Physiotherapy Department, Royal Adelaide Hospital, North Terrace, Adelaide, 5000 SA, Australia.
Emerg Med J. 2012 Aug;29(8):664-9. doi: 10.1136/emermed-2011-200157. Epub 2011 Sep 6.
One of the reasons physiotherapy services are provided to emergency departments (EDs) and emergency extended care units (EECUs) is to review patients' mobility to ensure they are safe to be discharged home.
To investigate whether a physiotherapy service to an EECU altered the rate of hospital admission, rate of re-presentation to the ED, visits to community healthcare practitioners, return to usual work/home/leisure activities and patient satisfaction.
A randomised trial with concealed allocation, assessor blinding and intention-to-treat analysis was undertaken in an EECU. The sample comprised 186 patients (mean age 70 years, 123 (66%) female patients, 130 (70%) trauma) who were referred for physiotherapy assessment/intervention. Referral occurred at any stage of the patients' EECU admission. All participants received medical/nursing care as required. The physiotherapy group also received physiotherapy assessment/intervention.
The physiotherapy group had a 4% (95% CI -18% to 9%) lower rate of admission to hospital than the control group and a 4% (95% CI -6% to 13%) higher rate of re-presentation to the ED, which were statistically non-significant (p≥0.45). Differences between groups for use of community healthcare resources, return to usual work/home/leisure activities and satisfaction with their EECU care were small and not significant.
A physiotherapy service for EECU patients, as provided in this study, did not reduce the rate of hospital admission, rate of re-presentation to the ED, use of community healthcare resources, or improve the rate of return to usual work/home/leisure activities or patient satisfaction. Trial registration number ANZCTRN12609000106235.
为急诊部（ED）和急诊延伸护理单元（EECU）提供物理治疗服务的原因之一是评估患者的活动能力，以确保其安全出院。
调查 EECU 的物理治疗服务是否改变了住院率、再次就诊急诊科的比率、就诊社区医疗保健从业者的次数、恢复正常工作/家庭/休闲活动的比例以及患者满意度。
在 EECU 中进行了一项随机试验，采用隐蔽分组、评估者盲法和意向治疗分析。样本包括 186 名患者（平均年龄 70 岁，123 名（66%）女性患者，130 名（70%）创伤），他们因接受物理治疗评估/干预而被转介。转介发生在患者 EECU 入院的任何阶段。所有参与者都接受了所需的医疗/护理。物理治疗组还接受了物理治疗评估/干预。
与对照组相比，物理治疗组的住院率低 4%（95%CI-18%至 9%），再次就诊急诊科的比例高 4%（95%CI-6%至 13%），但无统计学意义（p≥0.45）。组间在使用社区医疗资源、恢复正常工作/家庭/休闲活动以及对 EECU 护理的满意度方面的差异较小且无显著性。
在这项研究中，为 EECU 患者提供的物理治疗服务并没有降低住院率、再次就诊急诊科的比率、使用社区医疗资源的比率，也没有提高恢复正常工作/家庭/休闲活动的比率或患者满意度。试验注册号：ANZCTRN12609000106235。
