KPI’s for physiotherapy in critical care
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Key Performance Indicators for Physiotherapy Services to Adult Critical Care: A modified Delphi consensus study evaluation (CONCISE)
IRAS ID
361018
Contact name
Paul Twose
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cardiff and Vale University Health Board
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 30 days
Research summary
Physiotherapists are an important part of the multi-professional team caring for patients that are admitted to critical care. Their role is to provide interventions to help with a person’s breathing, as well as delivering rehabilitation to aid their overall recovery. However, like many aspects of healthcare, direct patient care forms one part of a physiotherapist’s role. They are also expected to be involved in education, research and have roles in leadership e.g., supervising others. These parts of the role are often overlooked.
To determine the effectiveness of a service, it is vital that all aspects are considered. This includes the direct benefits to the patient e.g., how quickly they recover, or their physical ability on discharge, but also the non-direct benefits like doing the other aspects of the role, or staff satisfaction.
The aim of this study is to create a list of 'key performance indicators' or markers of success, which can be used to help services understand the quality of the service they are providing. This will be done by a series of scoping focus groups with healthcare professions and service users, and then a consensus questionnaire in which the final key performance indicators will be defined.
These can then be used to help services show their impact, to support business cases to increase the workforce and allow better reflection of the complete role. It is likely the findings will also be transferable to other professional groups and services.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/WM/0159
Date of REC Opinion
29 Jul 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion