What is so good about multidisciplinary clinics?
Multidisciplinary clinics working with an integrated care approach can offer you many services under one roof, which simplify a lot your planning and travel time. It can also save you money!
It’s not all and you will learn more as you read.
Many of us live a rat race which increases the chance of injuries and disease throughout our life. Maybe have you been referred for physiotherapy services or went to a massage therapist. It could be a common cold or a more severe illness. Some of these conditions are more preventable than others. That said, a lot of people live a busy life and forget about their annual check-up or just get used to living with their pain. This can lead to severe consequences.
Today, we have better access to information and educate ourselves with what’s online. It has influenced people to check for second opinion or search for different avenue on how to maximize their health. However, if you want to take your health into your own hands, you need to learn how to navigate through the healthcare system. It can be difficult and frustrating to see different health care providers in different locations.
Can multidisciplinary clinics speed my recovery?
Multidisciplinary clinics involve a team of healthcare experts. You refer to the team as a multidisciplinary team (MDT). Every team member is certified and experienced in their field of practice. For the most part, you can receive physiotherapy services, massage therapy, chiropractic adjustment, nutrition consultation, acupuncture to name a few.
Each team member works together. It avoids redundancy of care and helps to speed up the recovery. A strong collaboration among team members is extremely important. At Pillars of Wellness, healthcare providers such as physiotherapist will recommend another practitioner if he thinks it could up you live and move better. The decision is always yours at the end of the day.
Most medical doctors will refer to a physiotherapist for musculoskeletal injuries. While chiropractors are well-known to help with spinal injuries, back pain, they can also help with any muscle injuries. Ideal multidisciplinary clinics consist of:
- A Physiotherapist Specialized in orthopedic and neurology to address most injuries including multiple sclerosis, stroke and Parkinson’s diseases.
- A Chiropractor Specialized in spinal adjustment, orthotics, soft tissue, and pediatric chiropractic.
- A Massage Therapist Specialized in soft tissue, deep tissue and a broad knowledge in various massage techniques.
- An Occupational Therapist Specialized in concussion management, brain injury, senior’s health, cognitive therapy to name a few areas of their profession. An occupational therapist will help you get back to your daily activities and will promote self-care.
- A Speech Therapist An important profession within a multidisciplinary clinic as a speech therapist can help children and adults with autism, post-stroke injury or language delay and disorders due to a motor vehicle accident.
- A Registered Social Worker or Psychotherapist Trauma is common and can be complex. A skilled psychotherapist can help you with so many mental health conditions. This profession is extremely important in a multidisciplinary setting.
- An Acupuncturist Considered as one of the most ancient healing techniques and recognized worldwide with lots of clinical-approved research. Highly recommended for many different conditions. Acupuncture promotes the body to heal itself and can be combined with any other type of treatment.
- Holistic Nutritionist or Dietician What we eat makes us who we are. Food and the way we consume it is very different than 50 years ago. The food industry caused many forms of diseases in people. It created a lifestyle and affected millions of people living with digestive issues. A nutritionist can help you in addressing many concerns and can help to change bad habits. They are the cornerstone of your health. While they don’t have a magic wand, they can turn your life into a new direction which will change how you think of food forever!
The Benefits of Multidisciplinary Clinics – Is It Actually All That Great?
You should now have a clearer idea of what multidisciplinary clinics are. That said, you might still be skeptical about its usefulness. Can’t I go to a simple hospital or go for physiotherapy services? Can I actually rely on such a multi-organized system? Well, yes. The MDP system has proven its worth against different conditions around the globe.
A research article showed that the MDT system offers promising results. Many countries now use it as the standard healthcare system. This is true for diagnosing, staging, treating, and managing chronic pain and more.
So, what are the benefits of a multidisciplinary clinic or an integrated care clinic? The benefits are a faster recovery time, better outcomes, less medical expenses and less redundancy of care. Now, with regards to physiotherapy services multidisciplinary clinics are even more beneficial. These benefits include:
Teamwork All the specialists in an MD clinic work in tandem to provide better solutions. These solutions come from strong communication among various professionals.
Diversity Patients can use a full therapeutic range within a physiotherapy treatment program. This provides the advantage of a wide range of treatment protocols. These various philosophies are easy and quick to find in one place.
Standardization MD clinics include many different medical and professional healthcare practitioners under one roof. This way, all procedures and management protocols get standardization. You get to enjoy great efficiency and quality care.
Speed Numbers of practitioners work in one location. So, you don’t have to switch locations to get treated. You have an opportunity to get a thorough head-to-toe assessment with few health practitioners which helps identify different layers of your conditions. This process helps to speed the recovery.
Better Outcomes MD clinics have shown marked improvement and satisfaction in patients in different conditions. Even cancer patients have shown better survival rates and responses with an integrated care approach.
Patient Control Each patient gets the chance to discuss, compare and choose their treatment plan. This is because they get a wide variety of treatment options for their selection.
Patient Knowledge MD clinics have a better understanding of their patients. This is because the processing and physiotherapy treatment is long and detailed. Every specialist gets a clearer idea of the patient’s needs and requirements.
Psycho-social Support The efficiency and order in an MD clinic are a comforting fact for many patients. People tend to be more cooperative with the specialists seeing such results. This makes the entire process successful through psycho-social support on both ends.
Health Benefits for Professionals Multidisciplinary clinics aren’t beneficial only to the patients. Medical and healthcare professionals undergo large amounts of stress and fatigue when working. They deal with larger influxes of patients with less manpower. MD clinics solve the problem by providing extra team support during treatment. In this way, you get better, quicker results.
Pillars of Wellness is a well-established multidisciplinary clinic in Burlington, Ontario. The clinic works on providing patients regulated and high-quality health services. These include physiotherapy services, naturopathy, homeopathy, yoga, massage therapy and much more. You can call now to get an appointment for a better, healthier lifestyle.
Enkeleda Nazaj , Physiotherapy
