{"title":"Defining minimum workforce standards for intensive care physiotherapy in Australia and New Zealand: A Dephi study.","authors":"Peter Thomas, Wendy Chaseling, Leanne Marais, Claire Matheson, Michelle Paton, Nelmari Swanepoel","doi":"10.1016/j.aucc.2024.08.005","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Intensive care staffing guidelines provide recommendations for the safe and effective delivery of health care while recognising professional requirements of the workforce. To guide recommendations for physiotherapy staffing guidelines, profession-specific consultation is needed.</p><p><strong>Objectives: </strong>The objective of this study was to develop consensus-based recommendations for minimum workforce standards for physiotherapy in intensive care.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>A Delphi survey process was conducted involving physiotherapists from Australia and New Zealand.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The panel consisted of 65 physiotherapists in the first round and 60 in the second round (92% retention). Respondents were from both Australia (49, 76%) and New Zealand (16, 24%) who had been physiotherapists for an average of 18.8 ± 9.0 years and were primarily senior intensive care physiotherapists (44, 68%). Respondents had experience across level 3 (50, 77%), level 2 (18, 28%), and level 1 (5, 8%) adult intensive care units (ICUs), adult high-dependency units (27, 42%), and paediatric intensive care (6, 9%). A total of 42 statements were presented, with 37 reaching consensus after two rounds. After two rounds, consensus was achieved for a minimum staffing ratio in paediatric ICUs of one physiotherapist per six (1:6) beds. For adult ICUs, use of the median value of the participant's responses was supported to establish minimum staffing ratios of 1:8, 1:7, 1:6, and 1:8 for levels 1, 2, and 3 ICUs and high-dependency units, respectively. The requirement for an additional allocation for senior physiotherapist staffing for each ICU level was also established. Statements that also gained consensus included recommendations for access to on-call and weekend services for all ICU settings and the consideration of evening shifts specifically for level 3 and paediatric ICUs.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong>Recommendations for minimum staffing for physiotherapy in intensive care settings were achieved and supported requirements for clinical service delivery, supervision, and training.</p>","PeriodicalId":51239,"journal":{"name":"Australian Critical Care","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.6000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Australian Critical Care","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aucc.2024.08.005","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Intensive care staffing guidelines provide recommendations for the safe and effective delivery of health care while recognising professional requirements of the workforce. To guide recommendations for physiotherapy staffing guidelines, profession-specific consultation is needed.
Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop consensus-based recommendations for minimum workforce standards for physiotherapy in intensive care.
Methods: A Delphi survey process was conducted involving physiotherapists from Australia and New Zealand.
Results: The panel consisted of 65 physiotherapists in the first round and 60 in the second round (92% retention). Respondents were from both Australia (49, 76%) and New Zealand (16, 24%) who had been physiotherapists for an average of 18.8 ± 9.0 years and were primarily senior intensive care physiotherapists (44, 68%). Respondents had experience across level 3 (50, 77%), level 2 (18, 28%), and level 1 (5, 8%) adult intensive care units (ICUs), adult high-dependency units (27, 42%), and paediatric intensive care (6, 9%). A total of 42 statements were presented, with 37 reaching consensus after two rounds. After two rounds, consensus was achieved for a minimum staffing ratio in paediatric ICUs of one physiotherapist per six (1:6) beds. For adult ICUs, use of the median value of the participant's responses was supported to establish minimum staffing ratios of 1:8, 1:7, 1:6, and 1:8 for levels 1, 2, and 3 ICUs and high-dependency units, respectively. The requirement for an additional allocation for senior physiotherapist staffing for each ICU level was also established. Statements that also gained consensus included recommendations for access to on-call and weekend services for all ICU settings and the consideration of evening shifts specifically for level 3 and paediatric ICUs.
Conclusions: Recommendations for minimum staffing for physiotherapy in intensive care settings were achieved and supported requirements for clinical service delivery, supervision, and training.
期刊介绍:
Australian Critical Care is the official journal of the Australian College of Critical Care Nurses (ACCCN). It is a bi-monthly peer-reviewed journal, providing clinically relevant research, reviews and articles of interest to the critical care community. Australian Critical Care publishes peer-reviewed scholarly papers that report research findings, research-based reviews, discussion papers and commentaries which are of interest to an international readership of critical care practitioners, educators, administrators and researchers. Interprofessional articles are welcomed.