Differential Diagnosis & Medical Screening

1899 East State Street,Hermitage PA 16148

09 April, 2022

Description

13.25 CEU seminar related to Direct Access Physical Therapy. Get your CEUs for the renewal of PA direct access license Differential Diagnosis & Medical Screening This course has been approved by the PA state board of PT for 13.25 CEUs Day one 8-5pm Day two 8-3pm Presented by Mark Kerestan, PT, PA-C and Daniel Higgins, PT, DPT, OCS, ATC ***Due to COVID precautions, social distancing and mask wearing will be required. Also, lab portion of the course will be substituted with video demonstration. Course Description This course is designed to teach physical therapists methods for identifying potential medical conditions that may require medical referral. This course will help increase the clinician’s confidence during the evaluation process and assist in diagnostic accuracy. Evidence-based screening tools with be covered along with learning “red flags” for a variety of conditions and body systems. Other subjects to be covered include heart and lung screening exam along with understanding normal and abnormal vital signs and their response to exercise, abdominal screening exam and related special tests, basics of imaging and its role in the differential diagnosis process, review of the upper and lower quarter screening exam along with a cranial nerve and neurologic screen, skin screening exam, psychological considerations, and finally pharmacologic considerations including medicine side effects of commonly prescribed medications seen in the physical therapy settings. The presentation of this course material will provide the physical therapists with the knowledge required to see patients via direct access and allow them to understand potential medical conditions that require referral. Course Objectives 1. Present an overview of the role of the physical therapist as it pertains to direct access and differential diagnosis. 2. Relay the importance of comprehensive history taking in efforts to identify “red flags” that may indicate the presence of potentially serious medical conditions. 3. Review and understand the clinical significance of vital signs and the normal vs. pathophysiologic changes seen with exercise. 4. Review and learn examination skills for major body systems including skin, cardiopulmonary, abdominal, musculoskeletal, neurological, and psychological. 5. Recognize the indications for commonly prescribed diagnostic tests and their clinical significance. 6. Discuss pertinent pharmacologic issues including commonly used medications, side effects, and potential interactions of physical therapy treatments with the medications. 7. Use case studies to highlight clinical decision-making processes in the cases involving the initiation of treatment versus medical referral. 8. Utilize lab time to instruct and practice screening exams for the trunk (heart/lung/abdominal) including inspection, percussion, palpation, auscultation, and special tests, and performance of upper limb and lower limb tension tests. Professional Health Seminars, LLC is a company located in southwest Pennsylvania and was designed to provide high quality and affordable educational seminars to health professionals including physical therapists, physical therapists assistants, athletic trainers, and occupational therapists.  Please see our webpage and view our upcoming events.  With many of our events held in the southwest Pennsylvania/Pittsburgh area, Professional Health Seminars is a great place to acquire continuing education credits to satisfy the Pennsylvania state board requirements for license renewal.