Will HumphreysVirtual Assistant & Healthcare Recruiting Expert

Why patients don't do their home programs

Name: Why patients don't do their home programs
Uploaded: 2026-04-29T17:34:13+00:00
Duration: 1 min 11 s
Channel: Will Humphreys
Description: In this interview, a former clinician (Speaker A) recounts leaving clinical practice after experiencing burnout and high rates of appointment…

29 Apr 2026 · 1 min

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1:11

In this interview, a former clinician (Speaker A) recounts leaving clinical practice after experiencing burnout and high rates of appointment cancellations, especially from parents. Seeking to understand the root causes, they discovered that parents value relational qualities—empathy, collaboration, and clear communication—over the therapist’s technical expertise. This insight led to the creation of a training program aimed at occupational, physical, and speech therapists to develop these soft‑skill competencies. The conversation with Will Humphreys expands on the program’s core components: teaching therapists to explain the rationale behind home exercises, to ask patients about their daily lives, and to embed therapeutic activities into routine tasks (e.g., calf pumps while brushing teeth). The overall message emphasizes that improving patient adherence hinges on shifting from a purely clinical focus to a partnership model that makes home programs relevant, understandable, and motivating for patients and families.

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Went back, got my doctorate, did a capstone, and because I wanted out of the practice I was burnt out because like just everything, but mainly because parents were not coming in, canceling, you know, the whole thing. And so I was like, I wanna figure out what's behind this. Figured it out from the parent's side that what they needed, we weren't giving it to 'em because what we thought built trust. Yes. Was like, oh, it's my clinical skill, right? It's this. And parents didn't care about that at all. They wanted somebody that can relate, collaborate, be empathetic. It's the soft skills. It's the soft skills. Yeah. So I looked at that, looked at their barriers and created a program to train therapists how to do it.
So you're mentoring now, not just your own employees, but you're mentoring employees. Yeah. And these are OTs and PTs. Speech. You're talking and all I kept thinking about was all the conversations I had with my new grads, like, hey, stop trying to explain the stretch and ask them why they're worried.
Right. But, and so it gets back to, we need to teach the patient, or explain the why. Why I'm doing what I'm doing with you, why I'm asking you to do this at home is going to help you get back to your daily life, doing this sport, this whatever. And how can this fit into your life? Because if I give you Theraband, you're not going to do it.
No.
But if you're standing brushing your teeth, you could do some calf pumps or you could do whatever. I'm not an adult therapist, but it's the same thing. Figuring out what is motivating to them, right? And it starts with collaboration, asking questions. Tell me about your life. What does your day look like? Yes.