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Waiting time for rehabilitation services for children with physical disabilities
D Ehrmann Feldman1, F Champagne, N Korner-Bitensky
1Groupe de recherche interdisciplinaire en santé, Université de Montréal, Canada. debbie.feldman@umontreal.ca
Insights
Children face long waits for paediatric rehabilitation. Empowered parents can help reduce these delays, highlighting a need to improve system access for pediatric physical and occupational therapy.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Rehabilitation
- Healthcare Access
- Child Development
Background:
- Early rehabilitation is crucial for minimizing disability and complications in children.
- Significant delays in accessing pediatric rehabilitation centers are a common challenge.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine the waiting times for pediatric physical and occupational therapy.
- To identify factors influencing these waiting times for children with physical disabilities.
Main Methods:
- Prospective cohort study design following 172 children aged 0-18 years referred in 1999.
- Data collected on referral dates, appointment dates, demographics, diagnosis, and region.
- Telephone interviews with primary family caregivers regarding their perceptions of the transfer process.
Main Results:
- Average waiting times were 157.4 days for occupational therapy and 129.4 days for physical therapy.
- Shorter waits were associated with urban residence and younger age.
- Higher caregiver empowerment scores correlated with reduced waiting times for rehabilitation services.
Conclusions:
- There is a critical need to reduce waiting times for pediatric rehabilitation services.
- Parental empowerment plays a role in navigating the system to expedite access to care.
- Systemic improvements are necessary to ensure timely access to essential rehabilitation for children.
Background:
Early rehabilitation may minimize disability and complications. However, children often wait a long time to gain admission to rehabilitation centres.
Objectives:
To describe waiting times for paediatric physical and occupational therapy and to determine factors associated with these waiting times.
Research Design:
The study was a prospective cohort design. Patients were followed from 1 January 1999 to 1 March 2000.
Subjects:
All children with physical disabilities, aged 0-18 years, referred in 1999 from the Montreal Children's Hospital to paediatric rehabilitation centres.
Measures:
Data on date of referral, date of first appointment at the rehabilitation centre, age, gender, diagnosis, region and language were obtained from the rehabilitation transfer database. Primary family caregivers of children who were transferred to a rehabilitation facility participated in a telephone interview regarding their perceptions of the transfer process.
Results:
There were 172 children referred to rehabilitation facilities. The mean age of the children was 2.5 years. Average waiting time was 157.4 days (SD 57.1) for occupational therapy and 129.4 days (SD 51.6) for physical therapy. Decreased waiting time was associated with living in the city as opposed to the suburbs (hazard ratio=1.77; 95% confidence interval=0.92-3.41) and inversely associated with age (hazard ratio=0.46; 95% confidence interval=0.34-0.62). Among the 41 primary family caregivers who participated in the survey, higher empowerment scores were associated with shorter waits for rehabilitation.
Conclusion:
Waiting time for rehabilitation services needs to be reduced. Empowered parents appear to manoeuvre within the system to reduce waiting times for their children.
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