Using feedback on patient health outcomes to improve orthopaedic physical therapist practice: a quality improvement study.

Objective: Measuring health outcomes plays an important role in patient-centred healthcare. When aggregated across patients, outcomes can provide data for quality improvement (QI). However, most physical therapists are not familiar with QI methods based on patient outcomes.

Data to knowledge to improvement: creating the learning health system.

detail key domains, tools, and actions required to enact learning health systems for continuous intelligent improvement in healthcare

Identifying requisite learning health system competencies: a scoping review.

Objectives: Learning health systems (LHS) integrate knowledge and practice through cycles of continuous quality improvement and learning to increase healthcare quality. LHS have been conceptualised through multiple frameworks and models. Our aim is to identify and describe the requisite individual competencies (knowledge, skills and attitudes) and system competencies (capacities, characteristics and capabilities) described in existing literature in relation to operationalising LHS.

Where to start? A two stage residual inclusion approach to estimating influence of the initial provider on health care utilization and costs for low back pain in the US.

Background: Diagnostic testing and treatment recommendations can vary when medical care is sought by individuals for low back pain (LBP), leading to variation in quality and costs of care. We examine how the first provider seen by an individual at initial diagnosis of LBP influences downstream utilization and costs.

Methods: Using national private health insurance claims data, individuals age 18 or older were retrospectively assigned to cohorts based on the first provider seen at the index date of LBP diagnosis.

Accrediting Graduate Programs in Healthcare Quality and Safety.

The number of master's degree programs in healthcare quality and safety (HQS) has increased significantly over the past decade. Academic accreditation provides assurance that educational programs are of a high quality and meet the needs of students, employers, and the general public. Under the guidance of the Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education, faculty from 9 universities collaborated in the development of criteria and related content domains to be used in the accreditation of graduate programs in HQS.

Learning health systems from an academic perspective: establishing a collaboratory within a school of medicine and health sciences.

Learning Health Systems (LHSs) seek continuous improvement through the translation and integration of internally and externally generated knowledge across stakeholders within and external to the organization, yet current approaches are primarily described from the healthcare delivery perspective, leaving teaching and research responsibilities underexposed. Academic medical centers offer a unique perspective on LHSs because their mission includes teaching, research, and healthcare. This introduces an opportunity to enact, educate, and study processes and outcomes of LHSs within a single system.

The use of safe patient handling and mobility equipment in rehabilitation.

Background: Increasingly, occupational and physical therapists are using safe patient handling and mobility (SPHM) equipment, such as mechanical lifts, in rehabilitation. However, there is little guidance in the literature on how SPHM equipment can be used to assist patients to reach rehabilitation goals. The purpose of this projectwas to document and categorize common and innovative ways rehabilitation therapists use SPHM equipment in their clinical practice.

Comparing student outcomes in traditional vs intensive, online graduate programs in health professional education.

Background: Health professions' education programs are undergoing enormous changes, including increasing use of online and intensive, or time reduced, courses. Although evidence is mounting for online and intensive course formats as separate designs, literature investigating online and intensive formats in health professional education is lacking. The purpose of the study was to compare student outcomes (final grades and course evaluation ratings) for equivalent courses in semester long (15-week) versus intensive (7-week) online formats in graduate health sciences courses.

Validation of the 2-Minute Walk Test with the 6-Minute Walk Test and Other Functional Measures in Persons with Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) commonly have difficulty walking. The 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) assesses functional capacity but may be considered burdensome for persons with MS, especially those with higher disability levels. The 2-Minute Walk Test (2MWT) may be an alternative measure to the 6MWT.

Physical Therapy as the First Point of Care to Treat Low Back Pain: An Instrumental Variables Approach to Estimate Impact on Opioid Prescription, Health Care Utilization, and Costs.

Objective: To compare differences in opioid prescription, health care utilization, and costs among patients with low back pain (LBP) who saw a physical therapist (PT) at the first point of care, at any time during the episode or not at all.

Data Sources: Commercial health insurance claims data, 2009-2013.

Study Design: Retrospective analyses using two-stage residual inclusion instrumental variable models to estimate rates for opioid prescriptions, imaging services, emergency department visits, hospitalization, and health care costs.

Design for success: Identifying a process for transitioning to an intensive online course delivery model in health professions education.

Unlabelled: Intensive courses (ICs), or accelerated courses, are gaining popularity in medical and health professions education, particularly as programs adopt e-learning models to negotiate challenges of flexibility, space, cost, and time. In 2014, the Department of Clinical Research and Leadership (CRL) at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences began the process of transitioning two online 15-week graduate programs to an IC model. Within a year, a third program also transitioned to this model.

A prospective model of care for breast cancer rehabilitation: function.

A significant proportion of adult breast cancer survivors experience deficits in function and restriction in participation in life roles that may remain many years after diagnosis. Function is a complex construct that takes into account the interactions between an individual, their health condition, and the social and personal context in which they live. Research to date on limitations in activities of daily living, upper extremity function, and functional capacity in breast cancer survivors illustrates the need for prospective measurement of function using measures that are sensitive to the unique issues of breast cancer survivors and the need for the development of effective rehabilitation interventions to improve function.

Myths and facts about safe patient handling in rehabilitation.

As the incidence of injuries associated with patient-handling tasks remains high in the rehabilitation community, interdisciplinary discussions on optimal methods for preventing injuries and ensuring good care continue. A national task force consisting of representatives from the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses, the American Physical Therapy Association, and the Veterans Health Administration identified myths that have been promulgated on both sides of the discussion, focusing especially on rehabilitation practices. The purpose of this article is to dispel these myths by using evidence-based methods.

Development and testing of a self-report instrument to measure actions: outpatient physical therapy improvement in movement assessment log (OPTIMAL).

Background And Purpose: Physical therapy is faced with the challenge of producing evidence that physical therapy interventions are effective. The fundamental question confronting physical therapy is whether or not physical therapy interventions make a contribution to function, health, and well-being. The individual's ability to perform actions can serve as a theoretical construct related to movement and health around which physical therapy interventions can be assessed.