Page 102 - Petelin, Ana. 2024. Ed. Zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih | Health of the Working-Age and Older Adults. Zbornik prispevkov z recenzijo | Proceedings. Koper: University of Primorska Press

First author Study design Aims of the study Findings
(year)
DA is acceptable to all health-
care professionals and patients, but
there is necessary to ensure effec-
Igwesi-Chido- Qualitative To understand the experiences of tive communication among health-
be et al. study patients, GPs, physiotherapist and care professionals and patients and
(2021) clinical commissioners on DA.
to clarify the scope of physiothera-
pists. DA can free GPs to focus on
more complex health conditions.
To evaluate the effects of DA on Patients with MSK disorders in DA
Gagnon et al. Randomized clinical outcomes in patients with had better clinical outcomes (low-
(2020) controlled trial MSK disorders compared to those er levels of pain), had fewer return
in the usual care group. visits to usual care service.
To compare evidence regarding DA to physical therapy is more
Systematic re- costs and clinical outcomes be- cost-effective, the results show few-
Hon et al. view and me- tween direct access and physi- er visits than physician-first ac-
(2021)
ta-analyses cian-first systems in US civilian cess and patients described greater
health services. functional improvement.
102 To appraise the evidence of the DA to physiotherapy seems a
Demont et al. Systematic re- impact of DA in terms of efficacy,
(2019) view health care costs, patients’ satis- promising model to improve effi-
zdravje delovno aktivnih in starejših odraslih | health of working-age and older adults
ciency of care and reduce costs.
faction and compliance.
Discussion
The purpose of this study was to investigate whether physiotherapy profes-
sion could contribute to decreasing the burden of chronic MSK conditions on
health care system. Physical therapists are one of the healthcare professionals
that are most assessed for managing pain and disability related to MSK condi-
tions (Alsharref et al., 2023).
In almost half of EU countries and most of the US patients can use direct
access to physiotherapy services, which is also known as self-referral direct-
ly to a first contact practitioner without seeing a GP (Demont et al., 2019; Ba-
batunde et al., 2020; Ho-Henriksson et al., 2022; Harvey-Sullivan et al., 2024).
Several studies have suggested positive effects of DA model of care on cost-ef-
fectiveness, clinical outcomes (e.g. patient’s satisfaction, pain intensity, quali-
ty of life) and safety. Direct access is less expensive in terms of medication and
imaging procedures use and due to fewer visits, it reduces waiting and off-work
time (Piscitelli et al., 2018; Babatunde et al., 2020; Hon et al., 2020; Ho-Hen-
riksson et al., 2022; Gallotti et al., 2023; Cattrysse et al., 2024). However, Catt-
rysse et al. (2024) reported that DA did not reduce pain intensity compared to
Gagnon et al. (2020) who reported a significantly decrease in pain intensity.
There is evidence that DA contributes to improving clinical outcomes such as
quality of life, disability and patient satisfaction (Piscitelli et al., 2018; Catrrys-
se et al., 2024). Furthermore, DA is promising approach to decrease GPs work
load, since some studies suggest reduced physician consultations (Downie et
al., 2019), fewer referrals to orthopedics and return visits (Gagnon et al., 2020;
Gallotti et al., 2023).