Hi everyone,
I'm new on this site, found out about the link last week and have had an (all consuming) last few days intrigued by all the comments, information and support on here... very hard to pull myself away to do some much needing writing up of case studies! What a great place to be...
I'd like to share an experience - hoping to get some guidance and help in understanding something that took place last night with a case study - I'm studying Reflexology by the way and am a qualified massage therapist, and practice reiki.
I was introduced to this case study, lets call her Ms B, by a very dear friend who is also a holistic therapist. Mrs B is one of her clients and had apparently shown an interest in reflexology as a therapy but due to financial constraints could not afford treatments. Mrs B has a number of conditions currently causing her distress, a number of them emotional and psychological, she believed reflexology would help her. She'd expressed an interest and a willingness to be a case study and my friend passed me her details.
I contacted her a couple of days after and she came for the first session two weeks ago. We diarised all five future treatments to take place at the same time on a monday evening and proceeded with the treatment. After the treatment, she said she'd forgotten to mention she was taking the following week off and would be visiting with friends, so could not make the following monday, but would return when she got back.
I completely forgot she'd mentioned this and forgot to update my diary. Last monday when she didn't arrive, I phoned her asking if I'd misunderstood and got my dates muddled and whether or not the session had been cancelled, I said I'm sure it's my mistake, could she get back to me to confirm the next treatment. I did not hear back from her and I assumed she no longer wanted to come as a case study.
Yesterday evening, she arrived for her treatment. I welcomed her and asked if she'd got my message, I said that I'd got myself confused and must have completely forgotten she was going on holiday hence the voicemail, she said she hadn't got my message and I said that's odd, we'll have to check your mumber. I said I was glad to see her and showed her to my treatment room and proceeded with the the pre-treatment consultation (how she'd been, any changes, etc. etc).
She didn't look very comfortable at all and said she'd had quite an adverse reaction to the first treatment, she'd been emotional, teary and felt quite depressed for a few days after. She then very quickly asked me whether I'd written her chart up (?). I didn't know what she meant and asked her to explain, she raised her voice and said, 'I'd like to read what you've written about me'. I felt very uneasy and sensed she was on edge, I was grappling with possible explanations thinking she's put out that we'd had the misunderstanding about her holiday dates, that I'd left her a voicemail asking her to confirm, my mind was reeling for a possible explanation, I was just so unprepared for what was transacting between us.
I tried to explain that the foot chart I was making notes on at the last session and would infact be making notes on again this session was for my reference for what I'd written up our first session. She demanded to know what I'd written about her saying it's about her, she has a right to read what's been written about her, she said I'm disapointed, I thought your tutors would give you comments about me and what's wrong with me. I was quite stymied, I couldn't think of anything to say and could feel myself on the verge of tears, I told her I'd not handed anything in that I'd written up about her as yet because she'd filled in, but not signed the consent form last time and I was a little behind with my case studies in any event (I did not tell her that I thought she wasn't coming back because she'd not responded to my messages and I'd made that assumption and therefore wasn't going to spend three plus hours writing her up if she wasn't coming back).
She sat up, took the consent form I'd given to her to sign at the start of the session, folded it up and said I came here to find out what's wrong with me and I have a right to know what you've written up. I was extremely uncomfortable and wanted her to leave, I tried to stay calm and said, I think we've misunderstood onanother, I'm not qualified to make any diagnosis, you're here to receive a reflexology treatment and I'm doing the treatment on you at no cost to enable me to learn and become proficient in this therapy. I am required to write up my own interpretation and that interpretation is then marked by the school and my tutors, that is targetted at my tutors as the audience, not you.
She was extremely uptight by this stage said what difference does it make, I have a right to see what you've written about me, I don't see why I can't see what you've written up. She stood at the door angry, saying she was wasting her time, she'd never heard of this nonsense before, she'd gone for reflexology many times and the therapist had talked to her at the following session about what she'd found and had shared a charts with her(?). I said I'm sorry you've expected that from me, but I'm not able to provide you with any charts and I'm not able to diagnose you, that's not what I'm here to do, I'm here to give you an hour's reflexology treatment and I'm very sorry you thought differently.
