title: Agreement Between a Physical Therapist and an Orthopedic Surgeon in Children Referred for Gait Abnormalities.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To compare diagnostic and treatment agreement between a physical therapist (PT) and a pediatric orthopedic surgeon for gait variations in children.
  
  
  METHODS
  This pilot study involved children referred to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon for typical gait variations. A PT and an orthopedic surgeon individually assessed each child, making conclusions regarding diagnoses, treatment, and follow-up. Agreement was determined using κ values.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty-five children (9 months to 11 years) were assessed. The PT and the surgeon had substantial agreement on contributors to the atypical gait patterns (76% agreement; κ = 0.67; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.45-0.90) and almost perfect agreement on underlying diagnosis of gait variation (93% agreement; κ = 0.89; 95% CI = 0.75-1.0), with substantial agreement for treatment (82% agreement; κ = 0.72; 95% CI = 0.47-0.97) and follow-up recommendations (84% agreement; κ = 0.63; 95% CI = 0.24-1.0).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A pediatric PT and an orthopedic surgeon had substantial to almost perfect agreement for diagnoses, treatment, and follow-up in children referred for gait abnormalities.
authors.affiliation: Orthopaedic Department (Ms Miller and Dr Mulpuri), British Columbia Children's Hospital, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada; Department of Physical Therapy (Dr Harris), Faculty of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
authors.forename: Stacey
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Susan R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.forename: Kishore
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mulpuri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D005684:Gait; D020233:Gait Disorders, Neurologic / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009985:Orthopedics; D059825:Physical Therapists; D010865:Pilot Projects