Virginia Beach, Va. (PRWEB) February 16, 2015
Tidewater Physical Therapy (TPTI) is pleased to announce that Paul Reed, PT, DPT, and Clinical Director of its First Colonial location in Virginia Beach, has been named to the Virginia Physical Therapy Association (VPTA) Ethics Committee as a representative of the Tidewater District.
Reed is in his second year as a member of the association, and his responsibilities on the committee include a focus on being open and talking through any ethical issues or questions clinicians may have regarding physical therapy and working with patients.
“I’m responsible to bring the voice of ethics to the meetings,” Reed said. “Everything that is talked about is directly relevant to what physical therapists do every day in their clinics.”
The mission of the VPTA, a division of the American Physical Therapist Association (APTA), is to advance excellence, quality and accessibility of physical therapy through advocacy, education, research and services for its members and consumers.
The APTA is the national and overarching organization that represents more than 90,000 member physical therapists, physical therapist assistants and students of physical therapy, and oversees individual state organizations, including the VPTA.
VPTA is made up of six districts, including Tidewater.
During meetings, the VPTA places emphasis on checking in on physical therapists—how everyone is doing, what they’re doing, what types of referrals clinicians are treating and any ethical considerations that have been made, Reed said.
It’s also an opportunity for collaboration and education.
“For example, I presented on aquatic therapy last year—what it is, where it is and so on—and from that presentation, other therapists were able to take that information back to their own clinic,” Reed said. “In the same way, I’m able to do that if somebody presents on, say, a new back technique.”
More than anything, the APTA and VPTA are actively pursuing the needs of physical therapists.
“It’s a solid and professional network system,” Reed said. “VPTA strives for the districts to have representation, and for physical therapists to have a local place they can go to talk about issues.”
ABOUT TIDEWATER PHYSICAL THERAPY:
Founded in 1986, Tidewater Physical Therapy remains a physical therapist-owned, independent, outpatient physical therapy practice, with 33 clinics, aquatic therapy centers and three Performance Centers located throughout Southeast and Central Virginia.
For more information about Tidewater Physical Therapy, visit http://www.tpti.com. Learn more about the Tidewater Performance Centers at http://www.tidewaterperform.com.
Many of the physical therapists at Tidewater Physical Therapy Inc. hold Direct Access Certification through the Virginia Board of Physical Therapy allowing them to evaluate and treat patients without a prescription.
As part of a healthcare team, a physical therapist will make an assessment of a patient's condition and create a plan to start on the road to wellness. The Tidewater Physical Therapy team will communicate with a patient's physician or dentist of record and obtain a referral, if necessary, for continued treatment. Tidewater Physical Therapy will also work with insurance carriers to make sure services are covered by a patient's plan.