Page 55 - Petelin, Ana, ur. 2024. Zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih / Health of Working-Age and Older Adults. Zbornik povzetkov z recenzijo ▪︎ Book of Abstracts. Koper: Založba Univerze na Primorskem/University of Primorska Press

The importance of screening in physiotherapy

Barbara Pantar
Fizioterapija Pantar Barbara, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Introduction: In some European countries, patients have the right to self-referral or ex-
amination without referral from a doctor to a triage physiotherapist who has addition-
al expertise and is capable of advanced clinical reasoning. A triage physical therapist
must be trained in a timely manner to identify signs and symptoms of a serious illness
other than neuromusculoskeletal disorders. The screening process allows the physio-
therapist to detect warning signs – red flags that require additional medical attention.
The reason for doubt and referral to a specialist doctor may also be an unexpected
outcome or unresponsiveness of symptoms to physiotherapeutic treatment.
Methods: A descriptive method of literature search in the PubMed and Cinahl data-
bases between November 2023 and March 2024 was conducted. The review includ-
ed open access of randomized controlled trials and systematic reviews published since
2018. We searched using the search string of keywords or their combinations in Eng-
lish: direct access, physiotherapy, red flags.
Results: The review included 12 studies that investigated the effects and implications of
self-referral options or access to physiotherapy without referral to a doctor. The au-
thors mostly report a decrease in the number of referrals to specialist doctors, a de-
crease in drug consumption, an improvement in the patient’s satisfaction with medical
care, and thus a reduction in treatment costs.
Discussion and conclusions: A physical therapist has a responsible task in the process
of ensuring the patient’s basic right to appropriate, safe and quality treatment. Phys-
iotherapeutic treatment is planned on the basis of a physiotherapeutic examination,
which must exclude as clearly as possible the presence of serious illnesses or detect
individuals in whom serious illnesses have not yet been detected. The screening pro-
cess helps physiotherapists determine the degree of doubt about whether the patient
in question is suitable for physiotherapeutic treatment and choose the most effective
physiotherapeutic procedure.
Keywords: screening, red flags, physiotherapy, physiotherapeutic diagnosis izzivi na področju ergonomije, gibalne (ne)aktivnosti ... | challenges in human factors, physical (in)activity ...

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