communication of PT recommendations to nursing staff

[afteralltheseyears]

At your facilities--do the therapists (PT, OT or ST) give their recommendations to the Dr and the Dr then writes them as orders for the nursing staff or does your nursing staff follow their recommendations directly?

[Flo., BSN, RN]

The MDs writes the order for PT/OT/SP to eval and tx. The PT/OT/SP make recommendations that the nursing staff follows directly.

[loriangel14, RN]

Our PTs usually talk to us directly and they write instructions on the patient's white board pertaining to transfers etc.

[Boog'sCRRN246, RN]

At my facility, recommendations such as the use of braces, e-stim, and diet consistency are communicated to the MD and then written as an order. Anything else, such as whether a patient is min/mod/max assist, doesn't require a MD order.

[MunoRN, RN]

Most of our PT/OT orders are Nursing initiated (under MD approved protocols). Therapy plans and Assistive device orders are written by PT/OT as protocol orders, so the communication is essentially directly between PT/OT and nursing.