Physical Therapy Commons^™

Delirium Reduction Strategies For The Critically Ill, June Chaves, Sam Canonico, Will Cheney, Tammy Corey, Gil Fraser, Alex Kowalewski, Jen Low, Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Haley Pelletier, Cathy Palleschi, Stephen Tyzik, Suneela Nayak, Ruth Hanselman

Maine Medical Center

Delirium, an acute and fluctuating disturbance of consciousness and cognition, is a common manifestation of acute brain dysfunction in critically ill patients. Patients with delirium have longer hospital stays and a lower 6-month survival rate than do patients without delirium. Preliminary research suggests that delirium may be associated with cognitive impairment that persists months to years after discharge.

In a large acute care hospital, the cardiac intensive care staff became interested in mitigating their unit’s high delirium rate of ventilated patients. At baseline, many members of the healthcare team did not believe that delirium could be prevented and the predominant …

Strategies To Improve Interdisciplinary Communication In An Acute Care Inpatient Pediatric Unit, Sarah Thompson, Haley Pelletier, Barbara Bush Children's Hospital-Inpatient, Maine Medical Center, Suneela Nayak, Ruth Hanselman, Stephen Tyzik

Maine Medical Center

Interdisciplinary patient rounding has been shown to improve patient and family satisfaction as well as reduce patient length of stay and readmission rates. In an acute care inpatient pediatric unit, baseline metrics demonstrated that 100% of the time, nursing was not included in these rounds thus resulting in sub optimal communication.

The goal of this performance improvement project was to attain increased nursing participation. Data collection demonstrated several reasons for lack of participation and corrective actions were instituted. After undertaking this KPI goal and utilizing operational excellence, 95% of the time, nurses were called to morning rounds with the medical …

Development Of The Clinical Teaching Effectiveness Questionnaire In The United States, Michelle E. Wormley, Wendy Romney, Anna E. Greer

All PTHMS Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to develop a single valid measure for assessing clinical teaching effectiveness within the field of physical therapy. Pilot testing with CIs from both universities were purposively sampled to complete the questionnaire. The CI databases yielded 1,001 potential respondents, recruited via e-mail. The questionnaire and two follow-up reminders were sent. Respondents consented by clicking a link which redirected them to the SurveyMonkey® questionnaire. Two hundred five CIs completed the questionnaire, a 20.5% response rate. The 205 respondents were mostly female (68.4%) with an average age of 40.54 years (SD=10.22). CI experience was distributed as follows: …

Physical Therapist Students’ Development Of Diagnostic Reasoning: A Longitudinal Study, Sarah Gilliland

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Background and Purpose. Clinical reasoning is a complex problem-solving process that is necessary for effective clinical practice in physical therapy. Within the process of clinical reasoning, a physical therapist’s diagnostic reasoning should address the patient’s functional movement abilities and the impact of the patient’s condition on his or her ability to participate in life activities. This longitudinal study examined the development of entry-level physical therapist students’ diagnostic reasoning processes across time in their doctor of physical therapy education.

Methods. Qualitative methods were used to analyze participants’ diagnostic reasoning during a simulated patient case scenario. Six physical therapist students …

Occupational Therapy And Physiotherapy Education And Workforce In Anglophone Sub-Saharan Africa Countries, Augustine O. Agho, Emmanuel John

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Background: Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries are faced with the challenge of educating a critical mass of occupational therapists (OTs) and physiotherapists (PTs) to meet the growing demand for health and rehabilitation services. The World Federation of Occupational Therapy (WFOT) and World Confederation of Physical Therapy (WCPT) have argued for the need of graduate-level training for OTs and PTs for decades. However, very few studies have been conducted to determine the availability of OT and PT training programs and practitioners in SSA countries.

Methods: Initial data were collected and compiled from an extensive literature search conducted using MEDLINE and …