20 BONDED CLIENT / Leaping to Rehab
“Providing
the specialist with enough
information will help the referral relationship and enhance the patients’ care.”
—Jennifer Scata, DVM, CCRT
LoGuidice says, “Again, most important is that there needs to be a veterinarian trained/certified in veterinary rehabilita- tion as part of the team overseeing patient care. A veterinary technician is not quali- fied to run and oversee patient care when it comes to evaluating patients and pre- scribing patient care. Evaluating patients for rehabilitation therapy involves diag- nosing what is wrong and what should be done to help fix it. “All members of the rehabilitation
patient care team at a rehabilitation facil- ity should be trained and certified in reha- bilitation therapy so that proper patient care is provided.” She also recommends asking to tour the facility. Providing the specialist with enough information will help the referral rela- tionship and enhance the patients’ care, says Jennifer Scata, DVM, CCRT, of Ani- mal Emergency and Specialty Center in Parker, Colo. “I would advise referring DVMs to
provide the rehab therapist with as much information as possible before the cli- ent’s appointment,” she said. “Their diagnosis, including any diagnostic tests and/or radiographs that have been per- formed, and any previous treatments that have been tried will help the thera- pist get a better understanding of the patient’s history. “Explain what has helped and what
has not,” Scata said. “Don’t hesitate to call and ask questions. The field of veteri- nary rehabilitation is relatively new, and many of our colleagues in general practice are still learning about the different ways rehabilitation can benefit their patients.” Animal Care Center of Castle Pines,
a general practice, and Animal Rehabili- tation and Wellness Center, a specialty center, worked up an interesting arrange- ment. The two facilities are located next door to each other in Castle Rock, Colo., and have overlap in ownership but are separate entities. “Most of the clients that rehab sees are Animal Care Center clients or surgical
referrals from specialty hospitals and general practice facilities in the area,” said Lindsay Crippen, DVM, MBA, a co- owner of both facilities. “We also get cli- ents who have searched us out on their own. We make it very clear to the owners and to referring veterinarians that all out- side patients will not be seen by Animal Care Center. We do not want to put our practice in jeopardy, and [we want to] continue to be a good referral source for other general practitioners.”
Future of rehabilitation Rehabilitation therapists are optimistic about opportunity for growth. “I believe we are at the exciting fron-
tier of veterinary physical rehabilitation,” LoGiudice said. “Just think back about 10 to 15 years ago in the world of human orthopedics and physical therapy (PT). How many PT facilities were out there? Now, look at the world of human PT. It would be probably tantamount to mal- practice to not offer or provide PT for a human patient who just underwent an orthopedic procedure or who has some musculoskeletal condition limiting mobil- ity that doesn’t require immediate surgi- cal/medical intervention. I firmly believe the veterinary community will embrace the positive results and improved qual- ity of life that our patients will often experience from providing physical reha- bilitation services and it will become more mainstream.” She also predicts seeing more veteri-
narians use cutting-edge therapies like stem cell therapy. Woodruff agrees. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve
redone surgeries because owners didn’t follow advice [for postsurgery care],” he said. “We see a much better recovery when clients have someone supervising rehab. Rehab is way overdue. It’s one of those new things we should have thought up a long time ago.” n
Carleen Brice is a former senior associate editor of Trends magazine. Trends magazine, November 2012
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