Patient perceptions of ICU physiotherapy: 'Your body needs to go somewhere to be recharged … '

Patient satisfaction is an essential concept to consider for the improvement of quality care in healthcare centres and hospitals and has been linked to increased patient compliance with treatment plans, better patient safety and improved clinical outcomes.

As part of a before-and-after clinical trial aimed to investigate the implementation of an evidence-based and -validated physiotherapy protocol within a surgical intensive care unit (ICU), we decided to include the patient perception of physiotherapy received in the intervention unit.

A nested, exploratory, descriptive, qualitative study design was adopted. Purposively selected adult patients discharged from ICU during the implementation phase of the trial were interviewed.

Eighteen patients (10 male) with a median age of 44 years and median ICU length of stay (LOS) of six days were included. Three themes and nine categories emerged: (i) linking therapy to clinical outcome (patient expectations and understanding; physiotherapy activities and the implication of mobilisation; physiotherapy benefits and progression); (ii) the importance of developing a trusting relationship (physiotherapy value; safety; continuity of care); and (iii) communication (satisfaction; interactions and patient perception and experience of physiotherapy).

While confirming barriers to early mobility, patients perceived participation in mobility activities as a marked jolt in their journey to recovery following a critical incident. Effective communication and preservation of trust between physiotherapist and patient are essential for understanding expectations and can facilitate improved outcomes. Clinicians can use the information when managing critically ill patients. Including patient-reported outcomes to measure physiotherapy interventions used in the ICU is feasible and can inform the development of such outcomes.

The study highlights the feasibility and importance of the use of patient-reported outcomes to measure physiotherapy interventions and informs the development of patient reported outcomes and the importance of patient centred physiotherapy care in the ICU setting.