Developing a minimum data set for the musculoskeletal physical therapy registry

Musculoskeletal disorders are a common health challenge in developed and developing countries. Physical therapy interventions can help reduce musculoskeletal pain, treat musculoskeletal disorders, and enhance the quality of life in individuals. A comprehensive and valid minimum data set (MDS) can be useful for data gathering and decision-making. Therefore, the objective of this study was to develop the MDS for the musculoskeletal physical therapy registry.

This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the Tehran University of Medical Sciences in 2023. Four phases were carried out to develop the MDS, including a systematic review, focus group discussions, content validity and reliability calculation, and the Delphi technique. A systematic review was conducted in five databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, IEEE, and Google Scholar databases) to identify registries and data elements. In addition, the Google search engine was also reviewed. In the second phase, a focus group discussion was used to classify the extracted data elements by contributing experts. In the third phase, content validity (content validity ratio [CVR] and content validity index [CVI]) and reliability (Cronbach's alpha and intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] value) were calculated. In the fourth phase, two rounds of the Delphi technique for validation of the MDS were held. Finally, a musculoskeletal physical therapy MDS was developed.

In the first phase, 23 eligible studies were included in the systematic review, and 138 related data elements were extracted. In the second phase, four data elements were removed, and 16 data elements were suggested by experts in the focus group discussions. In the third phase, the average CVR and CVI for the questionnaire were 0.92 and 0.98, respectively. In addition, Cronbach's alpha and ICC values were calculated to be 0.98 and 0.89, respectively. In the third phase, 145 data elements were developed during two rounds of the Delphi technique. The MDS was divided into administrative and clinical data categories with 42 and 103 elements, respectively. The administrative data contained demographic, health-care provider, admission, and discharge data, while the clinical data contained general and physical assessment data and outcome measurement tools.

The proposed MDS can serve as a standardized tool for collecting uniform data across centers that provide physical therapy services. This MDS enables health-care providers, managers, and decision-makers to evaluate the effectiveness of physical therapy interventions, develop guidelines, assess the performance of physical therapists, and conduct clinical research, thereby enhancing the overall quality of physical therapy services.