Which Tasks Most Influence Pediatric PT Productivity, Effectiveness?

From: January 2020 Edition of Pediatric Physical Therapy journal:

CINCINNATI—Julie Badylak PT and Rebecca Durham Reder OTD, OTR/L from Cincinnati Children’s Hospital discuss the findings of their team’s report in the journal Pediatric Physical Therapy on the assessment of tasks performed by pediatric physical and occupational therapists, some of which can be billed, others of which are necessary but cannot be billed, and their relative importance to productivity, effectiveness and patient outcomes.

JOURNAL ARTICLE TITLE: Therapy Workloads in Pediatric Health: Preliminary Findings and Relevance for Defining Practice

AUTHORS: Jason T. Long, PhD; Smriti Neogi, PhD; William Vidonish, MBA; Julie Badylak, PT; Rebecca D. Reder, OTD, OTR/L
Division of Occupational and Physical Therapy (Dr Long Mss Badylak and Reder), James M. Anderson Center for Health Systems Excellence (Dr Neogi), Center for Professional Excellence (Ms Vidonish), Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati, Ohio.

PURPOSE: To measure time spent by pediatric physical and occupational therapists in performing daily work activities.

Methods: Physical and occupational therapists at an urban pediatric academic hospital were observed during a standard workday. Time studies recorded total time spent performing patient care and other workplace-specific tasks. Data were analyzed to identify trends.

Results: Broad similarities existed in average amounts of time spent in direct patient care, indirect patient care, and nonpatient care tasks. Indirect patient care tasks demonstrated the lowest variability in time spent.
Conclusions: This is the first report of pediatric physical and occupational therapists’ time in performing daily tasks. The metric and tools derived from these findings support managerial decision-making, provide a comparison of actual versus targeted workload, assist with determining appropriate and safe staffing caseloads, and contribute to measurements of a patient’s therapy acuity level.

(Video Abstract: For more insights from the authors, access Supplemental Digital Content 1, available at: links.lww. com/PPT/A280. Reference: Pediatr Phys Ther 2019;00:1–8
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