Clinically Integrated Physical Therapist Practice in Cancer Care: A New Comprehensive Approach.

Best practice recommendations in cancer care increasingly call for integrated rehabilitation services to address physical impairments and disability. These recommendations have languished primarily due to a lack of pragmatic, generalizable intervention models. This perspective paper proposes a clinically integrated physical therapist (CI-PT) model that enables flexible and scalable services for screening, triage, and intervention addressing functional mobility. The model is based on (1) a CI-PT embedded in cancer care provider clinics, and (2) rehabilitation across the care continuum determined by the patient's level of functional mobility. The CI-PT model includes regular screening of functional mobility in provider clinics via a patient-reported mobility measure-the Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care, a brief physical therapy evaluation tailored to the specific functional needs of the individual-and a tailored, skilled physical therapist intervention based on functional level. The CI-PT model provides a pragmatic, barrier-free, patient-centric, data-driven approach to integrating rehabilitation as part of standard care for survivors of cancer. The model standardizes CI-PT practice and may be sufficiently agile to provide targeted interventions in widely varying cancer settings and populations. Therefore, it may be ideal for wide implementation among outpatient oncological settings. Implementation of this model requires a shared approach to care that includes physical therapists, rehabilitation administrators, cancer care providers, and cancer center administrators.

Improving Outcomes for Critically Ill Cardiovascular Patients Through Increased Physical Therapy Staffing.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the effect of increasing physical therapy (PT) staff in a cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) on temporal measures of PT interventions and on outcomes important to patients and hospitals. DESIGN: Retrospective pre/post subgroup analysis from a quality improvement initiative. SETTING: Academic medical center. PARTICIPANTS: Cardiovascular patients in either a baseline (N=52) or quality improvement period (N=62) with a CVICU length of stay (LOS) ≥7 days and use of any one of the following: mechanical ventilation, continuous renal replacement therapy, or mechanical circulatory support. INTERVENTIONS: The 6-month quality improvement initiative increased CVICU-dedicated PT staff from 2 to 4. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Changes in physical therapy delivery were examined using the frequency and daily duration of PT intervention. Post-CVICU LOS was the primary outcome. CVICU LOS, mobility change, and discharge level of care were secondary outcomes. A secondary analysis of hospital survivors was also conducted. RESULTS: Compared to those in the baseline period, cardiovascular patients in the quality improvement period participated in PT for an additional 9.6 minutes (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.9, 17.2) per day for all patients and 15.1 minutes (95% CI: 7.6, 22.6) for survivors. Post-CVICU LOS decreased 2.2 (95% CI: -6.0, 1.0) days for all patients and 2.6 days (95% CI: -5.3, 0.0) for survivors. CVICU LOS decreased 3.6 days (95% CI: -6.4, -0.8) for all patients and 3.1 days (95% CI: -6.4, -0.9) for survivors. Differences in mobility change and discharge level of care were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: Additional CVICU-dedicated PT staff was associated with increased PT treatment and reductions in CVICU and post-CVICU LOS. The effects of each were greatest for hospital survivors.