Identification of quality indicators for physiotherapy: a systematic review

Abstract

Background: Despite the emerging role that indicators have for the evaluation of quality in physiotherapy, these have been developed mainly for other areas of health and only some are relevant and applicable for physiotherapy. The objective of this review was to identify the quality indicators (QI) described or developed in the evidence that can be used to assess the quality of the provision of physiotherapy services.

Methods: A systematic review was carried out, in the databases Embase, Web of science SciELO, LILACS and OPEN GREY, until March 2021, in search of studies published in Spanish, English and Portuguese that described the development of QI specifically for the practice of physiotherapy. The methodological quality of the indicators was evaluated using the AIRE instrument. The indicators were classified following the Donabedian model.

Results: 8 studies were included that described 8 sets of QIs, with a total of 199 indicators. Six of the sets were published in the Netherlands. 62.5% of the total indicators were process, mostly related to the care of patients with musculoskeletal pathologies. Of the total of studies, 37.5% achieved high quality in three domains of the AIRE instrument.

Conclusions: The QI described in the evidence were designed for specific national contexts based on their own health system, have a methodological quality and are focused on evaluating the care processes of physiotherapy services mainly in patients with musculoskeletal diseases.