Advanced practice physiotherapy surgical triage and management of adults with spinal disorders referred to specialized spine medical care: a retrospective observational study.
Physiother Theory Pract
; 40(4): 704-713, 2024 Apr.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-36594598
INTRODUCTION: In this novel advanced practice physiotherapy (APP) model of care, advanced practice physiotherapists (APPTs) assess, triage, and manage adults with spinal disorders to alleviate the growing demands in specialized spine medical care. OBJECTIVES: To describe this APP model of care, to assess change in disability 3 months after rehabilitation care and to assess surgical triage and diagnostic concordance between APPTs and spine surgeons. METHODS: In this retrospective observational study, consecutive patients who completed the 3-month follow-up data were analyzed. Sociodemographic, clinical characteristics, and self-reported disabilities including the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) and Neck Disability Index (NDI) at baseline and 3 months were extracted. Paired t-tests were used to assess changes in disability. Surgical triage and diagnostic concordance between APPTs and surgeons were measured with raw agreement, Cohen's Kappa, and PABAK. RESULTS: In this model, trained APPTs triaged surgical candidates and provided rehabilitation care including education and exercises to patients with spinal disorders. The APPTs referred only 18/46 participants to spine surgeons. Surgical triage and diagnostic concordance were high with raw agreement of 94% and 89%. At the 3-month follow-up, significant improvements in disability were observed among nonsurgical candidates with back (mean difference (MD): -13.0/100 [95%CI: -19.8 to -6.3], n = 23) or neck disorders (MD: -16.0/100 [95%CI: -29.6 to -2.4], n = 5), but not among surgical candidates referred by APPTs to spine surgeons. CONCLUSION: In this limited sample, adults with spinal disorders that were initially referred to a spine surgeon by family physicians were effectively assessed, triaged, and managed by an APPT.
Palabras clave
Texto completo:
1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Asunto principal:
Enfermedades de la Columna Vertebral
/
Triaje
Tipo de estudio:
Observational_studies
/
Prognostic_studies
Límite:
Adult
/
Humans
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Physiother Theory Pract
Asunto de la revista:
MEDICINA FISICA
Año:
2024
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Canadá
Pais de publicación:
Reino Unido