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. 2013 Summer;65(3):238-43.
doi: 10.3138/ptc.2011-62.

Wait times for physical and occupational therapy in the public system for people with arthritis in quebec

Ashley Delaurier  1 , Sasha Bernatsky  2 , Marie-Hélène Raymond  1 , Debbie Ehrmann Feldman  1
Affiliations

Wait times for physical and occupational therapy in the public system for people with arthritis in quebec

Ashley Delaurier et al. Physiother Can. 2013 Summer.

Abstract
in English, French

Purpose: Although arthritis is the leading cause of pain and disability in Canada, and physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) are beneficial both for chronic osteoarthritis (OA) and for inflammatory arthritis such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), there appear to be problems with access to such services. The aim of this study was to document wait times from referral by physician to consultation with PT or OT in the public health care system for people with arthritis in Quebec, Canada.

Method: Appointments were requested by telephone, using hypothetical case scenarios; wait times were defined as the time between initial request and appointment date. Descriptive statistics were used to examine the wait times in relation to diagnosis, service provider and geographic area.

Results: For both scenarios (OA and RA) combined, 13% were offered an appointment within 6 months, 13% offered given an appointment within 6-12 months, 24% were told they would need to wait longer than 12 months, and 22% were refused services. The remaining 28% were told they would require an evaluation appointment for functional assessment before being given an appointment for therapy. No difference was found between RA and OA diagnoses.

Conclusions: Our study suggests that most people with arthritis living in the province of Quebec are not receiving publicly accessible PT or OT intervention in a timely manner.

Objet : Même si l'arthrite constitue la principale cause de douleur et d'incapacité au Canada et si la physiothérapie (PT) et l'ergothérapie (ET) sont bénéfiques à la fois contre l'arthrose chronique (AC) et l'arthrite inflammatoire comme la polyarthrite rhumatoïde (PR), il semble y avoir des problèmes d'accès à ces services. Cette étude visait à documenter les temps d'attente entre la référence par le médecin et la consultation en PT ou ET dans le système public de soins de santé pour les personnes atteintes d'arthrite au Québec, Canada. Méthode : On a demandé des rendez-vous par téléphone en utilisant des scénarios de cas hypothétiques. Les temps d'attente ont été définis comme le temps écoulé entre la demande initiale et la date du rendez-vous. Nous avons utilisé des statistiques descriptives pour analyser les temps d'attente par rapport au diagnostic, au fournisseur de service et à la région géographique. Résultats : Pour les deux scénarios (AC et PR) combinés, 13 % ont reçu un rendez-vous dans les six mois, 13 %, en six à 12 mois, on a dit à 24 % qu'ils devraient attendre plus de 12 mois et l'on a refusé des services dans 22 % des cas. Dans les 28 % de cas restants, on a dit que la personne en cause aurait besoin d'un rendez-vous d'évaluation fonctionnelle avant d'obtenir un rendez-vous de traitement. On n'a constaté aucune différence entre les diagnostics de PR et d'AC. Conclusions : Notre étude indique que la plupart des personnes qui vivent avec l'arthrite dans la province de Québec ne reçoivent pas en temps opportun de services publics de PT ou d'ET.

Keywords: arthritis; health services accessibility; rehabilitation.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Wait-time responses for rehabilitation services in Quebec <6 mo=appointment scheduled within 6 months; 6–12 mo=appointment scheduled within 6–12 months; >12 mo=told to wait more than 12 months for an appointment; Refused=services refused; Evaluation=evaluation based on a functional assessment before an appointment could be given.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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