Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Physicians

<ul><li>Document examination results, treatment plans, and patients' outcomes.</li><li>Examine patients to assess mobility, strength, communication, or cognition.</li><li>Assess characteristics of patients' pain such as intensity, location, or duration using standardized clinical measures.</li><li>Provide inpatient or outpatient medical management of neuromuscular disorders, musculoskeletal trauma, acute and chronic pain, deformity or amputation, cardiac or pulmonary disease, or other disabling conditions.</li><li>Monitor effectiveness of pain management interventions such as medication or spinal injections.</li><li>Develop comprehensive plans for immediate and long-term rehabilitation including therapeutic exercise; speech and occupational therapy; counseling; cognitive retraining; patient, family or caregiver education; or community reintegration.</li><li>Coordinate physical medicine and rehabilitation services with other medical activities.</li><li>Prescribe physical therapy to relax the muscles and improve strength.</li><li>Perform electrodiagnosis including electromyography, nerve conduction studies, or somatosensory evoked potentials of neuromuscular disorders or damage.</li><li>Consult or coordinate with other rehabilitative professionals including physical and occupational therapists, rehabilitation nurses, speech pathologists, neuropsychologists, behavioral psychologists, social workers, or medical technicians.</li><li>Prescribe therapy services, such as electrotherapy, ultrasonography, heat or cold therapy, hydrotherapy, debridement, short-wave or microwave diathermy, and infrared or ultraviolet radiation, to enhance rehabilitation.</li><li>Instruct interns and residents in the diagnosis and treatment of temporary or permanent physically disabling conditions.</li><li>Diagnose or treat performance-related conditions such as sports injuries or repetitive motion injuries.</li><li>Prescribe orthotic and prosthetic applications and adaptive equipment, such as wheelchairs, bracing, or communication devices, to maximize patient function and self-sufficiency.</li><li>Conduct physical tests such as functional capacity evaluations to determine injured workers' capabilities to perform the physical demands of their jobs.</li></ul>