Evaluating Sources

The article I have chosen to read and evaluate is called "Experiences and Perspectives of Physical Therapists Managing Patients Covered by Workers' Compensation in Queensland, Australia". It was written in the journal of the American Physical Therapy Association. The article discusses the difference in our country's role of a Physical Therapist compared to Australia in relation to RTW (return to work). In America, a Physical Therapist has an active role in the rehabilitation of injured workers. But the regulations in Australia do not allow physical therapists to make decisions in when an injured person can return to work. So, they did a study aimed on investigating physical therapists experiences and perspectives on their role in determining readiness for RTW and work capacity for patients receiving workers comp in Australia.
The results that the author got out of the study was that physical therapists in Australia believe they do play an important role in determining when injured workers can go back, and that physical therapists use a variety of methods to determine work capacity, so they would be able to take on the role of decision making for RTW. However, it was prevalent that physical therapists have a lack of role clarity.

I would say that this is correct. The doctors in the study were well situated in finding and interpreting the information necessary for those being assessed for RTW. Therapists made recommendations for RTW using clinical judgment informed by subjective and objective information gathered from the injured worker. They clearly know what they're doing. Even though the physical therapists standards are not specific, there is an expectation for their knowledge of the details of the treatment. They spend so much time with the patient, and their job is to evaluate their progress. So they understand how much time they still need to heal. Physical therapists had the knowledge (of anatomy, physiology, and biomechanics), awareness of the barriers to RTW, and time to establish trust, providing them with a thorough understanding of the patient's function at any point in time. It is their goal to get the patient back to normal so that they are able to continue on with their every day lives (which includes work). So it only makes sense. All the information that the author includes in this journal is very relevant to the aim of the study and I agree with the conclusion that even in Australia, Physical Therapists play a very important role in their patients lives, which should give them the privilege of helping make the decision of when the patient can get back to work.

http://ptjournal.apta.org/content/92/10/1306.full