Negotiating PT time

Hi Guys,
Hope everyone passed their pracs!
In ICU, quite often, you find yourself trying to go and see a patient only to find that they are (1) in the wrong position for Rx and you have to wait 40mins for the HSA’s to come and move them (PT’s are not allowed to move patients) (2) they are being visited by family (3) they have been taken down to CT/MRI (4) the nurse has just started to wash them/change their dressing/change their lines or (5) the doctors are in the room doing ward rounds/review…the list goes on.
It is a huge problem and highlights the importance of good time management skills and liasing with the nurses/docs/HSA’s in order to minimize lost time and give the best possible care for the patient. In my first few days I lost a lot of time waiting around to see my patients because even though you have multiple patients to treat, they were often all busy at the same time. I really had to work at communicating with the rest of the multi-D team to try and negotiate both treatment times and the position I wanted my patient in. I also really had to justify why I needed to get to see the patient at that time, i.e. why it was more important for the patient to get a chest treatment than have visitors. That was another thing that I found really hard, kicking the patients’ family/visitors out of their rooms for Rx, all the patients were really sick and their family really concerned and sometimes distraught, so I felt really bad about it, but in the end (for most patients) it’s more important to take 20 mins for physio and have the family go and get a coffee and have a time out.
I’ve heard that on other wards PT is considered the most important thing for a patient and that everyone makes way for them, but that is not always the case in ICU-though some doctors are really great in recognizing that what we do is vital to the patients. Often we have to make way for other people but it is important that we remember that our skills make a huge difference to the patients and their recovery.
My experience in ICU has really improved my communication/justification/negotiation skills and has given me more insight into how PT fits into the multi-D approach and how important our skills are, as well as making me much better at managing my time. In the future I’ll be able to spend more time with my patients and optimize my treatment time by talking to the other medical/allied health staff and rationalizing why physio is a high priority for the patient.