What Is the Difference Between Inpatient and Outpatient Physical Therapy Rehab Settings?

Question by Cece S: What is the difference between inpatient and outpatient Physical therapy Rehab Settings?
What are the specific differences between inpatient and outpatient physical therapy. How is the patient and physical therapist interaction in the two settings?

Best answer:

Answer by mistify
First, there are a couple levels of inpatient therapy: acute (ie, in the hospital), acute rehab (out of the hospital but needs an intense amount of rehab services before returning home) or sub-acute (out of the hospital, but either too weak for acute rehab, or only needs a minimal amount of services prior to returning home). In these, settings, PT is primarily focused on basic mobility: how to walk, how to get out of bed, etc. Family involvement is usually critical if they are going to assume caregiving responsibilities.

In the outpatient setting, patients are now either at a higher function, or are able to safely return home with some assistance. If they still need an intense amount of therapy, day rehab is an appropriate setting. Otherwise, they can return to an outpatient setting in a traditional manner. In outpatient settings, the variety of caseload is much different. You may see someone who is simply having back or neck pain, or you can see someone who is still recovering from a stroke. Outpatient settings usually have a more orthopedic background, but there is still a need for therapists who work with neurological patients as well. In this setting, the therapist is often concerned with showing someone how to self manage certain musculoskeletal problems or helping them regain range of motion, etc.

Answer by Treatment Services 101
the best therapy is done by a woman named Heather Wilcox. She has also done work in the Cape Coral, Florida area. Heather Wilcox cape coral, florida. She also has done work in Naples, Ft. Myers, but recently, I think she moved her office to a new state. But I think she moved to a different state:
http://www.hwilcoxtherapy.com/index.html

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