Physical Therapists’ Falls Prevention Knowledge, Beliefs, and Practices in Osteoarthritis Care: A National Cross‐Sectional Study

Ackerman, Ilana N.; Soh, Sze‐Ee; Barker, Anna

doi:10.1002/acr.23996

Cited by 14 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…Heng et al [ 44 ] reported inconsistencies in falls education, content and delivery which limited the ability of patients to understand their risk of falling during an admission. Time constraints and lack of staffing capacity and resources were other challenges, in agreement with Ackerman et al [ 45 ], Keyworth et al [ 43 ] and Svavarsdóttir et al [ 25 ]. There was often over-reliance on processes and forms which can take the focus away from clinical judgement [ 46 ].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Healthcare professional perspectives on barriers and enablers to falls prevention education: A qualitative study

et al. 2022

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In hospitals, patient falls prevention education is frequently delivered by nurses and allied health professionals. Hospital falls rates remain high globally, despite the many systems and approaches that attempt to mitigate falling. The aim of this study was to investigate health professional views on the enablers and barriers to providing patient falls education in hospitals. Four focus groups with 23 nursing and allied health professionals were conducted at 3 hospitals. Three researchers independently coded the data and findings were analysed thematically with a descriptive qualitative approach to identify and develop themes according to barriers and enablers. Barriers included (i) limited interprofessional communication about patient falls; (ii) sub-optimal systems for falls education for patients and health professionals, and (iii) perceived patient-related barriers to falls education. Enablers to providing patient falls education included: (i) implementing strategies to increase patient empowerment; (ii) ensuring that health professionals had access to effective modes of patient education; and (iii) facilitating interprofessional collaboration. Health professionals identified the need to overcome organisational, patient and clinician-related barriers to falls education. Fostering collective responsibility amongst health professionals for evidence-based falls prevention was also highlighted.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 74%

Healthcare professional perspectives on barriers and enablers to falls prevention education: A qualitative study

et al. 2022

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“…Among 370 Australian PTs who work with patients with hip and knee osteoarthritis, discrepancies were noted in the therapists' knowledge of fall prevention and use of appropriate tools to screen for fall risk. Although 84% of the PTs reported having fall-related education, 61% reportedly did not use fall-risk screening tools [10]. The PTs who reported using screening tools used a wide variety of tools.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Physical Therapists and Physical Therapist Assistants’ Knowledge and Use of the STEADI for Falls Risk Screening of Older Adults in Physical Therapy Practice in the United States

Vincenzo

Schrodt

Hergott

et al. 2022

IJERPH

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Fall-risk screening and prevention is within the scope of physical-therapy practice. Prior research indicates United States-based physical therapists (PTs) and physical-therapist assistants (PTAs) use the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths, and Injuries) toolkit for community-based fall-risk screenings of older adults. However, clinically based fall-risk screenings and knowledge and use of the STEADI by PTs and PTAs is unknown. We conducted a cross-sectional survey distributed to a convenience sample of PTs and PTAs in the United States through email blasts and social media. PTs and PTAs (N = 425) who responded to the survey and worked in clinical settings with older adults were included. Eighty-nine percent of respondents reported conducting clinical fall-risk screening. Approximately 51% were ‘familiar’ to ‘very familiar’ with the STEADI, and 21.7% of the overall sample were not familiar at all. Only 26.1% utilize the STEADI for clinical fall-risk screening. Of the respondents who were ‘very familiar’ with the STEADI (n = 132, 31.1%), 84.1% (n = 111) reported using the STEADI in clinical practice. Seventy-six percent of respondents who use the STEADI implemented it by choice even though the majority (52.1%, n = 63) did not have it embedded in their documentation/workflow. Some PTs/PTAs can and do manage falls using the STEADI, but there is a gap in knowledge and use of the STEADI for falls management among PTs and PTAs in the United States. Further research is needed to identify the tools PTs use for multifactorial-fall screening and management and the impact of PTs’ use of the STEADI on patient outcomes.

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“…Additionally, the uptake of the evidence-based practice approach has been inconsistent within physiotherapy (Scurlock-Evans et al, 2014). Ackerman et al (2020) reported than Australian physiotherapists would not always take evidence-informed approaches when conducting falls risk assessment and falls prevention to patients with osteoarthritis (Ackerman et al, 2020). Such aspects could be further explored among Portugal and UK-based physiotherapists.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge about foot‐specific foot falls risk factors and exercise among physiotherapists in the UK and Portugal: A cross‐sectional survey

Conde

Hendry

Woodburn

et al. 2022

Physiotherapy Res Intl

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Background and purpose: Foot-related falls risk factors and specific foot and ankle exercise interventions are within the scope of Physiotherapy, yet little is known about United Kingdom (UK) and Portugal-based (PT) physiotherapists' selfperceived knowledge, confidence and practice of such interventions, or perceptions of patients' falls prevention knowledge. The purpose of this study was to assess levels of self-reported knowledge, confidence, and practices surrounding foot-specific falls risk and exercise for fall prevention in physiotherapists working in the UK and in Portugal. It also aimed to explore physiotherapists' views about their participants' falls prevention knowledge. Methods: A self-report online survey was developed, and pilot tested in both nations. Registered Physiotherapists were invited to participate through their professional associations, social media and snowballing. Mann-Whitney tests were used to compare mean ranks of ordinal variables between nations and Chi-square test to assess the independency between pairs of variables. Spearman's correlation coefficient (rs) was used to measure the association between pairs of variables (p < 0.05). Results: 682 physiotherapists participated in the survey [UK n = 229 (mean (SD) age = 43(10) years, 86.9% female]; PT n = 453 (mean (SD) age = 33(9) years, 78.3% female]. Among physiotherapists with a caseload of ≥70% older adults, more PT-based physiotherapists held postgraduate qualifications (p = 0.01). Most physiotherapists correctly identified generic and foot-specific risk factors (≥70% of participants for each item). More UK-based physiotherapists reported always prescribing ankle and foot exercises (42.6% vs. 33%, p =< 0.001) and displayed higher levels of self-reported confidence surrounding exercise-based interventions. Discussion: Our sample of UK and Portugal-based physiotherapists are aware of the contribution of foot-specific risk factors and exercise to falls prevention, with the former group being more confident in exercise-based interventions. Both groups of physiotherapists perceived that their older patients had little knowledge aboutThis is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

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Physical Therapists’ Falls Prevention Knowledge, Beliefs, and Practices in Osteoarthritis Care: A National Cross‐Sectional Study

Cited by 14 publications

References 28 publications

Healthcare professional perspectives on barriers and enablers to falls prevention education: A qualitative study

Healthcare professional perspectives on barriers and enablers to falls prevention education: A qualitative study

Physical Therapists and Physical Therapist Assistants’ Knowledge and Use of the STEADI for Falls Risk Screening of Older Adults in Physical Therapy Practice in the United States

Knowledge about foot‐specific foot falls risk factors and exercise among physiotherapists in the UK and Portugal: A cross‐sectional survey

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