Journal Club: Additional PT Shortens Hospital Stays

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Welcome back to a new year! We are kick starting this year with a Journal Club blog because in doing some research for my own institution on PT services, I ran across an interesting article. We all understand the necessity of rehab services in the hospital. Many studies have documented the important benefits of early mobility provided by PT.

This study, however, looked at the frequency of PT services provided to determine essentially if there was a dose response on outcomes and length of stay. And low and behold, there is evidence that additional PT services have a dramatic impact on not only the health and outcome of the hospitalized patient but also on how long that patient stays in the hospital.

Additional PT Services Shorten Hospital Stays

The researchers in this particular study conducted a systematic review and metanalysis or available studies to uncover any evidence that PT can help decrease length of stay. They found that there is moderate evidence that additional PT services reduced subacute length of stay by about 3 days and some evidence that it can reduce acute length of stay by almost a day. The authors confirmed that PT services improve overall self care and ADL’s with no additional adverse events.

All in all, this study highlights that PT is valuable in acute and subacute PT care and that there is growing evidence that additional visits and services in those settings can not only improve health, self care tasks, and ADL’s prior to a patient's discharge but can also shorten their time window which will keep them less sedentary. I hope you find this study useful and helpful to your department or institution.

Jason

***Check out my book "Rehab the World" written for Physical Therapists to encourage us in our workplace and prepare us to serve those around us. If you like, please leave a review and spread the word!!***

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