SHM Converge Scientific Abstract ePoster Gallery-Characterizing Physical Therapy Non-Treatment for Patients on Hospital Medicine Services

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This study examined physical therapy (PT) non-treatment among hospitalized adults with acute medical illness. Prolonged immobility during hospitalization can contribute to hospital-associated disability and deconditioning, and missed PT sessions may worsen mobility outcomes. The researchers analyzed 3,368 patients age 50 and older who had functional impairment on hospital day 1, a 3–10 day hospital stay, and a PT referral during medicine admissions from August 2018 to March 2021.<br /><br />They reviewed charts to identify completed and missed PT sessions and categorized missed sessions by reason, including patient decline due to symptoms, non-medical refusal, conflict with other care or imaging, therapist deferral, no PT needed, and other reasons. Descriptive statistics and Poisson regression were used to examine patient characteristics associated with missed sessions.<br /><br />Key findings showed that 30.9% of scheduled PT sessions were missed, and 30.3% were missed without a later same-day makeup session. Nearly 70% of patients had no missed sessions, and the average patient completed 1.68 PT sessions per hospitalization. Most patients were older adults, with a mean age of 73 years; 57.4% were female, and 80.8% were Black. Average length of stay was 5.9 days.<br /><br />The study concluded that nearly one-third of PT sessions are not completed in hospitalized patients, and more than 60% of these missed sessions may be preventable through quality improvement or workflow changes. Suggested strategies include educating patients about the importance of PT, improving scheduling coordination, and helping ordering providers better recognize hospital-associated disability risk. Patients with greater functional impairment, younger age, and longer length of stay were more likely to miss PT sessions.

Asset Subtitle

Mahnoor Baig

Meta Tag

Author List Daniel Young, David Meltzer, Mahnoor Baig, Maylyn Martinez

Category Research

Concept Hospital-Acquired Disability

Concept Physical Therapy

Concept Deconditioning

Concept Non-Treatment

Concept Missed Session

Distinguished Non-Finalist

Presenter Organization University of Chicago

Presenting Author Mahnoor Baig

Track Quality Improvement

Keywords

physical therapy

hospitalized adults

acute medical illness

missed PT sessions

hospital-associated disability

functional impairment

immobility

quality improvement

length of stay

mobility outcomes

Hospital-Acquired Disability

Physical Therapy

Deconditioning

Non-Treatment

Missed Session