I opened the door and lead her out. She was still ranting and raving about having a right to see what I've written up about her. I closed the door behind her and burst into tears, feeling completely unprepared for the whole experience and never wanting to treat another person in my home again.
The experience has really shaken me up... I've not experienced that kind of hostility in a treatment environment before and I've done many, many hours of case studies as well as treatments for fun and money in the past, I've always felt quite humbled to be in a position of giving a treatment and receiving such gratitude from the person receiving. I felt extremely vulnerable having this woman in my home, and being so confrontational.
The irony is, I work in a fairly hostile 9-5 environment, another irony being that I work in an area that deals, amongst other things with data protection...which got me thinking has she got a right to read my notes and my submissions? An extremely overwhelming experience all round.
I'm not sure if anyone has had any experiences of this sort, and whether you have some guidance or a steer on the matter, as to what I can learn from this and from a practical perspective, how to deal with this kind of behaviour in my practice.
I've had years and years of reflexology from many varied therapists and in all the years, I have never had a 'chart' given to me?? I'm now also extremely concerned about data protection issues, I've had a look at the business curriculum we cover and I'm not sure this is dealt with. Has anyone got any thoughts?
From a personal perspective I'm not letting this deter me from what I'm doing and loving, the experiences I've had so far along this journey have been gratifying and rewarding and I'm still unfalteringly committed to establishing my own clinic and encompassing this path as a career.
Any thoughts and guidance would be appreciated.
x
OOOOOOOOhhhhhh!!!!!
Sorry guys, but can you continue with the discussion without making personal digs at each other..well those of you the feel the need to do so
Thanks
Sorry, purple peach....is that a hiss of indrawn breath or of revelation?:)
Just to steer this thread back on track!!
For the purpose of data protection (I work in a bank, so I do know about this!!) any information you record about a person should be precise and to the point, with no emotion or personal opinion, as it may well be read by the patient.
For example, Mrs Jones is habitually late for her reflexology appointment. You want to record this fact for future reference or to jog your memory when she phones up wanting to book an appointment.
You could write: "Mrs Jones is always late for her appointments, and is a great cause of inconvenience to myself and other clients who are on time" not knowing that maybe Mrs Jones is a full time carer for someone very ill, making it hard for her to get away for some well-deserved "me time". Result of patient reading notes makes her feel awful and as if you dislike her = lost client.
Or, as Data Protection advises, you should write : "Appointment commenced 30 minutes later than originally sheduled, due to delayed client." or similar, each time Mrs Jones is late. If she read that, she would hopefully not think you hated her, and she certainly couldn't deny it, as it is cold, emotionless truth.
As for case studies and the amount of personal opinion required when writing them up, the way to get around having to show these very personal notes to the client is by omitting to include any identifying details, such as name, date of birth, street address, precise occupation details, etc, so that no one reading them - even someone who knows the patient themselves, would be able to identify the client. You are not required to show these notes to the client, as they are not identifying or, necessarily, based on the client themselves, as they are your personal interpretations on a subject they most likely know little about. In a way, it would be like a work colleague demanding to read your diary as you have written something about them in it. It is your personal interpretation on a situation presented to you.
They should only be concerned with notes including their personal details that could be given to third parties and used to identify them.
Hope this helps, even though I know that lots of other people have already made most of the points covered here! 🙂
Actually Gemmeg has made a very valid point here regarding case studies. Write ups handed in should contain NO personal identifying information as you have no knowledge of, or control over, who is able to read them. Therefore introducing the client information in the case study write up may have "My client for this case study was Mrs B. She is in her mid thirties and works in the ........ industry." You would be able to write any opinions you form as to her condition (and state of mind!) but as this information would not be directly able to be associated with her, other than in your own memory, you would never be required to share that information with her as it is not part of the treatment record you must hold and legally show to her if requested.
