Physical Therapists: When the Incident Report Says Too Much
No one becomes a physical therapist because they’re drawn to the glamour of writing incident reports. For most PTs, they’re just the cost of doing business when an incident occurs — something to be gotten through as efficiently (and accurately, of course) as possible.
You might want to give your next report a little more deliberation, however — it turns out that anything you say in an incident report can and possibly will be held against you if someone files a complaint with your licensing board.
The Professional License Defense Team at the LLF National Law Firm appreciates the candor and thoroughness with which physical therapists generally approach their incident reports, but cautions against saying anything that might make it look like the incident was your fault.
If your licensing board is threatening disciplinary action, contact us today to protect your hard-earned professional license: call 888-535-3686 or send us a message and tell us about your case.
Why Do Physical Therapists Sometimes Say Too Much in Their Incident Reports?
Any time a patient suffers an injury in their PT session, the therapist is going to be wracked with concern. Naturally, as the trained professionals they are, they’re also going to self-reflect and analyze the situation to ascertain whether something they did or didn’t do was the cause of the accident.
This is great — it’s how we learn and improve. But that doesn’t mean your internal assessment — which, let’s be honest, is probably far more self-critical than it should be — needs to show up in your report.
The reason? Incident reports are only internal company documents until they become key evidence in a complaint. PTs should remember this as they write: Your audience here isn’t just your supervisor; it’s also, potentially, your licensing board.
What Does Self-Incrimination in an Incident Report Look Like?
As they write up their report after an incident, the physical therapist is probably in an emotionally heightened state, worried about their patient and responding to their distress. This is going to show up in their writing as:
- Apologies (“I’m so sorry that …”)
- Speculation (“The patient probably fell because I …”)
- Self-reproach (“I forgot to ….”)
This kind of language plants a bright red flag in your report. Board investigators are going to run straight to it like bulls in the ring.
What Does a Fair, Effective Incident Report Look Like?
Your licensing board isn’t interested in your self-reflection and growth. What they want to know is whether you can be trusted to keep your patients safe — and they’re watching like hawks for language that indicates you can’t.
You can avoid the appearance of self-incrimination by keeping your report:
- Strictly factual: this happened, then this happened, then this happened
- Concise: don’t hypothesize, don’t include extraneous details, and eliminate all unnecessary adjectives and adverbs
- Professional: use precise medical terminology
- Unemotional: if you’re upset, wait until you’re calmer
The goal here is not to downplay the significance of the incident but to convey the facts accurately, unclouded by subjectivity.
Call the Professional License Defense Team
Candor is important: all professionals should be able to discuss adverse events that happen on their watch frankly, clearly, and truthfully. Reports suffused with personal ideas and feelings are the opposite of this, and they’re not helpful to anyone.
The LLF National Law Firm’s Professional License Defense Team is here to support, advise, and represent physical therapists dealing with difficult incident reports, board investigations, or disciplinary action. To protect your license, call our offices at 888-535-3686 or send us a message online.