Translating Evidence-Based Protocols Into the Home Healthcare Setting.
Katherine L Beissner, Eileen Bach, Christopher M Murtaugh and 5 others
PMID 28157776WHAT IT FOUND
Home care physical therapists trained in a pain self-management program added to usual PT care did not document most examined elements more than PTs without training.
Imagery documentation was higher. Therapists said the program added 15 to 20 additional minutes per visit.
Key findings
01Documentation of the program elements in the electronic medical record was relatively low for both intervention and control PTs.
02Intervention PTs documented imagery more than control PTs (p = .0024), while documentation of the other examined elements did not differ significantly.
03Therapists reported that the program required 15 to 20 additional minutes per visit, and the most frequent feedback was not enough time to complete it alongside other plan-of-care interventions.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The supplied text does not report patient pain, function, or other clinical outcomes, so it cannot show whether the program helped patients. EMR pain documentation was not a forced response and only six protocol items were examined, so it may not capture whether PTs used the techniques. The initial phone survey had a very low response rate, so the online survey results may not represent all intervention therapists. The online survey was completed by 24 of 153 intervention therapists still employed. Intervention and control PTs differed in highest educational degree and years of experience, which may affect documentation or delivery. The authors state that the available data cannot determine the extent or quality of instruction in the areas examined.
Declared interests
Funded by the Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read this as evidence that the pain self-management program improved patient pain or mobility. The reported results are EMR documentation and therapist feedback, and patient outcomes are not included in the supplied text.