Facilitators and Barriers for Physiotherapists to Engage in Goal-Setting With Patients During Their Hospital Stay-An Explanatory Sequential Mixed-Methods Study.
Linda Baumbach, Wiebke Feddern, Friederike Grube and 3 others
PMID 39785684WHAT IT FOUND
Physiotherapists rarely document goals because they view mobility as an inherent duty and find the electronic record field too small and poorly placed.
They also feel discouraged by a lack of interprofessional engagement, believing their notes are not read by doctors or nurses.
Key findings
01Participants perceived physical activity as an inherent goal of physiotherapy, leading them to keep goals in their heads rather than documenting them.
02The electronic health record was identified as a barrier because the goal field was too small, lacked space for updates, and was placed at the beginning of the record where therapists typically do not enter data.
03Therapists expressed frustration and reduced motivation to document goals because they assumed other professions did not read their notes or that the information had no impact on the overall treatment process.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The survey response rate was very low (8 of 64 invited), and the focus groups included only 8 participants, limiting the generalizability of the findings. The study was conducted in a single German university hospital with experienced therapists, so results may not apply to other countries, settings, or less experienced staff. Pediatric and intensive care units were excluded because goal-setting there often involves legal guardians rather than patients directly. The study could not identify 'lack of knowledge' as a barrier because participants were unaware of what they did not know, a limitation of self-report methods.
Declared interests
Funded by the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not interpret the low documentation rates as evidence that goal-setting improves patient outcomes. This study reports on the barriers clinicians face in implementing the process, not on the efficacy of the goals themselves for patient recovery.