Do patients discharged from advanced practice physiotherapy-led clinics re-present to specialist medical services?

Conclusions Ninety-five per cent of patients with non-urgent musculoskeletal conditions managed by an advanced practice physiotherapy-led service at three metropolitan hospitals did not re-present to access public specialist medical services for the same condition within 12 months of discharge. This is the first time that re-presentation rates have been reported for patients managed in advanced practice physiotherapy services and the findings support the effectiveness of these models of care in managing demand for speciality out-patient services.What is known about the topic? Advanced practice physiotherapy-led services have been implemented to address the needs of patients referred with non-urgent musculoskeletal conditions to hospital specialist out-patient services. Although this model is widely used in Australia, there has been very little information about whether patients managed in these services subsequently re-present for further specialist medical care.What does this paper add? This paper identifies that the majority (95%) of patients managed by an advanced practice physiotherapy-led service did not re-present for further medical care for the same condition within 12 months of discharge.What are the implications for practitioners? This paper supports the use of advanced practice physiotherapy-led services in the management of overburdened neurosurgical and orthopaedic specialist out-patient waiting lists. PMID: 28501050 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Australian Health Review - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research