title: [Not Available].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the quality of physiotherapeutic care in patients treated for low back pain in a Primary Health Care physiotherapy unit, and to improve the quality of the care provided to these patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  The first assessment includes all patients treated in 2002 (n=83). Five criteria corresponding to the initial physiotherapeutic assessment were chosen: C1, pain; C2, disability; C3, mobility, muscle examination, and C5, palpation. In order to detect non-compliance, the Ishikawa Fishbone diagram was used. Corrective measures were established in November 2003: publication of an Oswestry questionnaire model for assessing disability and reflecting on the results obtained. The second assessment includes the period of time from 1st November 2003 to 6th April 2004 (n=32).
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the initial assessment, compliances observed were: C1: 21.69%; C2: 0; C3: 69.87%; C4: 78.31%, and C5: 84.33%. After implementing corrective measures a significant improvement was observed in the compliance of C1, C2, and C3. In C4 there was an improvement, and in C5 there was a decrease in compliance, both of them without statistical significance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The carrying out of an improvement cycle has enabled non-compliances in the application of this protocol to be detected and corrected. The corrective measures implemented have led to a reduction of the variability in the records. It is advisable to ensure that compliance does not decrease in the areas that initially showed a high level of compliance.
authors.affiliation: Centro de Salud de El Palmar. Gerencia de Atención Primaria de Murcia. Servicio Murciano de Salud. El Palmar. Murcia. España; Departamento de Fisioterapia. Universidad de Murcia. Murcia. España. Electronic address: enabril@um.es.
authors.forename: Encarnación
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Abril
authors.forename: Antonia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gómez-Conesa
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gutiérrez-Santos