Use of time by physiotherapists and occupational therapists in a stroke rehabilitation unit: a comparison between four European rehabilitation centres.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study was to compare the time allocated to therapeutic activities (TA) and non-therapeutic activities (NTA) of physiotherapists (PT) and occupational therapists (OT) in stroke rehabilitation units in four European countries.


METHODS
Therapists documented their activities in 15-min periods for two weeks. They recorded: activity, number of patients, number of stroke patients, involvement of other people, location and frequency of each activity. Kruskal-Wallis tests and negative binomial regression models were used to compare activities between professional groups and between units.


RESULTS
The average proportion of TA per day ranged between 32.9% and 66.1% and was higher for PT than for OT in each unit. For OT, significant differences emerged between the units in the proportion of time allocated to TA compared to NTA with British OTs spending significantly less time in TA. In the Belgian unit, three times less time was spent on patient-related co-ordination activities (e.g., administration, ward rounds) compared to the British and Swiss units.


CONCLUSIONS
Time allocation differed between PT and OT and between units, affecting the time available for TA. Further investigation is necessary to study the effect of work organization in stroke rehabilitation units on the efficiency of rehabilitation regimes.
Putman
Koen
K
Department of Health Sciences and Medical Sociology, Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium. kputman@vub.ac.be
de Wit
Liesbet
L
Schupp
Wilfried
W
Ilse
Baert
B
Berman
Peter
P
Connell
Louise
L
Dejaeger
Eddy
E
de Meyer
Anne-Marie
AM
de Weerdt
Willy
W
Feys
Hilde
H
Walter
Jenni
J
Lincoln
Nadina
N
Louckx
Fred
F
Anneleen
Martens
M
Birgit
Schuback
S
Smith
Bozena
B
Leys
Mark
M
D001071:Appointments and Schedules; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D009789:Occupational Therapy Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010814:Physical Therapy Department, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011369:Professional-Patient Relations; D012044:Regression Analysis; D000071939:Stroke Rehabilitation; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis