On Call Physio

[gwynnwallace]

Why? Where is the evidence for this service...

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[perfphysio]

suppose you need to start a service before you can measure the success or failure of it.....unfortunately it would have to be a longitudinal study so only time may tell? On call physio in a national healthcare scheme is a nice idea yet can we really justify the costs of it. Nice cushy job though...love those scones and cream with each home visit....:-)

[NARSTR]

I cannot speak for the NHS, but where I work,(Aust) there is a four hour period from 6pm tp 10pm where a PT is rostered (at home) to answer calls. It proved to be an excellent education opportunity for doctors and nurses to find out what is essential in physiotherapy services - viz, acute respiratory patients whose condition is likely to deteriorate O/N. There is no night service as we have never considered it worth the cost.

[MartinM]

There is not necssarily "evidence" for this, and it would likely be unethical to have a controlled trial - but basically there are a lot of patients whose condition would significantly deteriorate if they were not seen outside of the normal working hours.

you could examine the differences in length of hospital stay, incidence of admission to icu for respiratory complications from wards, etc between hospitals that have/do not have on-call physio services but there would likely be too many potentially confounding factors, meaning any results would be nigh on meaningless.