I hope this makes sense as I have not yet had my second coffee of the day!
Hope your other case studies work out better for you
Dave
Hi everyone,
Mrs B is one of her clients and had apparently shown an interest in reflexology as a therapy but due to financial constraints could not afford treatments.
she'd never heard of this nonsense before, she'd gone for reflexology many times and the therapist had talked to her at the following session about what she'd found and had shared a charts with her(?).
x
Hmm... Just me or does this not add up???? Quite extreme healing crisis for someone who's had reflex loads of times... Not a reflexologist so that's speculation on my part...
I think this has been a horrid situation for you and I hope you are ok now. I truly believe it has happened to stop you in the future. Better for it to happen when you're learning than have it happen when you're qualified and have it really knock your confidence.
Also, part of me feels things like this happen when people aren't paying. It's all part of the respecting the process for some- i feel anyway!
Seems to me this lady has mental health issues IMO. So there's not necessarily any logice going to be there no matter how hard you look...
Wow! What a horrid experience.
It sounds to me, as has already been suggested, that this lady has phychiatric issues.
She obviously feels that there is something wrong with her and her behaviour would suggest to me that she's desparate for someone to tell her what it is. Maybe she wants to be able to say to herself that she behaves a certain way or feels a certain way because she has such and such a condition.
Possibley she doesn't understand herself and is looking for an explanation.
Whatever the reason for her behaviour, I think you're best off out of that one.
All clients you treat have right to see own profile and what was written.
They also have right to have a copy of it.
I had only 1 case when the client asked if she can read her profile. I said yes and she read. Of course for her it was difficult to understand all abbreviations and medical text and after she asked to explained I did.
Actually it was a great conversation.
But,
If I need to refer the client to others I always give them copy of notes about tests done, results and my ideas and dx and suggestions for dr.
This always helps my colleagues to see changes and what was done.
Sometimes clients are very happy to hear that dr confirms my notes and give very positive feedback.
(This is kinda self advertisement for me too, and trust me - it work very well)
It really helps for the client at the first line because all see advanced picture of condition and can be precise with treatment and results
Hi everyone,
I'm new on this site, found out about the link last week and have had an (all consuming) last few days intrigued by all the comments, information and support on here... very hard to pull myself away to do some much needing writing up of case studies! What a great place to be...
I'd like to share an experience - hoping to get some guidance and help in understanding something that took place last night with a case study - I'm studying Reflexology by the way and am a qualified massage therapist, and practice reiki.
I was introduced to this case study, lets call her Ms B, by a very dear friend who is also a holistic therapist. Mrs B is one of her clients and had apparently shown an interest in reflexology as a therapy but due to financial constraints could not afford treatments. Mrs B has a number of conditions currently causing her distress, a number of them emotional and psychological, she believed reflexology would help her. She'd expressed an interest and a willingness to be a case study and my friend passed me her details.
I contacted her a couple of days after and she came for the first session two weeks ago. We diarised all five future treatments to take place at the same time on a monday evening and proceeded with the treatment. After the treatment, she said she'd forgotten to mention she was taking the following week off and would be visiting with friends, so could not make the following monday, but would return when she got back.
I completely forgot she'd mentioned this and forgot to update my diary. Last monday when she didn't arrive, I phoned her asking if I'd misunderstood and got my dates muddled and whether or not the session had been cancelled, I said I'm sure it's my mistake, could she get back to me to confirm the next treatment. I did not hear back from her and I assumed she no longer wanted to come as a case study.
Yesterday evening, she arrived for her treatment. I welcomed her and asked if she'd got my message, I said that I'd got myself confused and must have completely forgotten she was going on holiday hence the voicemail, she said she hadn't got my message and I said that's odd, we'll have to check your mumber. I said I was glad to see her and showed her to my treatment room and proceeded with the the pre-treatment consultation (how she'd been, any changes, etc. etc).
