Approach to Treatment
The Medical Student's Guide to Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Much of the practice of
PM&R is built on the "team approach," a unique interdisciplinary
perspective on patient care. The patient's physical, functional, emotional,
and psychosocial well-being are all considered in treatment. The typical
members of a rehabilitation team, in addition to the physiatrist, might
include representatives from:
- physical therapy
- recreational therapy
- social services
- internal medicine
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- occupational therapy
- rehabilitation nursing
- speech therapy
- neuropsychology
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If patient contact is high on your list of priorities,
this field offers the opportunity to work closely with individuals who have
long-term disabilities and could continue to have changing needs with
advancing age. This provides the satisfaction of observing the response to
therapeutic intervention over a longer period of time. In a sense, the
physiatrist may serve the role of the "primary caregiver" for
individuals with disabilities.
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