 2012. Innominate 3d Modeling: Biomechanically interesting, but clinically irrelevent. @Dr_Ridge_DPT
Dr. Ridgeway was kind enough to supply with the full unedited prior to submission full text here. Thanks!!
These info graphics are so cool: Mobile Healthcare or validation for my interest in developing software.
More digital information: HIPAA Devices: 2 Myths Debunked, 1 Proven True from @WebPT. Ipads are HIPAA compliant. Cloud storage is safer than hiding money in your mattress. Digital storatge is safer than paper storage.
Develop a Web Presence - tips and ideas for boosting your web presence, from social networking to blogging. I'm still on google. Maybe I should make a switch to boost my street cred. @adachis
Ridgeway & Silvernail 2012. Innominate 3d Modeling: Biomechanically interesting, but clinically irrelevent. @Dr_Ridge_DPT
Dr. Ridgeway was kind enough to supply with the full unedited prior to submission full text here. Thanks!!
Patients understand that they are in pain. Health care professionals like to try to explain why patients are in pain. But it's a spinning plate trick - to tell them what we know about pain without invalidating what they KNOW about how they feel, and how they believe it impacts them. I like the article What predicts outcome in non-operative treatments of chronic low back pain? A systematic review (Wessels et al. 2006) for this reason. Changes in cognitive and behavioral measures may be more predictive for treatment outcomes of chronic low back pain than physical measures. But more research needs to be done (click me). What I like about this review, and it ties back into other articles (like Mannion 2001), is that we shoud do more to address patients' beliefs about pain, fear avoidance, coping, and mood. I don't think these questions can be addressed without LISTENING to how patients feel, and what they understand about their pain.
More digital information: HIPAA Devices: 2 Myths Debunked, 1 Proven True from @WebPT. Ipads are HIPAA compliant. Cloud storage is safer than hiding money in your mattress. Digital storatge is safer than paper storage.
Forward Thinking PT Posts by @joebrence9. The latest post is about the neuromatrix model of pain developed by Dr. Ronald Melzack. The brain uses a vast integrative network of systems to interpet threats to the system contextually as pain. Cool stuff. One of my major interests as a #physicaltherapist (when I get a license).
7/26/12
Post NPTE Plans
Reading List 7/25/12
Just a quick overview of the things going in (and likely out) of my head these days. Also, observe my "On The Docket" list. I am looking for suggestions for good fiction. I LOVED Enders Game. I felt like the Hunger Games were good stories but the writing felt... annoying at times? Anyway, I'm looking for more Fiction to add to this list. Hit me with something deep, folks! Right now I'm hiding "You are Not So Smart" from myself until I pass the NPTE. It's like a mental playground of cognitive biases and delusions. Just Finished:
- Enders Game - Card
- Autobiography of Ben Franklin
- Atlas of Human Anatomy - Netter
- Hunger Games 1, 2, and 3.
In Progress:
- Scorebuilders PTEXAM Study Guide - Ta' Devil!
- Structure of Scientific Revolutions - Kuhn
- You Are Not So Smart - McRaney
- A First Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links between Leadership and Mental Illness - Ghaemi
On the Docket:
- All The Strange Hours - Loren Eiseley
- Start with WHY - Sinek
- Doctors: The Biography of Medicine - Nuland
- The Drunkard's Walk: How Randomness Rules Our Lives - Mlodinow
- Ready Player One - Cline
- How Doctors Think - Groopmman
- Look Me in the Eye: My Life with Aspergers - Robinson
- Second Opinions - Groopman
- One for the Money - Evanovich
- Every Patient Tells a Story - Sanders
- The Fifth Discipline - Senge
- Hippocrates Shadow - Newman
- Consciousness Explained - Dennett
- Death of the Guilds - Krause
- The Best Practice - Kenney
- The Black Swan: Impact of Highly Improbable - Taleb
- Dan Brown Books - The Da Vinci Code
- Checklist Manifesto - Gawande
- Blink - Gladwell (re-read)
- One Step at a Time - Bliell
- Courage to Teach - Palmer
- The Seven Laws of Magical Thinking.. - Hutson
- Blindness - Jose Saramago
- The Road - McCarthy
- The Postman - David Brin
- Oryx and Crake - Margaret Atwood
- A Canticle for Leibowitz - Miller
- Alas, Babylon - Frank
- Z for Zachariah - O'Brien
7/25/12
Inter-professional pissing contest.
