Developing a capability assessment tool for physiotherapists managing patients with blunt chest trauma

Area of Science:

• Physiotherapy
• Trauma Care
• Rehabilitation Medicine

Background:

• Blunt chest trauma requires specialized physiotherapy management.
• Existing tools may not comprehensively cover the continuum of care.
• Standardized assessment is crucial for effective patient outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a Capability Assessment Tool (CAT) for physiotherapists.
• To ensure the tool addresses the full spectrum of patient needs in blunt chest trauma management.
• To establish content validity for the developed assessment tool.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a nominal group technique and cross-sectional survey.
• Involved a panel of 10 international physiotherapy experts.
• Calculated item-level content validity index (I-CVI) and scale-level content validity index.

Main Results:

• The final CAT includes 11 key capabilities and associated descriptors.
• Capabilities span pre-hospital, in-hospital, and community rehabilitation phases.
• Achieved a scale-level content validity index of 0.80, indicating strong content validity.

Conclusions:

• A comprehensive CAT for physiotherapy management of blunt chest trauma has been successfully developed.
• The tool is applicable across all specialties and covers the entire recovery process.
• This CAT provides a standardized framework for assessing physiotherapy capabilities in blunt chest trauma care.