Physiotherapy on the weekends can help patients discharge faster, says study
CBC
Not all floors at Health Sciences North have physiotherapists working on the weekends.
But a new study from researchers at the Sudbury hospital found access to physiotherapy seven days a week could help improve outcomes for elderly patients, and allow them to get discharged sooner.
The study comes as the provincial government passed Bill 7, a controversial piece of legislation that could force hospital patients awaiting long-term care into nursing homes not of their choosing on a temporary basis.
The provincial government has argued Bill 7 will put those patients where they can get the best care, and free up resources at overcrowded hospitals.
Dr. Dylan Falk, a family physician in Sudbury, and one of the study's authors, said interruptions in physiotherapy over the weekend can set elderly patients back in their recovery.
"This interruption will lead to deconditioning, increasing weakness, and will ultimately impair their discharge," he said.
For the study, the researchers monitored 41 patients at a northern Ontario hospital, and they found access to physiotherapy seven days a week did improve their outcomes.
"Additional weekend physiotherapy significantly improves elderly patients' physical function and gets them physically ready for discharge when medically stable," the study concluded. "This may significantly reduce the alternate level of care for patients."
Dr. Venkadesan Rajendran, a physiotherapist at Health Sciences North, and also one of the study's authors, said recruiting new physiotherapists is more challenging in the north than in southern Ontario.
But Rajendran added it has become easier to find new hires now, compared with the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Hospitals actually have to look into hiring more physiotherapists appropriate for the patient level," he said.
Rajendran said some floors at the hospital have one physiotherapist for 60 patients.
"It is not possible to cover all those 60 patients," he said. "So they mainly deal with the discharge planning in those cases and prioritize the patient load."
He added hiring more physiotherapists is an inexpensive way to help alternate level of care (ALC) patients recover more rapidly and free up hospital beds.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
A suspended Moncton structural engineer faces more lawsuits alleging design flaws in buildings that require repair.
Sajjade Tugano has come a long way since he first set foot in Chibougamau, six hours north of Quebec City, in the depths of winter in November 2021.
A national mentor-based hockey organization that helps marginalized youth through the sport is paying tribute to one of its members and youngest coaches.
After months of asking the City of Saskatoon to do more to solve its homelessness crisis, advocate David Fineday took to the stand at city council Tuesday.
A community organization wants to breathe new life into a historic building in Regina.
Some Prince County residents are walking away with more answers after attending Tuesday night's public information session in Albany, P.E.I., on the Wejipek Wind Project.
After just a few months of using vape detectors in a couple of bathrooms, a B.C. high school principal says it's reduced vape use in those areas to basically zero.
Burlington MP Karina Gould gets boost from local young people after entering Liberal leadership race
A day after entering the Liberal leadership race, Burlington, Ont., MP and government House leader Karina Gould was cheered at a campaign launch party by local residents — including young people expressing hope the 37-year-old politician will represent their voices.
Anold Mulaisho was born intersex and wonders where they fit in, in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump's executive order for the United States to recognize only two sexes, male and female.
WARNING: This story contains references to suicide.
Subway service is down on Line 1 between Sheppard West and Lawrence West due to a broken power rail, the TTC said Wednesday morning.
A long-term care home in Toronto's Yorkville neighbourhood has cleared one more hurdle to add desperately needed beds to its property, a move that's been praised by housing advocates but opposed by locals concerned about the impact on the neighbourhood.
A Charlottetown resident is calling on the P.E.I. government to do more to protect homeowners after reading about a recent oil spill very similar to one on his Montague property 20 years ago, which he says ruined him financially.
WARNING: This story includes details of abuse.
Two years after Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly declared she was taking the unprecedented step of moving to confiscate millions of dollars from a sanctioned Russian oligarch with assets in Canada, the government has not actually begun the court process to forfeit the money, let alone to hand it over to Ukrainian reconstruction — and it may never happen.
Alberta business and oilpatch leaders are returning home from Washington this week after the U.S. presidential inauguration festivities — and gritting their teeth after a roller-coaster of emotions.
Youth workers in Toronto's Jane and Finch area are flipping the script on negative stereotypes about their communities with a new fundraising campaign that offers anti-bias training in exchange for donations to bolster their programming.
In a sudden move that came late Tuesday evening, city officials rolled out cots and temporarily opened a warm building in east London as frigid temperatures continued.