Article

The primary objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of
physiotherapists' predictions of mobility for people with spinal cord injury
(SCI). Five physiotherapists and 47 patients from two SCI units were recruited.
Two sets of predictions about mobility at 1 year were made for each patient
shortly after they commenced rehabilitation. The predictions were made using
standardized outcome measures. One set of predictions was made by the
physiotherapists from the patients' SCI unit who had face-to-face contact with
the patients and the other set of predictions was made by the physiotherapists
from the other SCI unit who had no face-to-face contact with the patients and
instead relied on chart records, and vice versa for patients from the second SCI
unit. Correlations between mobility at 1 year and the predictions made by the
physiotherapists who had face-to-face contact with the patients ranged between
0.54 and 0.85. The corresponding correlations for the physiotherapists who did
not have face-to-face contact ranged between 0.40 and 0.71. Contact and
non-contact physiotherapists' predictions were within one point of outcomes
between 55% and 83% of the time. Physiotherapists were reasonably accurate at
predicting future mobility. Face-to-face contact with patients slightly improved
the accuracy of predictions.

Langue : ANGLAIS