Recognizing and Reporting Red Flags for Physical Therapist Assistants

Develop the essential skills to identify signs and symptoms that can compromise patient care with “Goodman and Marshalls Recognizing and Reporting Red Flags for the Physical Therapist Assistant, 2nd Edition”. This comprehensive resource presents a consistent, three-step model for monitoring patients for red flags related to neuromuscular and musculoskeletal problems, medical diseases, side effects of medications, and other co-morbidities that may be unknown to the PT.

A Collaborative Approach to Patient Care

This unique resource combines the insights of a physical therapist and a physical therapist assistant to provide clear guidelines for finding and documenting red flags. The eBook version, included with print purchase, offers additional features such as search functionality, customizable content, note-taking, and text-to-speech capabilities.

Staying Current with the Latest Practice Guidelines

The revised content ensures that practitioners have access to the most up-to-date information needed to provide effective care. Updated references guarantee that the content remains current and applicable to today’s clinical practice.

Identifying Warning Flags and Red Flags

The book covers a range of warning flags, including red and yellow flags, risk factors, clinical presentation, signs and symptoms, and helpful screening clues. It also provides guidelines for communicating with the PT, enabling PTAs to quickly recognize the need for re-evaluation or further assessment.

Three-Step Approach to Formative Assessments

The three-step approach to formative assessments provides a consistent method for monitoring patients and reporting adverse changes, including range of motion, strength, pain, balance, coordination, swelling, endurance, or gait deviations.

Practical Applications for PTAs

PTA Action Plans demonstrate the clinical application of text material, showing how to observe, document, and report red (or yellow) flags to the physical therapist. Clinically relevant information is also provided on the tools needed to monitor patients’ responses to selected interventions and accurately report changes to the supervising PT.

Cognitive Processing and Reasoning

The cognitive processing-reasoning approach encourages PTAs to gather and analyze data, pose and solve problems, infer, hypothesize, and make clinical judgments. This enables them to notify the supervising PT of clients who need further evaluation or may require a referral or consultation with other healthcare professionals.

Case Examples and Critical Thinking Activities

Case examples and critical thinking activities connect theory to practice, illustrating the role of the PTA and how to integrate clinical observations with clinical reasoning skills.

Picture the Patient

Picture the Patient sections highlight what to look for when assessing or working with patients, particularly typical red flag signs and symptoms of emerging problems.

Full-Color Illustrations and Design

Full-color illustrations and design clearly demonstrate pathologies and processes, making lookup easier in busy clinical settings.