She didn't look very comfortable at all and said she'd had quite an adverse reaction to the first treatment, she'd been emotional, teary and felt quite depressed for a few days after. She then very quickly asked me whether I'd written her chart up (?). I didn't know what she meant and asked her to explain, she raised her voice and said, 'I'd like to read what you've written about me'. I felt very uneasy and sensed she was on edge, I was grappling with possible explanations thinking she's put out that we'd had the misunderstanding about her holiday dates, that I'd left her a voicemail asking her to confirm, my mind was reeling for a possible explanation, I was just so unprepared for what was transacting between us.
I tried to explain that the foot chart I was making notes on at the last session and would infact be making notes on again this session was for my reference for what I'd written up our first session. She demanded to know what I'd written about her saying it's about her, she has a right to read what's been written about her, she said I'm disapointed, I thought your tutors would give you comments about me and what's wrong with me. I was quite stymied, I couldn't think of anything to say and could feel myself on the verge of tears, I told her I'd not handed anything in that I'd written up about her as yet because she'd filled in, but not signed the consent form last time and I was a little behind with my case studies in any event (I did not tell her that I thought she wasn't coming back because she'd not responded to my messages and I'd made that assumption and therefore wasn't going to spend three plus hours writing her up if she wasn't coming back).
She sat up, took the consent form I'd given to her to sign at the start of the session, folded it up and said I came here to find out what's wrong with me and I have a right to know what you've written up. I was extremely uncomfortable and wanted her to leave, I tried to stay calm and said, I think we've misunderstood onanother, I'm not qualified to make any diagnosis, you're here to receive a reflexology treatment and I'm doing the treatment on you at no cost to enable me to learn and become proficient in this therapy. I am required to write up my own interpretation and that interpretation is then marked by the school and my tutors, that is targetted at my tutors as the audience, not you.
She was extremely uptight by this stage said what difference does it make, I have a right to see what you've written about me, I don't see why I can't see what you've written up. She stood at the door angry, saying she was wasting her time, she'd never heard of this nonsense before, she'd gone for reflexology many times and the therapist had talked to her at the following session about what she'd found and had shared a charts with her(?). I said I'm sorry you've expected that from me, but I'm not able to provide you with any charts and I'm not able to diagnose you, that's not what I'm here to do, I'm here to give you an hour's reflexology treatment and I'm very sorry you thought differently.
I opened the door and lead her out. She was still ranting and raving about having a right to see what I've written up about her. I closed the door behind her and burst into tears, feeling completely unprepared for the whole experience and never wanting to treat another person in my home again.
The experience has really shaken me up... I've not experienced that kind of hostility in a treatment environment before and I've done many, many hours of case studies as well as treatments for fun and money in the past, I've always felt quite humbled to be in a position of giving a treatment and receiving such gratitude from the person receiving. I felt extremely vulnerable having this woman in my home, and being so confrontational.
The irony is, I work in a fairly hostile 9-5 environment, another irony being that I work in an area that deals, amongst other things with data protection...which got me thinking has she got a right to read my notes and my submissions? An extremely overwhelming experience all round.
I'm not sure if anyone has had any experiences of this sort, and whether you have some guidance or a steer on the matter, as to what I can learn from this and from a practical perspective, how to deal with this kind of behaviour in my practice.
I've had years and years of reflexology from many varied therapists and in all the years, I have never had a 'chart' given to me?? I'm now also extremely concerned about data protection issues, I've had a look at the business curriculum we cover and I'm not sure this is dealt with. Has anyone got any thoughts?
From a personal perspective I'm not letting this deter me from what I'm doing and loving, the experiences I've had so far along this journey have been gratifying and rewarding and I'm still unfalteringly committed to establishing my own clinic and encompassing this path as a career.
Any thoughts and guidance would be appreciated.
x