Lawanda Hastings has a challenge ahead of her. She recently took over leadership
responsibilities for the downtown branch of Southglenn Physical Therapy Clinics
(SPTC), which are private outpatient clinics owned by Dr. Matt Nelson. SPTC has
served the Salt Lake City community since 1999 and specializes in orthopedic
rehabilitation, sports medicine, deep tissue massage therapy, aquatic therapy, and
work-related injuries. Over the years, Dr. Nelson has built SPTC from a single outpatient
clinic to three complementary clinics that have a sound reputation for providing excellent
physical therapy services.
SPTC is especially well-known for the excellent rehabilitation services provided for
professional and amateur athletes who injure knees or other joints in snow sport
accidents, common injuries associated with Utah’s exceptional ski resorts, where many
collegiate and Olympic athletes practice for competitive events, and families ski and
snowboard during the winter months.
The three clinics complement one another because each offers basic rehabilitation
services, and each is also known for a particular specialty. For example, the Main SPTC
clinic, now housed in a 30,000-square foot building with an indoor pool, focuses on
sports medicine, athletic injuries, and aquatic therapy. The Downtown clinic that
Lawanda now leads specializes in work injury programs, designed to help patients
return to full employment after an occupational injury. The smallest of the three clinics in
the nearby suburb of Murray primarily treats post-surgical patients to help reduce pain
and increase mobility. All three clinics are located along the light rail line, making travel
between the clinic locations for staff and patients quite easy.
Clinic Roles
Each of the three SPTC operations is headed by a clinic director, whose role is to lead
clinic operations and coordinate patient care at the clinic location. Each director is also a
licensed physical therapist, who ultimately oversees the professional conduct of clinic
staff. The three directors report directly to Matt Nelson, as does the clinic administrator,
who is responsible for functions such as patient scheduling, client and insurance billing,
the electronic medical record system, purchasing and accounts payable, and personnel
and payroll services. These functions are coordinated centrally at the Main SPTC clinic,
as are out-sourced custodial and maintenance services for each clinic.
A marketing coordinator also reports directly to Matt. About 65% of the patients seen at
SPTC are referred by local physicians, so maintaining strong relationships with local
medical providers is essential for SPTC’s long-term prosperity. Along with Matt, the
three clinic directors, the clinic administrator, and the marketing coordinator comprise
the SPTC leadership team. Additionally, at each clinic, managers oversee the clinic’s
routine physical therapy services and rehabilitation services, and directly supervise the
work of the physical therapists, occupational therapists, massage therapists, and
athletic trainers employed at each clinic.
Lawanda was the clinic director at the Murray clinic for four years and successfully
oversaw growth of the clinic’s surgical rehabilitation practice. Then, abruptly, the clinic
director at the Downtown clinic left under a cloud of suspicion that involved sexual
harassment claims against him by two of the female massage therapists. Matt asked
Lawanda to take over leadership responsibilities for the Downtown clinic and to address
leadership and managerial needs of the understandably dispirited staff.
Just the Facts
Through discussions with Matt, interviews with the four departmental managers who
now report to her, and open forum dialogues with clinic staff, Lawanda has discovered
the following:
- Client feedback surveys have shown a downward trend in patient satisfaction
with service provided at the Downtown clinic. The biggest concerns come from
patients using the occupational therapy department, which represents the largest
number of patient service interactions for the clinic. Patient concerns include
difficulty scheduling appointments, late appointments, and impolite staff who rush
them through their treatment. Patients who rated other clinic services at the
Downtown clinic such as physical therapy, massage therapy, and athletic training
didn’t identify the same concerns with staff interactions, but they also pointed to
difficulty scheduling appointments at the clinic. - A recent staff survey suggests that Downtown clinic staff enjoy the work they do,
but feel pressured to hurry through appointments because of tight schedules.
They also reported concerns about relationships with their managers, including
some managers who reportedly micro-manage their staff, and other managers
who are largely unavailable to help out when needed. Over the past year, the
Downtown clinic has hired several new staff members in the physical, massage,
and occupational therapy departments, and dissatisfaction among staff is
disproportionately higher among newer hires. - The manager of physical therapy has been out on maternity leave and
subsequently decided not to return to her job. The previous clinic director
narrowed the number of applicants to replace the manager to three individuals.
One of the final candidates is a physical therapist at the clinic who has been
acting as the interim manager while the previous manager was away from her
job. A final decision needs to be made on the candidate to fill this important
managerial position.
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