Having talked with people about my last blog entry (Exercising our demons, 16th May 2010), one of the most interesting conversations centred around physiotherapy’s fascination with its heros; the ‘big names’ in the profession that are made famous by their inventions and innovations. The last blog entry touched on this only briefly, and only in the sense that I expressed my dislike for the naked evangelizing of some of the speakers at our conference. But there is a bigger point here that deserves consideration, because - as a couple of my colleagues pointed out - physiotherapy really does suffer, at times, from the cult of the hero. … [Read more...] about The cult of the hero
New: Encroachment
One of the ways that physiotherapists have recently looked to secure greater influence in the health care system has been to take on role previously done by others. Extended scopes now include limited prescribing rights and some invasive procedures like injecting, cannulation and bronchoscopy. We now also have new consultancy, advisory and leadership roles that are changing the nature of our practice. And one of the most popular extensions that can be taken up by the whole profession has involved the drift towards public health medicine. Physiotherapists and others are looking at the possibility of offering 'wrap-around' care where once they were specialists in discrete areas of … [Read more...] about New: Encroachment
Critical physiotherapy research update
Depression embodied: an ambiguous striving against fading Louise Danielsson and Susanne Rosberg Although depression is associated to physical discomfort, meanings of the body in depression are rarely addressed in clinical research. Drawing on the concept of the lived body, this study explores depression as an embodied phenomenon. Using a hermeneutic phenomenological approach, the analysis of narrative-based interviews with 11 depressed adults discloses a thematic structure of an embodied process of an ambiguous striving against fading. Five subthemes elicit different dimensions of this process, interpreted as disabling or enabling: feeling estranged, feeling confined, feeling … [Read more...] about Critical physiotherapy research update
No pain, no gain
Reading a recent book on Nurses and Midwives in Nazi Germany: The "Euthanasia Programs" by Susan Benedict and Linda Shields reminded me the that there is often a reluctance to research the darker sides to our professional histories. I remember Dave Holmes once telling me that he received some really aggressive and distressing criticism from his colleagues when his paper Killing for the state: The darkest side of American nursing was published. It seems that people within nursing took exception to someone questioning the morality of nurses who made people comfortable on death row in preparation for the electric chair and the lethal injection. In some ways I can understand this kind of … [Read more...] about No pain, no gain
Critical physiotherapy research update
Moving forward in nursing In an editorial in Nursing Philosophy late last year, Derek Sellman wrote a piece that will resonate with a lot of people frustrated by the corporatization of health care; 'I retain a deep distrust of moving forward as a spindiom (spin idiom, spindiom, get it?)...The primary values of education and health care are not those of the corporation' (p.156). Sellman, D. (2014). Moving forward in nursing. Nursing Philosophy : An International Journal for Healthcare Professionals, 15(3), 155-6. doi:10.1111/nup.12059. Reviewing research papers In the same edition of Nursing Philosophy, Martin Lipscomb asks 'how much understanding of the research process is enough for a … [Read more...] about Critical physiotherapy research update