Implementing the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy's core standards into physiotherapy

Roberts, L. (2003) Implementing the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy's core standards into physiotherapy. World Physical Therapy 2003: 14th International WCPT Congress, Barcelona, Spain. 06 - 11 Jun 2003.

Record type: Conference or Workshop Item (Paper)

Abstract

PURPOSE: In 2000, the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) updated its core standards for measuring the quality of the interaction between a patient and physiotherapist. Some organisational barriers exist however, in implementing these standards within an outpatient clinical setting. Therefore, the purpose of this work was to design and evaluate a patient-information leaflet for new patients referred to the department, advising them about the physiotherapy process and addressing some of the core standards.
RELEVANCE: This work reflects the Government’s agenda for clinical governance, ‘creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care will flourish’ (Secretary of State for Health 1998). It also addresses local needs, informing patients about their physiotherapy service and the process of delivery of care. DECSRIPTION: The leaflet development was completed in 3 stages: 1) 50 patients were asked to identify what information they would like to know about physiotherapy, the department, their first visit, and their rights, for the purpose of developing a leaflet; 2) 100 consecutive patients discharged from the outpatient physiotherapy service were asked to participate in an anonymized postal audit evaluating their experience of the department, using the CSP’s standardized ‘Patient Feedback’ questionnaire; 3) a patient-information leaflet was developed using the responses from stage 1, the core standards and input from clinicians. This leaflet was piloted with 100 patients.
OBSERVATIONS: The response rate for stage 1=74%. Patients most wanted directions to the department, information about their personal physiotherapist (such as their name and level of experience), duration of the appointment and likelihood of a successful outcome of treatment. In stage 2, the feedback from patients was generally positive, with 89% enjoying ‘coming for physiotherapy’ and 87% being ‘very satisfied’ with their care. However, 43% of patients did not recover as well as they had hoped and nearly 8% considered their physiotherapy to be ‘a waste of time’. In stage 3, the mean score for the leaflet on a scale of 0-10, where 0=‘of no benefit’ and 10=‘extremely helpful’ was 8.4. Work is currently underway to repeat the audit from stage 2 with 100 consecutive patients discharged from the department, who had received the leaflet prior to their first appointment. These findings will be compared to the findings from stage 2.
CONCLUSIONS: A simple, patient-information leaflet, sent out with the appointment card before patients first attend an outpatient physiotherapy department, is proving popular with patients and can be used as part of a range of strategies to implement the core standards into clinical practice and improve patient care.

This record has no associated files available for download.