Principal Physiotherapist Lok Wai Ming (left) of Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Physiotherapy Department provides physical therapy to patient Liu Yanzhen. (Photo by Wu Fuliang)
Lianhe Zaobao (1 June 2023)
Since the emergency department implemented the new nursing model last June, the advanced practice physiotherapists have treated about 200 patients. Patients experienced an average 16% reduction in pain after receiving the same day care from a senior physical ther apist .
Tan Tock Seng Hospital has launched a new model of care, training advanced practice physiotherapists to see patients with musculoskeletal disorders who seek care in the emergency department. This allowed patients to receive physical therapy in a timely manner and relief pain as soon as possible, and The waiting time was shortened by 70% on average.
Patients with back pain, knee pain, and musculoskeletal conditions such as arthritis, although available in general practice, often seek urgent emergency department treatment, resulting in increased patient numbers and prolonged waiting times. Last year, there were 132,000 visits to the emergency department of Tan Tock Seng Hospital, and about 15% sought medical treatment for possible musculoskeletal diseases. This situation is believed to intensify as the local population ages.
In order to better cope with the increasing nursing needs of these patients, Tan Tock Seng Hospital's Physiotherapy, Emergency Department, Hand and Microsurgery Unit, Orthopedic Surgery, and Department of Radiology have jointly launched a new nursing model aimed at tra ining physio Therapists become advanced practicing physical therapists.
Advanced Practice Physiotherapists can manage emergency department cases of acute musculoskeletal injuries and spinal pain as soon as patients are registered and triaged, and have the authority to arrange for patients to undergo medical imaging.
Advanced practice physiotherapists can treat cases such as sprains and strains, but traumatic cases such as fractures are still handled by doctors. After seeing each patient in the ED, the physiotherapist discusses the case with the ED doctor, who then prescribing bes medication and grants sick leave .
In Contract, in the Past, Patients with Musculoskeletal Diseases Had to WAIT for Doctors in the Emerger Department after Registration and Triage, if NextSARY, A P. Hysiotherapist WOOLD Intervent. Sometimes they had to make an appointment for physical theRAPY on another day. The process could take more than three hours. hours, about twice as long as the new model.
New model can help reduce burden and improve overall ED efficiency
Senior Consultant Doctor Xue Jingqiao of the Emergency Department of Tan Tock Seng Hospital said at a press conference on Wednesday (May 31) that the new nursing model can help reduce the burden on the emergency department and improve the overall efficiency of the emergency department. "With advanced practice physiotherapists helping to see some patients in the ED, ED doctors can focus on more urgent and life-threatening cases, such as emergency medical conditions such as stroke, severe trauma or cardiac arrest."
Physiotherapists undergo a year of rigorous training in each of the above departments, including understanding how doctors diagnose patients and analyze X-ray images. The hospital has currently trained three advanced practice physiotherapists.
Advanced practice physiotherapists have treated about 200 patients since the emergency department implemented the new care model last June. Patients get the physical therapy they need in a more timely manner, and the duration of pain is significantly reduced.
Patients experienced an average 16% reduction in pain and 15% return to function after a single session of care with an advanced practice physiotherapist on the same day.
Liu Yanzhen (66 years old, self-employed) entered the emergency department in March this year with excruciating pain in her right knee. When she was interviewed, she revealed that she had accompanied her mother to the emergency department for medical treatment several times before, and the waiting time was about six to seven hours. So, she didn't want to go to the emergency department, but her knee pain for a month until she couldn't walk, she was forced to seek medical treatment in the emergency department.
“It took only 30 to 45 minutes from check-in and triage and seeing an advanced practice physiotherapist. After undergoing an x-ray scan, which showed no bone injuries, the physiotherapist decided it was mainly about improving posture such as walking, about In two or three hours, I was out of the hospital. It was much faster than my previous experience of accompanying my mother to the emergency department."
Luo Weiming, chief physiotherapist of the Physiotherapy Department of Tan Tock Seng Hospital, said that the current arrangement is to ensure that there is always a senior practicing physiotherapist on duty in the emergency department, but the hospital hopes to train more therapists, and whether to increase the manpower on duty in the future will depend on demand .