Advanced practice physiotherapy-led triage in Irish orthopaedic and rheumatology services: national data audit

Table 1 Comparison of clinical outcomes of patients attending advanced practice physiotherapy orthopaedic and rheumatology services

Clinical outcomes	Orthopaedics (n = 13,565)	Rheumatology (n = 2754)	Chi-Square	p-value^ѱ
	n (%)	n (%)	Χ²
Return appointments	2064 (15.2)	532 (19.3)	28.8	< 0.001
Consultant-supported decisions^ф	2719 (21.7)	739 (28.4)	55.2	< 0.001
Clinical investigations^Ω	4023 (29.7)	827 (30.0)	0.2	0.7
Injection administered	506 (3.7)	179 (6.5)	43.7	< 0.001
Surgical listing^Χ	361 (2.7)	43 (1.6)	11.5	< 0.001
Orthopaedic/Rheumatology Consultant referral^b	2437 (19.0)	343 (12.9)	55.6	< 0.001
Physiotherapy referral^a	5492 (41.5)	1022 (38.0)	11.4	< 0.001
	(n = 5798)	(n = 1211)
Clinical imaging^{^}	1634 (28.2)	231 (19.1)	42.5	< 0.001

Unknown clinic (n = 258); ^ѱ p < 0.05 considered significant; ^фConsultant-supported decisions valid data for: orthopaedics = 12,541; rheumatology = 2602; ^Ω Investigations include imaging; ^ΧSurgical listing includes guided injections (valid data for orthopaedics =13,564); ^{^}Clinical imaging data recorded for latter 5 months; ^bConsultant referral valid data for: orthopaedics = 12,843, rheumatology =2662; ^aPhysiotherapy includes hospital, primary care, and private services (valid data for: orthopaedics = 13,244, rheumatology = 2692)

ISSN: 1471-2474