Physiotherapists’ and Physiotherapy Assistants’ Perspectives on using Three Physical Function Measures in the Intensive Care Unit: A Mixed-Methods Study

Purpose: We sought to understand physiotherapists’ and physiotherapist assistants’ perspectives on using three physical function measures in the intensive care unit (ICU) setting: the Activity Measure for Post-Acute Care Inpatient Mobility Short Form, the Johns Hopkins Highest Level of Mobility scale, and the Functional Status Score for the Intensive Care Unit. Method: A six-item questionnaire was developed and administered to physiotherapists and physiotherapist assistants working in adult ICUs at one U.S. teaching hospital. A single semi-structured focus group was conducted with seven physiotherapists, recruited using purposive sampling to include participants with a range of clinical experience. Results: Of 22 potential participants, 18 physiotherapists and 2 physiotherapist assistants completed the questionnaire. Seven physiotherapists participated in the focus group. The questionnaire found favourable perspectives on the use of the three physical function measures in clinical practice, and the focus group identified five themes related to clinicians’ experience with using them: (1) ease of scoring, (2) usefulness in inter-professional communication, (3) general ease of use, (4) responsiveness to change in physical function, and (5) generalizability across patients. Conclusions: The most frequently discussed themes in this study were ease of scoring and usefulness in inter-professional communication, highlighting their importance in designing and selecting physical function measures for clinical use in the ICU setting.