CEU Review: MedBridge Education's Patient Care HEP

Patient education and the instruction of a home exercise program (HEP) is of utmost importance to clinicians in order to obtain positive patient outcomes and to improve compliance. Recently, MedBridge Education rolled out their Patient Care Portal, which includes a HEP and Patient Education materials. I have had the opportunity to use this software for the past month or so and have broken my review into the following areas…

Content

With 1,500 exercises (and growing) this HEP is almost all you will ever need with regards to prescribing a patient’s home program. These are not just simple stick figures or awkwardly drawn models either. Each exercise includes simple, modifiable instruction of technique, exercise parameters, and an in-depth video demonstration. Each exercise program can also have a detailed description and 3D video demonstration of the injury and/or disorder that your patient is being treated for. Additionally, if you cannot find the exercise or disorder that you need, both can be easily uploaded to the system. After you finished creating your patient’s program it can then be printed out, e-mailed, or the patient can visit their ‘Patient Portal’ to view their HEP and associated videos.

Ease of Use

MedBridge’s Patient Portal is one of the most user friendly HEPs that I have come across. Finding the correct exercise is simple with the ability to search based on body region, exercise type, or by searching for the specific exercise’s name. We all know that there can be countless names for the same exercise and this can cause significant issues when attempting to find your exercise in most HEPs. MedBridge’s program actually gives you the ability to modify the exercise’s name so that you can keep things straight in your head and so searching for the exercise in the future can be more efficient. Finally, to create a more efficient process, you can create templates for the more common disorders/injuries that you see on a day to day basis.

Patient Feedback

In my limited use of this program, I have heard nothing but positive feedback. Most patients are used to receiving crude drawing with poorly described exercise techniques and once they get home, all memory of how to perform their exercises is gone. I have noticed improved patient compliance and recall of exercise technique since implementing MedBridge’s HEP. The only negative comment I have received from a few patients/clients is that the pictures on the printouts are rather small and when printing in black & white, they can be difficult to see. Obviously, they could go to the website to watch the associated videos, but many patients don’t want to take that extra step.

Overall 

Honestly, I have very few negative things to say about this software. It is intuitive, detailed, and a game-changer with regards to home exercise and patient education. The only negative I see is having to log into the online program in order to make a program, but this is a very minimal hassle for such a beneficial component to my patient’s care. After using basic and (mostly) frustrating HEPs in the past, my switch to MedBridge’s Patient Portal has been seamless with a very minimal learning curve. After 15-20 minutes of playing around with the program, I felt comfortable creating, editing, and sending programs to my clients. What’s the best part of this program? The cost. Currently, the Patient Portal is included with MedBridge’s online continuing education product, so for all those therapists already using this great resource, it is absolutely FREE.

For those of you who have not yet subscribed, you can purchase a one-year subscription to the continuing education, patient portal, and reference tools (Orthopedic Exam Videos, Manual Therapy Technique Videos, and 3D Models) for only $200, which is a savings of $225! For the Discounted rate, CLICK HERE or feel free to check out the MedBridge website and use promo code orthomanualPT when you’re ready to buy. This sale is good until 11:59 PM EST on Sunday, August 10th, so don’t wait too long!

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