How to treat people: One DPT graduate works to reclaim the human side of health care

A graduate of MUSC’s Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) program, Gabe Botero, PT, DPT, CNC-NASM, credits his experience at MUSC with helping to shape his patient-centered approach to care. Now the author of How to Treat People: The Dying Art of Bedside Manner, he discusses the urgent need to bring empathy, presence, and humanity back into health care—and why that work begins long before providers ever enter the clinic.

How did your experience in CHP’s DPT program prepare you for your current professional success? What have you found to be most valuable?

My experience in the program was unique in the sense that I was there in the midst of COVID. Learning a physical medicine virtually made it difficult, but with the excellent teaching staff I feel like I didn’t miss out in my education. MUSC is a great school, and one of the takeaways is the knowledge that I was exposed to while I was there. I still see plenty of my professors’ names all over the internet showing how they’re progressing the profession, which tells me they genuinely care about physical therapy and the education that comes with it.

I also found it valuable that it was ok to fail (within reason). I failed one of my practical exams, and I got one-on-one time with a professor who took time out of their schedule to make sure that I was competent in that section. Most places would just fail you and move on. See ya! When I missed passing my boards by one point on my first take of the exam, it wasn’t nearly as painful as failing something the first time. I learned to take the hit on the chin and keep plugging forward. Let it be known that I knocked both the practical re-take as well as the boards exam out of the park.

What do you enjoy most about your work?

I LOVE the one-on-one care I can provide my patients! I spend so much time with patients, and I take that time to get to know them. It’s also very satisfying to get a patient out of pain and back to doing what they love.

What inspired you to write How to Treat People: The Dying Art of Bedside Manner? Were there any mentors or experiences at MUSC that directly influenced your insights?

The company I work for didn’t have a physical therapy department before I got there, so I had to build an image of what I wanted that part of the clinic to look like. That image centered on quality care and patient rapport. I found that the more patients I would get from other clinics, the more I would hear that the patient felt like no one gave them the attention they thought they needed. Nothing against other clinics of course, but I wanted patients to open up to me about their whole life and not just their physical pain because I’ve found that it’s all connected. I actually wrote the entire book in about 3 weeks because it was so raw to me. It’s easy to write something that you live, so most of the book is my experiences with patients and their pain, my experiences with developing a team, and dealing with imposter syndrome.

In your opinion, what is missing from modern bedside manner, and how does your book address it?

Health care is an economy, unfortunately, and that makes productivity king of the profession. I think so many providers are focusing on the price point they can get a patient to which is an important part of business, but it shouldn’t be the focus. I talk about slowing down and treating the patient with quality care. You can bill a unit of therapeutic exercise as the patient is on the recumbent bike for 10 minutes, but in the grand scheme of things, does this help the patient? The reimbursement is not the only thing that matters in the clinic, and I hope that other providers see this. Bedside manner isn’t just limited to the patient though! My book also talks about the interactions between team members and the relationship you have with yourself. Bedside manner, or the definition I give it in the book, is a lifestyle and not something you turn on once you clock in at work.

Can you share a patient interaction that solidified your belief in the importance of bedside manner?

I’m constantly reminded of a pediatric patient I had with a biceps contracture who was trying to make the basketball team. It was simple to me as far as his treatment, but to him it was the defining moment of his “career.” After treatment and the following tryouts, he came in after he was discharged and gave me a big hug thanking me for all of my help. It’s the little things, but I still keep all of the thank you cards that I get from patients. People want to feel valued—it’s ingrained in their psyche. Bedside manner goes so above and beyond the idea of being nice, but it is rooted in sincerity.

How do you see the role of bedside manner evolving in health care in the coming years?

I think with AI the health care system will swing back toward physical and human interaction. AI has the ability to replace physical therapists, but I’m not threatened by that because I know that humans are built for interactions with one another and that is part of the healing process. I think we will see a lot less online trainers and a lot more physical “whole-body” facilities that aren’t just limited to physical therapy.

What do you hope readers—both medical professionals and patients—will take away from your book, and what advice would you give to current DPT students as they prepare to enter the field?

I know that my readers will have an experience of realignment within their profession. It’s so easy to get jaded to the same injury over and over, but remembering why you got into physical therapy in the first place is key. We spend the most time with patients compared to other doctors, and we’re also typically one of the least compensated. Our ability to represent the patient-doctor interaction won’t just help people heal but will also help restore people’s faith in big health care so that they can feel heard and valued while they recover. My goal for this book is for it to be added as part of educational and clinical programs so that health care providers across the country can be reminded of the importance of having a good bedside manner so that the quality of health care in our country can improve. But it starts at the schools and maybe even sooner with the mindset of each and every provider.