First and last time I'll ever engage in this conversation (I hope).
My friend @RGWooderson, sent me a link to a post by a physical therapist who has been in the profession a long time, and done a lot of cool stuff. You can read his CV on his website. He has been the CRO: Chief Revolutionary Officer since 2011 for a company he started - The Smart Life Project. Thank you Allen, for your insight into damned future of our profession. But who are you mad at? All I did was start applying to PT schools in 2008/2009.
You can read his post here: Was the DPT The Right Direction?
Here's the problem I have with it, more than anything. We're, as a profession, trying to elevate ourselves in the public's eyes and through legislation. Blog posts like his only hurt our profession. While he is spending an evening trying to start an interprofessional pissing contest (which I'm sure won't interest people in his "institute"), others among us will be working together to move forward.
Thomas Kuhn wrote a great book int he 60's and coined the term paradigm shift, discussing the history of science and how exactly competing ideologies came about, and came to die in the face of new world views. He quoted Max Plank (long story) in the book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, saying "a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."
The conversation over the presence of DPT in the profession ended a while ago (whenever, I don't know). Taking time away to engage people who have already made up their mind about a topic isn't going to do anything but stir the professional pot, if you will. He's an old guy. He's treated 10,000 patients! He, and the rest like him, will be out of the profession and dead before I can even afford to retire.
Have a great week.
-d
My friend @RGWooderson, sent me a link to a post by a physical therapist who has been in the profession a long time, and done a lot of cool stuff. You can read his CV on his website. He has been the CRO: Chief Revolutionary Officer since 2011 for a company he started - The Smart Life Project. Thank you Allen, for your insight into damned future of our profession. But who are you mad at? All I did was start applying to PT schools in 2008/2009.
You can read his post here: Was the DPT The Right Direction?
Here's the problem I have with it, more than anything. We're, as a profession, trying to elevate ourselves in the public's eyes and through legislation. Blog posts like his only hurt our profession. While he is spending an evening trying to start an interprofessional pissing contest (which I'm sure won't interest people in his "institute"), others among us will be working together to move forward.
Thomas Kuhn wrote a great book int he 60's and coined the term paradigm shift, discussing the history of science and how exactly competing ideologies came about, and came to die in the face of new world views. He quoted Max Plank (long story) in the book The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, saying "a new scientific truth does not triumph by convincing its opponents and making them see the light, but rather because its opponents eventually die, and a new generation grows up that is familiar with it."
The conversation over the presence of DPT in the profession ended a while ago (whenever, I don't know). Taking time away to engage people who have already made up their mind about a topic isn't going to do anything but stir the professional pot, if you will. He's an old guy. He's treated 10,000 patients! He, and the rest like him, will be out of the profession and dead before I can even afford to retire.
Have a great week.
-d
7/19/12
El mejor dia de me vida!
Those of you following me here may or may not know that I've graduated! As of May 6th 2012 you may call me Denver Lancaster, Doctor of Physical Therapy. Licensure exam scheduled for July 31st.
I thought about taking this time to reflect on 33 months of balls-out academic struggle and tom foolery. Instead, I think I might just close the book on this one, and show off some fun pictures.
There was a party after graduation at Red Rocks! It didn't hit me until I was leaving... I spent more than a full time job's worth of hours every single week for 33 months with all of my classmates. Got to know families, significant others. Made a lot of friends. Wasn't thinking, right at that moment, that I will never be in the same place with all of them again. Bitter-sweet. :) Maybe it still hasn't hit me. It was a good send off! Parents got to meet friends, faculty. I ate myself sick.
Carmen came, as well, and we posed for some photos. Red Rocks is an amazing place. I will have to make a point of going down there more frequently after I start working and making money.
I'd like to send out a great big generic thank you to everyone who helped me through this - especially family, and good friends (new and old), the counseling center, and modern pharmaceuticals. Thank you.
1/20/12
Amen brother! physicaltherapy physicaltherapist clinical education model needs to be revamped. http://ping.fm/vQbrK
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