>>For anyone who is interested - I enclose a brief report on the 6 month
audit we have recently undertaken on post-surgical on-call. Although
numbers are small, results were in agreement with the literature, so we
felt justified in formulating criteria for post-op treatment and
on-call. Audit is ongoing.
We are starting on a similar exercise for medical emergency chests, and
would be pleased to hear from anyone who has done any audits in this
area.
Regards,
>>Carol David
Carol,
We completed a year long audit of our Physiotherapy On-Call Service at a
hospital in Scotland last year.
The aim of the audit was to determine the percentage of inappropriate
referrals made to the Physiotherapy Emergency On-Call Service, and to
calculate the financial cost of inappropriate referrals. Data
collection was by questionnaires which were completed for each call-out,
not previously arranged.
Total call-outs amounted to 90, 25 of which were inappropriate.
The percentage of inappropriate call-outs was 27.78% at a financial cost
of £282.61 (wages + travel). So the sums involved were not large.
Main Conclusion
Medical staff required more information/clarification of the role of the
emergency on-call physiotherapist:-
* hours of on-call duty - physiotherapist not based in the hospital
(84% of inappropriate call-outs were made at a weekend)
* call-out procedure
* type of patient who the service is for/not for
* conditions likely to respond to physiotherapy intervention
* conditions which physiotherapy can have no effect
* agreed written emergency duty protocol - copy for medical staff
The intention was to include the above information in the medical
staffs induction booklet, with verbal reinforcement by a senior
physiotherapist when the medical staff rotate.
If you require further information on this audit, feel free to contact
me. I am no longer based at this hospital, but should be able to answer
most questions.
Cathy Neyland
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